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Tag: Anthony Bourdain

  • Hospitality Industry Makes Efforts To Address Mental Health Issues, Addiction

    Hospitality Industry Makes Efforts To Address Mental Health Issues, Addiction

    Leaders in the industry are working to create national resources for those dealing with addiction and mental health issues. 

    The culinary world was shaken last year when celebrity chef and television host Anthony Bourdain died by suicide. Bourdain, well-loved by fans and peers, had been open about his battles with depression and history of substance use disorder. 

    But for Patrick Mulvaney, owner of the exalted Mulvaney’s B&L in Sacramento, California, Bourdain’s death was a part of something larger, Civil Eats reports. In 2018 alone, at least 12 people in the Sacramento hospitality and restaurant community lost their lives to “mental health complications.” 

    “It was brutal,” Mulvaney told Civil Eats. “Just in between middle of December and middle of January, four people died in Sacramento, hospitality people. Three of them were either working or had worked for us before, and one was a long-time Sacramentan. So, this is about as ‘home’ as home can get.” 

    According to Civil Eats, the 10 million Americans who work in the hospitality and restaurant industry are more likely than others to struggle with mental illness and substance use disorder. 

    This is something that the industry is beginning to take into consideration. Wolete “Sunny” Atherley is the owner of two restaurants in the Sacramento area and tells Civil Eats she tends to hire young adults from the area. 

    “They feel like they can be themselves [here]” she said. “Over time, though, I realized a lot of my young employees were dealing with depression.”

    According to Mulvaney, working in an industry built on caring about the needs of others is part of the reason why some people disregard their own needs.  

    “We have an industry with a problem that we don’t always talk about,” says Mulvaney. “We’re in hospitality, so we want to know how your soup is, whether your drink is right, or if your steak is cooked right, and we don’t necessarily think about ourselves that much.”

    As a response to the numerous deaths in 2018, Mulvaney has partnered with Kaiser Permanente, VSP Global, WellSpace Health, the Steinberg Institute and the James Beard Foundation to build a pilot program called “I Got Your Back.” 

    The program is meant to break the stigma about mental health in the industry and works through peer-to-peer or near-peer counseling. Certain employees are trained to identify warning signs of mental distress and are made available as support. 

    Mulvaney has also been hosting mental health workshops and seminars for others in the industry. Next, he tells Civil Eats, he plans to create online resources for industry workers to reach out for help. 

    “If we can affect even one person, then we’re good at my restaurant,” Mulvaney said.

    “If we can affect the city by having more of us in the restaurant world adopting I Got Your Back—and we want to do this across spectrums, not just James Beard restaurants. We want all restaurants from fast food to high-end eateries to adopt it—that would be cool. And, if this works [we’ll have] California, [then hopefully] Illinois, Oregon, Nevada, and other states bringing the conversation out and expanding the coalition of the willing.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Chef David Chang Talks Mental Health, Anthony Bourdain

    Chef David Chang Talks Mental Health, Anthony Bourdain

    “Sometimes I don’t even realize I am in a state of depression because it’s gotten so clever as to how I can’t even recognize it… Every day is a battle.”

    Chef David Chang dedicated the newest episode of his podcast The Dave Chang Show to honor the late Anthony Bourdain. The New York City chef, the host of the Netflix series Ugly Delicious known for his Momofuku restaurants, discusses his own battles with mental health, and the steps he’s taken to address his own issues.

    The chef said he knew he needed help back in college, but did not feel comfortable with the idea. “I needed to see a professional because I was in despair. And I have had bouts of despair since high school. But I was just told to suck it up. I was told that that’s embarrassing,” he said.

    Mental illness evolves with time, Chang said, and is a daily struggle. “After a 15-year-plus battle of it, [my mental illness] is an incredibly complex organism that is smarter than I am half the time,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t even realize I am in a state of depression because it’s gotten so clever as to how I can’t even recognize it. It is constantly morphing and evolving. Every day is a battle.”

    Opening Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York City in 2004 became his “vehicle to fight depression.” The massive undertaking kept the young chef busy after experiencing the worst of his depression in 2003.

    Alcohol didn’t help the situation. “Along the way, drinking really fucked me up,” said Chang. “I had a hard time communicating. I had a hard time dealing with the stress. I had a hard time with impostor syndrome, I still do.”

    He sought help with a mental health professional around the same time, and after a few “false starts,” he settled on a psychiatrist that he’s been seeing since 2003.

