Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations returned on Travel Channel last night with a moving, sometimes discomfiting visit to post-earthquake Haiti. I’ve always liked No Reservations, not just for Bourdain’s foulmouthed sense of humor but because it approaches food and travel as more than entertainments. It starts from the premise that what people eat is an expression of their culture, their history, how they live—and sometimes, how they have to live. Bourdain has taken the show to familiar and unfamiliar countries, but in the past couple seasons, he’s focused more on more posh destinations like Paris and Rome.
With the seventh season, Bourdain told me earlier, he’s making a deliberate effort to avoid complacency and take the show to places tourists don’t seek out—physically, and in some cases mentally.
