Is Anthony an Alcoholic?


Is it official? Is there 1 Episode where he doesnt get drunk?

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Realllyy??? Drunk??? 1 episode???
Big *beep* whoop.

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What good reply!!!! YESS!! 1 episode where he doesnt get drunk! i mean he literally drinks beer to everything or talks about alcohol in every episode...thats kind of anoying

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No.

It's normal when you meet new people that you have a few drinks to bond, especially when you're in a restaurant/bar setting. Most of the show is about Tony meeting new people and eating, of course you're going to see him drinking a lot of the time on camera.

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I think you guys are not paying attention... lets like take the Vienna episode... in the first ten minutes Anthony has drunk like 3 Jägermeister and idk how many schnaps after that 3-4 bottles of wine and like 10 beers....so there ya go...he is so an alcoholic...but i stil love this show im just saying.

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And who the hell WOULDN'T get drunk off their ass in Vienna!? No offense, but you sound like someone who isn't old enough to drink and/or has traveled very little. It's part of his central theme, when you're sharing your culture's food you're sharing with others what gives you pleasure, and sharing drinks is no different. I think he simply realizes just how lucky he is to have the job he has and is enjoying every bit he can of it. I see nothing wrong with enjoying life. If you want to call him an alcoholic for that, I guess he's guilty?

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And who the hell WOULDN'T get drunk off their ass in Vienna!?


Em, most people who visit Vienna who aren't American college kids on their coming-of-age trip to Europe? lol


I see nothing wrong with enjoying life. If you want to call him an alcoholic for that, I guess he's guilty?


You're missing the point. He drinks A LOT, and is systematically drunk. He never just drinks a glass of wine with his meal and just leaves it at that. It does look like he has a drinking problem. And alcoholism isn't "enjoying life" nor something to feel guilty about, it's a medical condition. Which it looks like he very much has.

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[deleted]

The episode where he goes to Saudi Arabia. He doesn't have a chance to drink there :)

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lol but in the hotel in saudi arabia alcohol is allowed and i bet he got drunk there...but yeah your right that was one of the few episodes without him getting drunk..

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he's into escapism

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My hope of all hopes is that he does it to annoy people like you...but alas, that is probably not the case.

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[deleted]

aw man u mad? i bet your an alcoholic like him lol

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Where can I apply for a job that lets me drink all day? Well besides union car maker.

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You also have to account for the fact that he's jet lagged a lot and drinking actually helps get over that.

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Drinking doesn't automatically make you an alkie. An alcoholic is someone whose drinking becomes so intense that they drink 24/7, even at their jobs. Oh sh*t, he does that doesn't he. Damn I guess you're right.

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Who isn't? He's been quoted on the WTF Podcast as to have been using drugs since he was 14, but who cares? More than half of the cultures he covers in his shows are cultures that fully embrace making their own alcohol and having a good time with family and friends. Being an alcoholic only becomes a stigma in societies that rely on your word to keep a position in a job, day after day, and once your responsibilities aren't met, they attack you at the base, humanistic level of what your escapisms are, like alcohol and its effects. So redirect what it means to be an alcoholic, or you'll see that nearly 23.4 million people are alcoholics.

-I'm going to remake Transformers 3. No CGI! In 4-D! Smell-o-vision!-

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No, he's a Chef lol. But you see the native people keeping right up with him, so different cultures might have different stigmas.

"When you do things right people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

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You're only an alcoholic if it impinges significantly on your ability to function day-to-day, not the amount you drink. Plenty of people can drink copious amounts of booze over the span of a weekend and function perfectly well on Monday morning. It doesn't make them alcoholics.

In Tony Bourdain's case, it's pretty clear the opposite is true. It's not like he's doing radical brain surgery or something.

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Kings Gruel, we call those people functioning alcoholics. He may be able to function, work, etc., but if he drinks every day and with copious vigor then he's more than likely a functioning alcoholic.

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So? He likes a drink and he's functioning. Nothing else is anybody's business.

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Kings Gruel, we call those people functioning alcoholics. He may be able to function, work, etc., but if he drinks every day and with copious vigor then he's more than likely a functioning alcoholic.

Exactly. I always laugh when people assume that being able to handle large amounts of alcohol means they don't have a problem, when in reality it means they've developed a tolerance to the alcohol, which is one step away from dependence.

The funniest episode was the one where he went to Amsterdam (I don't know if it was this or the Layover). He joked about not being able to smoke pot because of his drug history, then proceeded to get drunk with no sense of irony at all. If anything, I would think marijuana would be a safer drug to toy with than alcohol for someone with such an addictive personality.

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People who insist on labeling others bother me far more than people who drink.

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I don't have a problem with his drinking, I have a problem with hypocrisy. Bordain has made a career out of calling bull *beep* on people. If he's going to do that he has to face the music himself. You can't publicly pat yourself on the back for years of sobriety from drugs while getting drunk every night. Alcohol is an addictive drug, even if it is legal. If he wants to indulge in drugs then fine, more power to him (this is supposed to be a free country, after all), but at least be honest with yourself about it.

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He still uses drugs

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Far as I can tell, he's only particularly made a point of saying he doesn't do crack anymore or presumably any other "hard drugs" he might have been using (the designation is silly, I agree; alcohol's worse for you than pretty much anything other than meth and heroin, and those two are only worse because of the impurities in manufacturing and the non-availability of pharmaceutical-grade stuff). He's strongly insinuated that he'll still smoke weed. See the Tangiers episode of Parts Unknown, where he goes to a weed cafe and says he definitely, definitely isn't smoking weed because CNN wouldn't let him, only to certainly seem at least a tiny bit high after the next cut.

Bourdain doesn't claim to be sober, just to have gotten over his specific addiction to crack cocaine.

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Exactly. And get help.

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That's not it.
What makes you an alcoholic is that you can't make yourself not drink, and that you're drunk on a regular basis.
A lot of alcoholics can hold their liquor pretty well, keep up with appearances and hold a job, but they're still addicted and slowly killing their liver.

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