The world has lost a world-class chef, author, and television host: The news broke Friday morning that Anthony Bourdain died by suicide in France, where he was shooting Season 11 of CNN’s “Parts Unknown.”
While there is no way to imagine the impact Bourdain’s passing will have on his loved ones, the public figure has an extended family that includes fellow celebrity chefs and millions of fans. Everyone was in mourning on Friday — inside Hollywood and to the far corners of the Earth that Bourdain’s well-documented travels took him.
The “No Reservations” alum even made it to the big screen once — and in a big way. Remember his pivotal moment in “The Big Short”? We do.
The 2015 Steve Carell movie utilized a brilliant and unique device to explain very complex economic terms: It would break the fourth wall from in-the-weeds finance talk between characters to a cut-scene of a celebrity playing him or herself, explaining the jargon with easier-to-understand metaphors.
Bourdain’s role was to break down a CDO, or collateralized debt obligation. He did it with fish.
A chef ordering fish for Sunday night’s menu on a Friday is akin to the shorted mortgage bond used Carell’s financier Mark Baum, Bourdain explained. But instead of throwing away all of the fresh fish the restaurant didn’t sell that night, he turns into a seafood stew for the next few dinners.
“See, it’s not old fish — it’s a whole new thing,” Bourdain said to the camera. “And the best thing is, they’re eating 3-day-old halibut. That is a CDO.”
Make sense now? Still no?
Watch the video above. Bourdain does it better than we do.