    He said that being able to talk through his problems is the “genuine benefit” of therapy. Though he himself had trouble opening up in the first few sessions, out of embarrassment, he still went back.

    Chang acknowledged that there are many paths to recovery. “You cannot assume that what works for some person will ever work for another. There is not just a universal standard for depression or neuroses or any other kind of mental disorder, because we are each completely unique individuals. We all experience the world independently and uniquely,” he said.

    Chang said he hopes that through conversation and dialogue, he will help others shed the embarrassment of dealing with a mental illness.

    “We all need help, even those of us that think that everything is going great. It’s so hard to ask for help. And more specifically it’s really hard to find that help,” he said. “I thought the best way to honor Tony would be to talk about my own struggles with depression… If it makes any of you feel a little bit better for seeking help for your own struggles, then it was worth it. I think it was what Tony would want me to do.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Seth Meyers: More Celebrities Should Speak Out About Depression

    Seth Meyers: More Celebrities Should Speak Out About Depression

    “We’d be better off if more successful people were honest and shared the fact that depression is something that chases you no matter what your status is.”

    Seth Meyers recently appeared on The Van Jones Show where he talked about the difficulties he faced when he debuted on Saturday Night Live and why he feels more celebrities should speak out about their mental health issues.

    When Meyers joined SNL, he said he struggled with impostor syndrome, a psychological phenomenon where an individual doubts their talent or skill and are struck with a fear that they may be exposed.

    “Ultimately it worked out for me by the time I got behind the [Weekend Update] desk,” Meyers says. “But in the beginning, the things that made Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader so great at that show were not skills that I had. It was hard because you get hired at SNL and you think, if they hired me, they know what they’re doing, I’m going to be great at this. Then you realize, maybe they’re having doubts as well that they screwed this up.”

    The SNL environment can be an especially frightening pressure cooker for comedians. Meyers’ former cast mate Bill Hader has also spoken out about the anxiety he felt when doing the show. Hader recently said in a Rolling Stone interview that during his SNL stint, stage fright gave him massive migraines that “were off the charts. I was so nervous all the time and I was smoking like a chimney… I’ve stopped smoking, and I don’t get them so often anymore.”

    Appearing on Van Jones in the wake of the high-profile suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, Meyers also spoke out about depression, and why he feels more celebrities should come forward and be open about it.

    “I think one of the problems for people who are successful, is they think the last thing anyone wants to hear is them talk about is how they’re depressed,” Meyers says. “Because from the outside people are like, ‘What do you have to be depressed about? You have everything anyone could want.’ I think we’d be better off if more successful people were honest and shared the fact that depression is something that chases you no matter what your status is. It’s a very real thing, and the more you talk about it, the better off you’re going to be.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • When You're Too Depressed to "Reach Out"

    When You're Too Depressed to "Reach Out"

    How is it that we’ve all been conditioned to place the burden of action on the one with the mental condition that literally robs us of the ability to act?

    Kate Spade. And now Anthony Bourdain. I’m afraid for the next headline. I’m sad for those we lose daily who will never be mourned by millions of fans the world over. 

    I’m not going to say the word right now. It’s been said too much already in the past few days. It’s going to be said many more in the days to come, and at least one of those times, I’ll be the one using it in a story, but right here and right now? I’m not using it. What I will do is start a conversation that is long overdue. 

    Just the other night, I saw a headline in which medical experts were warning the general public about the contagion effect I’ve written about before. If you are in a stable place mentally and interested in learning more, this article is a good place to start.

    Right now, though, we are reeling from another loss. Those of us who have been in the deepest pits of depression and have had to claw our way back up are hurting because every loss reminds us, even briefly, of how much emotional energy it takes to simply exist when depression lies to us, telling us that we are worthless, lazy, that we always mess everything up, and that the people we love would be better off without us. 

    Please don’t listen to that voice. Depression is an asshole never to be trusted. 

    This is normally when I’d tell you to reach out and I’d provide the standard resources, hotlines, and links, but this is a conversation and not a PSA, so we’re trying something different.

    I’m not going to tell you to reach out. I know I never do it for myself — I just can’t — when I’m in a deep depression. Telling a depressed person to reach out—especially if they are in the deepest of depressive bouts—is like telling a blind person to try to see harder. 

    Think about that. How is it that we’ve all been conditioned to place the burden of action on the one with the mental condition that literally robs us of the ability to act? If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a tribe of people who get it to keep tabs on each other, because we all know this is so much harder when we try to go it alone.

