Anthony Bourdain: Stoned in Seattle

It's taken Anthony Bourdain 15 years to smoke a joint on one of his travel foodie TV shows. Now that marijuana's legal in Washington State, he decided to sample some of the cannabis available in Seattle's regulated pot market on Parts Unknown on CNN. At the begining of the Nov. 19 episode, Bourdain announces:

'Washington legalized weed in 2012 and I plan to make the most of it.'

After acquiring three Hollingsworth Cannabis Company strains— Alaska Thunderfuck, Blueberry Kush and Dutch Treat—at Emerald Haze in nearby Renton, Bourdain tells Raph and Joy Hollingsworth at Mamnoon, a Syrian restaurant:

'I've been smoking some of your product so if I'm a little unfocused. I've been trying them all one after the other.'

Indeed, Bourdain opens and closes the Seattle episode with a joint, which he rolls at one point:

'Next to making a proper omlette or wiping your own ass, rolling a joint is an essential life skill for any self-respecting member of society.'

Bourdain then reveals:

'I've been smoking weed since I was 13. All that bad shit that was supposed to happen if you smoked too much weed didn't really happen. But looking at my own life, I can see my ambition. There were things I was thinking of doing, but once I smoked some good weed, I was like, nah.'

While Bourdain has traveled to many drug producing countries, he never used any on screen. As he relaxes on a hotel balcony with a joint in hand in Seattle, Bourdain appears to be finally at peace.

Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom

Publisher of CelebStoner.com, former editor of High Times and Freedom Leaf and co-author of Pot Culture and Reefer Movie Madness.