“Children create themselves independently of us. All you can do is show, like in my case, my daughter feels loved. She knows she’s loved. She has good self-esteem. Very important. And good martial arts skills. She knows she can take any boy in her age group. That’s all I can do as a father.”
— to Popula
“She’s a weird kid with weird parents. She goes to school with a lot of kids with very differing backgrounds who come from different places. She understands that not everyone lives like her. She’s traveled a lot and enjoyed it, and I like to think that has given her a restless and curious mind. I encourage that in every way I can.”
“I became a father at fifty years of age. That’s late, I know. But for me, it was just right. At no point previously had I been old enough, settled enough, or mature enough for this, the biggest and most important of jobs: the love and care of another human being.”
— from his book Appetites: A Cookbook
“She’s been training jiu-jitsu since age 4. My sole duty as a parent and as a father, particularly raising a little girl who is going to grow up to be a young woman, is that she will never look to men for affirmation, or anyone else for affirmation or self-worth or be physically intimidated by anyone. My daughter spinning arm bars is a thing of envy — Ronda Rousey quality.”
“From the second I saw my daughter’s head corkscrewing out of the womb, I began making some major changes in my life. I was no longer the star of my own movie — or any movie. From that point on, it was all about the girl.
“Fatherhood has been an enormous relief, as I am now genetically, instinctually compelled to care more about someone other than myself. I like being a father. No, I love being a father. Everything about it.”
— from his book Appetites: A Cookbook
“I’m sure my wife has a different view on this, but if I could go back to the diaper-changing, wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-soothe-crying-baby phase of fatherhood? I’d be overjoyed.”
— from his book Appetites: A Cookbook
“While I feel strongly that to try and make a small child into one’s own image as a pint-size ‘foodie’ would be at best annoying and at worst a form of child abuse, I am secretly proud when she reaches for a hunk of salty Pecorino, a caper, or an anchovy, as she is apt to do on visits with my wife’s family in Italy. I admit to shamelessly praising her when she, to our surprise, became enamored with oysters on the half shell.”
— to Bon Appétit
“I am very much enjoying the fatherhood phase of my life. I used to love it when my father made pancakes for me. Cooking breakfast and brunch professionally really kind of ruined breakfast service for me for a long time. I am grateful to my daughter and her friends, especially when they have a sleepover party for making brunch fun again!”
— to USA Today
![<p><strong>“I also do feel I have things to live for. There have been times, honestly, in my life that I figured, ‘I’ve had a good run — why not just do this stupid thing, this selfish thing … jump off a cliff into water of indeterminate depth.’ [Before my daughter I would] “go to places where I was, frankly, asking for trouble. It was a daredevil move. In retrospect, I don’t know that I would do that today — now that I’m a dad or reasonably happy.”</strong></p>
<p>— to <a href="https://people.com/food/anthony-bourdain-responsibility-to-live-for-daughter-people-interview/">PEOPLE</a></p>](https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/anthony-bourdain-114.jpg?w=768)
“I also do feel I have things to live for. There have been times, honestly, in my life that I figured, ‘I’ve had a good run — why not just do this stupid thing, this selfish thing … jump off a cliff into water of indeterminate depth.’ [Before my daughter I would] “go to places where I was, frankly, asking for trouble. It was a daredevil move. In retrospect, I don’t know that I would do that today — now that I’m a dad or reasonably happy.”
— to PEOPLE
“Children create themselves independently of us. All you can do is show, like in my case, my daughter feels loved. She knows she’s loved. She has good self-esteem. Very important. And good martial arts skills. She knows she can take any boy in her age group. That’s all I can do as a father.”
— to Popula
“She’s a weird kid with weird parents. She goes to school with a lot of kids with very differing backgrounds who come from different places. She understands that not everyone lives like her. She’s traveled a lot and enjoyed it, and I like to think that has given her a restless and curious mind. I encourage that in every way I can.”
“I became a father at fifty years of age. That’s late, I know. But for me, it was just right. At no point previously had I been old enough, settled enough, or mature enough for this, the biggest and most important of jobs: the love and care of another human being.”
— from his book Appetites: A Cookbook
“She’s been training jiu-jitsu since age 4. My sole duty as a parent and as a father, particularly raising a little girl who is going to grow up to be a young woman, is that she will never look to men for affirmation, or anyone else for affirmation or self-worth or be physically intimidated by anyone. My daughter spinning arm bars is a thing of envy — Ronda Rousey quality.”
“From the second I saw my daughter’s head corkscrewing out of the womb, I began making some major changes in my life. I was no longer the star of my own movie — or any movie. From that point on, it was all about the girl.
“Fatherhood has been an enormous relief, as I am now genetically, instinctually compelled to care more about someone other than myself. I like being a father. No, I love being a father. Everything about it.”
— from his book Appetites: A Cookbook
“I’m sure my wife has a different view on this, but if I could go back to the diaper-changing, wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-soothe-crying-baby phase of fatherhood? I’d be overjoyed.”
— from his book Appetites: A Cookbook
“While I feel strongly that to try and make a small child into one’s own image as a pint-size ‘foodie’ would be at best annoying and at worst a form of child abuse, I am secretly proud when she reaches for a hunk of salty Pecorino, a caper, or an anchovy, as she is apt to do on visits with my wife’s family in Italy. I admit to shamelessly praising her when she, to our surprise, became enamored with oysters on the half shell.”
— to Bon Appétit
“I am very much enjoying the fatherhood phase of my life. I used to love it when my father made pancakes for me. Cooking breakfast and brunch professionally really kind of ruined breakfast service for me for a long time. I am grateful to my daughter and her friends, especially when they have a sleepover party for making brunch fun again!”
— to USA Today
“I also do feel I have things to live for. There have been times, honestly, in my life that I figured, ‘I’ve had a good run — why not just do this stupid thing, this selfish thing … jump off a cliff into water of indeterminate depth.’ [Before my daughter I would] “go to places where I was, frankly, asking for trouble. It was a daredevil move. In retrospect, I don’t know that I would do that today — now that I’m a dad or reasonably happy.”
— to PEOPLE