I am lucky that I get to travel for work. I explored (and will continue to explore) parts of cities I would have never entered 15 years ago.
I am convinced that the explosion and acceptance of more ethnic foods and the search for culinary authenticity is largely a result of Bourdain's influence. Andy Ricker, Roy Choi, David Chang..the list goes on and on
Not to mention the TV guys like Zimmern, Ripert, Costintino, even Tesar all owe Bordain a HUGE amount of credit for where and who they are. Hell, FlavorTown owes him a HUGE debt of gratitude for the press alone.
Just trying too capture his influence on food and travel, and his influence on me is hard to put in words. I kind of feel like I lost my guide. As soon as our kids are out of the house my wife and I are going to vagabond it around world capitals for 10-15 years. Largely because of how small I realized our worldview was based on some of Bourdains work.
I read he was found by Ripert. That just fucking sucks man.