    This means we all need to start paying attention. We need to watch and listen closely to what those in our personal and social media circles are saying, and sometimes to what they are not. 

    When people say there were no warning signs after the world has lost another beautiful soul, that’s not always accurate. Sometimes they didn’t see the warning signs or recognize them for what they were. It’s not someone’s fault for missing a sign they didn’t recognize, but we can learn as we go if we actually follow through with this plan and start watching each other’s backs. Depressed people are good at pretending we are fine because EVERYBODY’S FINE, DAMMIT. 

    But even as we put on the brave front while hoping like hell that no one can see through the act, we also hope someone is paying close enough attention to us to see what’s really going on; we’re hoping that person will be brave enough to call us on our bullshit. 

    That doesn’t always happen though, so we stop expecting people to notice at all. We keep on pretending. 

    We are programmed to say “fine” when asked how we are doing by strangers and friends and family alike. Maybe some people mean it when they say it, but we don’t when depression is hitting us hard. It’s just easier to go along with the accepted script. 

    I’m not going to tell you to reach out, but I hope like hell that you do. I am going to tell you that you are beautiful and loved and ask how I can support you until the fog finally lifts. And I hope you will do the same for me the next time I fall back into the fog. Ask me if I have seen my psychiatrist lately and if I am taking my anxiety and depression meds as recommended, because sometimes my ADHD means I forget.

    Let’s stop putting all the responsibility on the depressed person by telling them to reach out and instead take some of that up to share and lighten the load. Let’s start reaching in for each other. It’s time to start reaching in. 

    If you or someone you know may be at risk for suicide, immediately seek help. You are not alone.

    Options include:

    • Calling the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-TALK (8255)
    • Calling 911
    • Calling a friend or family member to stay with you until emergency medical personnel arrive to help you.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dear Val Kilmer, Anthony Bourdain Did Love Us

    Dear Val Kilmer, Anthony Bourdain Did Love Us

    Suicide is not about someone wanting to leave their family. It is about them being in so much pain they felt they could not stay.

    Trigger warning: The following story discusses a the completed suicide of a celebrity and links to potentially triggering articles. Proceed with caution. If you feel you are at risk and need help, skip the story and get help now. Options include: Calling the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-TALK (8255), calling 911, and calling a friend or family member to stay with you until emergency medical personnel arrive to help you. 

    The news of celebrity chef and best-selling author Anthony Bourdain’s death by suicide is tragic. He was relatable, he was witty, and he was raw. Bourdain, the host of CNN’s hit show, Anthony Boudain: Parts Unknown, never held back when it came to talking about his struggles with depression, drugs, and staying sober, endearing himself even more to a fanbase that already spanned the globe. 

    Still, many were shocked to learn of Bourdain’s death on June 8, 2018, just three days after fashion icon Kate Spade’s completed suicide. Suicide rates have risen 30 percent in the United States in less than two decades, says data recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Depression reportedly played a part in both Spade‘s and Bourdain’s deaths.

    Mental health advocates have routinely cautioned against describing suicide as selfish because it may trigger a vulnerable individual to act. Hollywood actor Val Kilmer, however, seems to give more weight to what a spiritual guide once told him than the warnings of the CDC, the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Kilmer is now on the receiving end of fan disapproval after publishing a lengthy Facebook post in which he called Bourdain “selfish” for taking himself away from Kilmer and his fans.

    “From every corner of the world you were loved. So selfish,” Kilmer wrote. “You’ve given us cause to be so angry.”

    It was this spiritual guide, Kilmer says, who once told him a story to explain how “suicide is the most selfish act.”

    What Kilmer didn’t realize when he hit publish on this post is exactly how selfish he himself was being by prioritizing his need to publicly call Bourdain out over and above everyone else’s need to avoid triggering suicidal ideations. 

    Kilmer’s suicide shaming remarks, and those from others who share the same outdated view, are harmful to people who are depressed and vulnerable to suicide contagion.

    “Selfishness has nothing to do with it,” says Gigi Griffis, who remembers being so depressed that she wanted to die. When Griffis felt herself being lost to her depression, she remembers thinking the world would be better without her.

    “Suicide isn’t something people do to punish those around them…it’s a collection of lies – that you won’t be missed, that you don’t matter, that the world would be a better place without you – that has nothing to do with anyone around you – and everything to do with the depression itself,” Griffis says.

    When the brother of bestselling author Rene Denfeld died by suicide in 2005, he left notes for his family members.

