Unforgiving frankness and purposeful lambasting have provided chef, food critic and jet-setter Anthony Bourdain with a slightly bullish reputation whose candor is nothing if not honest. Born in New York City and raised in Leonia, New Jersey, Bourdain's passion for the culinary arts was ignited when he was vacationing in France with his family and was given a fresh oyster whilst on an oyster fisherman's boat. Later, during time at Vassar College, he'd work at various seafood restaurants on the New England coast, before dropping out to pursue studies at the Culinary Institute of America--an institution he'd eventually graduate from in 1978. Bourdain would go on to work in a number of restaurants in New York--where punk music, foul language, drugs and alcohol permeated the kitchen area--before receiving the position of executive chef at the well respected French restaurant Brasserie Les Halles. After penning the national best seller Kitchen Confidential in 2000, Bourdain would become an easily identifiable figure of the food scene and his popularity grew significantly after his television show No Reservations premiered in 2005. After eight seasons on the Travel Channel, Bourdain moved to CNN to a new program called Parts Unknown
