Marco Pierre White Opens Up to Bourdain | Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown

Anthony Bourdain lands in a country that woke up to find it had voted to leave the European Union. The markets are falling, the pound is sliding, the credit rating has been downgraded, the prime minister has resigned, and the leadership of both main parties has fallen apart overnight. Londoners stop him in the street to say they feel destroyed, that nobody seems to have a plan, that it feels like the end of the world. So Tony does what he always does when the ground moves: he goes looking for the comforting and the familiar. That means St. JOHN, where Fergus Henderson quietly changed cooking everywhere by refusing to cook anything fancy. Roast bone marrow with parsley and caper salad — if you have ever eaten marrow anywhere on earth, it is probably because they did it here first. Pickled calves’ tripe. Kidneys. A pig’s head and potato pie. Critic Jay Rayner, whose great-great-grandparents came off the boat into the East End, makes the case across the table that the best foods all stink a little, and that the ones with a faint whiff of death about them are the ones that remind you that you are most alive. Later, in a West London pub, Nigella Lawson orders whitebait and a scotch egg and tells him that for one afternoon they can pretend all is right with the universe. Then Tony drives out to North Wiltshire, because England is not London. Marco Pierre White — the working-class boy from a Leeds housing estate who became the youngest chef in the world to hold three Michelin stars, the man an entire generation of cooks tried to imitate — now lives at the Rudloe Arms and keeps pigs. His mother died when he was six, he says, and nature became his surrogate mother. He whistles and a herd of Oxford Sandy and Black comes running; they know his voice and his smell. He cooks the pig’s trotter à la Pierre Koffmann that young cooks once stared at in photographs and wondered how anyone could do it. He has retired, he says, and he has never been happier. A few days later the pair eat haddock and chip butties at a seaside caff in Weymouth, and the three-star chef explains why cheap white bread is the only bread that works. The rest of the week is London arguing with itself. Caribbean food in Islington with Jamie Hince of The Kills. Pub lunch in Kent with Ralph Steadman, who drew Hunter S. Thompson’s America and says he set out fifty years ago to change the world and succeeded, since it is worse now than when he started. Lamb and lentils at Rochelle Canteen with Margot Henderson, whose daughter is leaving the country out of shame. And finally, savagely hungover, Tony turns up at Nigella’s for eggs in purgatory and fried bread soaked in beef dripping. There are two ways to go in frightening times, he says at the end. Build walls and look for someone to blame, or stand up and try to build something better. Subscribe here to discover all of Anthony Bourdain's adventures and watch full episodes:    / @anthonybourdainpartsunknown   Travel the globe with the legendary chef, author, and storyteller Anthony Bourdain as he uncovers the soul of a destination through its food, culture, and politics. Far more than just a cooking show, Parts Unknown dives deep into the corners of the world rarely seen on TV—eating with locals, exploring diverse culinary rituals, and asking the hard questions. #AnthonyBourdain #PartsUnknown #TravelDocumentary #culture #cuisine