By the time the kids are in bed we don't have two hours for a movie, so have taken to watching, in unsystematic fashion, episodes of "No Reservations," Anthony Bourdain's travel-adventure-culinary TV show. Part of the appeal is seeing new places without paying airfare or being revealed as a tourist by the knowing locals. We're with Tony and he knows the places to go.
We choose episodes based mostly on the title, which doesn't explain why we haven't yet seen "Food Porn" and "Food Porn 2." We have seen the episodes concerning Tony's visits to Hawaii, Laos, Saudi Arabia, London and Edinburgh, Cleveland, Vancouver, and the one in which he eats raw seal with the Inuit: they kill the creature, haul home the carcass, drop it on a tarp on the kitchen floor, have at it with sharp knives and fingers. You might be wincing but Tony, who obliged his courteous hosts by sucking the juices out of an eyeball, says the worst thing he's eaten is a Chicken McNugget.
Another part of the appeal is Bourdain's personality, described by himself as "snarky." He doesn't think much of the Food Network, Rachel Ray, or ABBA, but he loves the Ramones, swears a lot, and used to be an addict. Cool, huh?
Speaking of "snarky," why do you suppose so many words starting sn- have unfavorable connotations?--snake, snag, snarl, sneer, snicker, snide, snigger, snit, snivel, snob, snort, snot, snub. Snack and snooze are the exceptions that prove the rule. Faulkner knew what he was doing when he christened Flem Snopes.
