Spokane chef Jeremy Hansen pays tribute to Anthony Bourdain

Like many, Spokane chef Jeremy Hansen learned of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s death early this morning.

He woke up around 5 a.m. and, for reasons unknown to him, couldn’t go back to sleep.

“(I) just opened up the computer and boom, right there,” he said.

In tribute to Bourdain, Hansen offered beer Friday at Hogwash Whiskey Den, Butcher Bar, located inside Santé Restaurant and Charcuterie, and Inland Pacific Kitchen.

Tonight at Hogwash Whiskey Den, Hansen will play clips of Bourdain’s work and give a toast, and he invites people to share stories about Bourdain.

Bourdain was perhaps best known for his book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly” and his TV show “Parts Unknown.”

Hansen never got the chance to meet Bourdain, who was 61 at the time of his passing, but he said he feels like he knew him after following his work for years.

Bourdain, Hansen said, taught those outside of the food community more about the life of a chef while reminding those in the community that it’s OK to be passionate about the work you’re doing.

“Helping people be aware of the craziness of our world and it’s OK to cook whatever it is that you’re cooking, whatever style it is that you’re cooking, stresses and everything and the different kinds of food out there and the worldly travels he’s done,” Hansen said. “He’s been a teacher and an advocate for great things in our world for many years. There’s so much that he’s done for all of us.”

Hansen believes Bourdain will be remembered for helping those in the food industry understand that, no matter how crazy things get, people always come first.

“He’s showed us all that whether we’re in a super-high-end restaurant or a fast-food restaurant or street food, a food truck or a Michelin star restaurant or whatever, we’re all in the same boat,” he said. “We’re all living in the same world and it’s not about so much the food that you’re cooking as it is about the people you’re cooking it for or the people you’re cooking it with.”

Hansen has been affected by suicide more than once this year and said Bourdain’s death hit especially hard. He hopes it sparks a conversation about suicide and the fact that it can affect anyone.

In the coming years, Hansen hopes to make this tribute to Bourdain an annual event.

“He was a pillar in our community, in our chef world anyways, and people like him should never be forgotten,” Hansen said.