    “He said he was sorry, he just couldn’t bear life any more,” Denfeld said on twitter. “That’s a tragedy. That’s our collective failure. The pain that killed him is no different than a cancer or illness.” 

    When the time came to submit the obituary to the local paper, Denfeld was asked to “change his cause of death” due to the paper’s policy of not printing the word “suicide.” Denfeld, determined to honor her brother’s memory with truth, stood her ground. 

    Denfeld’s focus right now is to remind people who are participating in the online discussions about Spade and Bourdain that insinuating the deceased did not love their survivors is shaming and hurtful. But Kilmer’s comments won’t be on her radar for too long. He’s just one voice. Denfeld would much rather celebrate the progress made in the 13 years since her brother died. 

    “I come from a family of suicides. Please don’t shame survivors by acting like our loved ones didn’t love us. Suicide is not about someone wanting to leave their family. It is about them being in so much pain they felt they could not stay,” says Denfeld. “A lot has changed, and it’s for the better. We are finally talking about this incredibly common, heart-breaking form of loss. I am thankful for that, because now we can finally sorrow together.”

    If you or someone you know may be at risk for suicide, immediately seek help. You are not alone.

    Options include:

    • Calling the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-TALK (8255)
    • Calling 911
    • Calling a friend or family member to stay with you until emergency medical personnel arrive to help you.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Anthony Bourdain Dies At 61

    Anthony Bourdain Dies At 61

    The “original rock star of the culinary world” was a celebrated writer and chef who had conquered heroin addiction and became world famous in his forties.

    Beloved chef and world-renowned television personality Anthony Bourdain was found dead Friday morning in his hotel in France. He was 61.

    CNN confirmed that the TV host died by suicide. He was in France working on an upcoming episode for his long-running food and travel show, Parts Unknown. Bourdain is survived by his 11-year-old daughter, ex-wife Ottavia Busia and girlfriend Asia Argento. 

    Coined the “original rock star of the culinary world” by the Smithsonian, Bourdain made a name for himself with the publication of a New Yorker article — Don’t Eat Before Reading This—where the chef spilled some “trade secrets” about his time spent in professional kitchens and the cast of characters he encountered. 

    With book editors intrigued, Bourdain would soon write his literary opus, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. The New York Times bestseller gave outsiders a no holds barred look into the raucous world of cuisine. Infused with Bourdain’s trademark no-nonsense personality, readers were introduced to the chef who was caught up in the frenzied world of sex, drugs, and dinner service.

    Bourdain’s celebrity exploded shortly after the release of Kitchen Confidential.

    Bourdain detailed in a 2016 Biography interview how the memoir changed his life smack dab in the middle of his forties: “Oh, man, at the age of 44, I was standing in kitchens, not knowing what it was like to go to sleep without being in mortal terror. I was in horrible, endless, irrevocable debt. I had no health insurance. I didn’t pay my taxes. I couldn’t pay my rent. It was a nightmare, but it’s all been different for about 15 years. If it looks like my life is comfortable, well, that’s a very new thing for me.” 

    He would go on to become one of the most popular celebrity chefs of this generation with a string of food and travel shows such as A Cook’s Tour, No Reservations, The Layover and Parts Unknown.

    Bourdain was also open about his battles with addiction. He began using drugs during the early portion of his restaurant career and eventually became an avid heroin user.  

    He told Biography, “I got off of heroin in the 1980s. Friends of mine from the ‘70s and ‘80s, they just got off five, six, maybe 10 years ago. And we’re the lucky ones. We made it out alive. There are a lot of guys that didn’t get that far. But you know, I also don’t have that many regrets either.”

    Celebrities, politicians, cooking peers and fans took to Twitter to remember the beloved chef. Former President Barack Obama tweeted, “‘Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.’ This is how I’ll remember Tony. He taught us about food—but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him.”

    Gordon Ramsay tweeted, “Stunned and saddened by the loss of Anthony Bourdain. He brought the world into our homes and inspired so many people to explore cultures and cities through their food. Remember that help is a phone call away US:1-800-273-TALK UK: 116 123”

    Chef Eric Ripert, Bourdain’s best friend, paid tribute on Twitter, “Anthony was my best friend. An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous. One of the great storytellers who connected w so many. I pray he is at peace from the bottom of my heart. My love & prayers are also w his family, friends and loved ones.”

    If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) in the US. To find a suicide helpline outside the U.S., visit IASP or Suicide.org.

    View the original article at thefix.com