SXSWORLD

No Matter Where Anthony Bourdain Goes, Social Media Follows by Emily Farris G coming out unscathed. At least that sounds like some- thing Bourdain might have said in an interview. When SXSWORLD tried to reach the chef-turned- etting Anthony Bourdain to do a magazine interview while on location is like venturing inside of Paris Hilton's pelvic region and author-turned-TV-star about his upcoming appearance at SXSW Interactive, he was in the Republic of Mozambique shooting season eight of his Emmy- winning Travel Channel show, No Reservations. One can't really blame the guy for being unavail- able while eating his way through southeastern Africa. According to his Twitter timeline (@NoReservations), Bourdain was there without cellphone service for at least three days. By the time he fi nally connected, his Twitpics suggested he'd had too much sun and 2M (Mac-Mahon), a European-style, Mozambican pilsner. So, as it turned out, an interview with Bourdain Anthony Bourdain anteed reaction his most irreverent Tweets garner, that ensures social media remains a priority for Bourdain, a well-seasoned provocateur in print, on screen and online. Since Bourdain's scathing exposé of New York City restaurants was wasn't really necessary — save for the lack of a certain colorful expletive. (An interview might have resulted in a somehow more eloquent version of: "Without technology, and gorged on salty Mozambican starches, I occupied my idle hands with round after round of something that felt familiar and went down like an easy European blonde. And, fuck, does my head hurt for it.") Who needs to talk to the guy when anyone can fi nd out where in the world he is, what he's doing, how much he's drinking while he does it and what he thinks about it all by following him on Twitter? In fact, doing so almost makes watching an episode of No Reservations six months later feel more like suddenly recalling a blackout with amazing clarity than experiencing it for the fi rst time. (Kind of like deja vu's slutty cousin?) Perhaps it's that sort of uncensored, real-time output, and the guar- sages for diff erent online mediums, including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Mostly PG, promotional posts are reserved for the 1.3 million fans of No Reservations' Facebook page (which is pretty obviously man- aged by his people) while it is easy to believe that Bourdain himself is the one answering questions like "Heroin or cocaine?" from some of his 600,000 Twitter followers (compared to @ParisHilton's 5 million). 20 SXSW ORLD / N OVEMBER 2011 published in Th e New Yorker in the late 1990s, the Vassar-educated, Culinary Institute of America-trained chef has been known as much for his opinions about everything from factory farms to famous-for- nothing females as he has for his culinary accomplishments. Seven non-fi ction books followed, beginning with the 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confi dential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, which turned hungry readers into loyal followers of Bourdain's indecent facts and fi ery fi ction (in addition to his non-fi ction writing, Bourdain has pub- lished three fi ction books). Still, Bourdain and his team have mastered the art of diff erent mes- "Perhaps it's that sort of uncensored, real-time output, and the guaranteed reaction his most irreverent Tweets garner, that ensures social media remains a priority for Bourdain ..." in these days, it is a wonder he fi nds time to Tweet at all. In addition to averting injury and illness while shooting episodes of No Reservations around the world, Bourdain recently acquired his own imprint at HarperCollins. He's also been busy promoting Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook (2010), in which he covers his rise to stardom after Kitchen Confi dential and opines on many of his fellow television "chefs." With Bourdain's plate seemingly full, in what looks like a genius Given all of the industries and animal organs Bourdain has his hands move on its part, the Travel Channel recently decided to just go ahead and document the time he spends in airports for a second Bourdain- centric series, Th e Layover. It premieres around Th anksgiving. In March, Bourdain will hop a plane to Austin for SXSW Interactive, entrance to the panel by learning how to knock someone out with an iPad, making sure resulting injuries are covered by AppleCare, camping out in the Convention Center starting right now, and obsessively checking in with sxsw.com, facebook.com/sxswfestival and @sxsw for more information. ■ where he will sit down for a panel discussion on — wait, does it really fucking matter? Th is is where an interview might have come in handy, but one thing is certain: F-bombs will surely be dropped amid talk of television, travel and Twitter. Perhaps he will even be willing to answer a few questions about his time in Mozambique (maybe he only had one M2M and just looked hungover because he was tired) and give this disappointed writer at least one good four-letter word. Until then, Bourdain-loving festival goers can begin plotting their COURTESY OF TRAVEL CHANNEL

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