Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

Welcome to the enchanted,

seldom visited wonderland of Asturias.

That's in Spain, if you didn't know,

and, of course, because it's Spain,

I did not come here alone.

I came here with a good friend, great chef.

He's a complicated man.

Nobody understands him but his woman.

And I'm not talking about John Shaft.

"Shut your mouth."

I'm talking about José Andrés...

Yeah, another beer. Um, wide.

Shit, Anthony's waiting!

Only chef in the history of America

ever to be sued by a sitting president.

I'm so proud of him.

You know, sometimes we have a hard time leaving

the comfort of the known...

And we don't understand that life only starts...

At the edge of the unknown.

That's when life starts.

I've been an immigrant all my life...

From Asturias to Catalonia,

from Catalonia to Madrid.

Then I landed in America.

I've lived in the States more than 26 years of my life.

More than half of my life, I've been there.

I think everybody should be

always finding the place they come from.

Asturias, I left when I was five.

A lot of people would not have a lot of memories before five,

but I do have them.

And me, I always feel, in Spain,

like, so proud that I am a Spaniard.

That's why for me coming back here

is to understanding that, yes, I'm from here,

but they have to work hard to belong.

- Viva, Asturias! - Viva!

Astonishing.

Unbelievable.

Well, I always wanted to do it.

Try that in New York.

So, a question:

When you were a kid, after you left here at age 5,

how often did you visit?

It took me many, many years,

almost like 12, 14 years to come back.

You know...

because to me, when I left so young,

it's almost like meeting a family you knew you had

but you never met.

Still, nothing beats these moments.

Always there's something happening.

What do you eat here? What's good here?

- Everything. - What do you eat?

Here right now is the season of arbeyos.

Mm.

Which is the green peas.

And right now is the season.

And they love these green peas here in season.

And they serve them with ham.

Oh! This looks amazing.

Arbeyos.

It's perfect.

- Oh... - Croquette.

Everybody says that Asturias has the best croquetas

anywhere in Spain...

Really? Everybody says that?

Everybody, especially the people in Asturias.

Yeah, I would guess.

You see how creamy.

Good taste.

Ah, mussels.

Perfect. Clams.

They make a great steak, done with bleu cheese,

right on top.

Cabrales on top of the steak.

It's kind of the sauce happens right on the plate.

- Mm-hmm, okay. - It's amazing.

So, you want the whole cheese to spoon...

Yeah. It heavy, yeah? It heavy.

It's spicy!

Oh, no, I like spicy.

Oh, buh-buh, buh-buh-buh-buh, no.

José?

I love all the opinions.

Everybody's highly opinionated, as they should be.

And nobody's gonna agree with anybody,

only because, why to agree?

Yeah, well, any place where people argue about food

is a good place.

So, once a year, twice a year you come?

Yeah, well, at least once a year,

but sometimes, I only show up for two, three hours.

- Really? - Yeah.

I close the eyes, I breathe in, breathe out,

and, like, I'm home.

Especially when I go in the mountains.

I love to be around people, because I have a lot of energy,

and I like to feed off of the energy of the people too,

and give energy away... Right.

But sometimes, I need my moments of solitude.

I know you like moments of solitude too.

They are powerful moments.

Yeah, but I'm not walking up a mountain.

You'll see.

And I'm gonna be taking you

probably to the heart of Asturias...

Oh, yeah?

It's where I feel the happiest.

So I gotta hike up a mountain?

Is that what you're saying?

Well, I'll make a decent you.

Okay, we need more cider.

We're going deep, deep.

Through the mountain?

Through the mountain.

It's always deep.

Could you imagine, less than 20 years ago,

people had to walk all the way to the top?

Wow.

Wow.

It's a hot day today. Yeah.

I came overdressed, man.

Jesus.

Okay, are you hungry now?

Oh, God, are we there?

That's the town.

All right.

You're gonna see what the people of the mountain

used to eat.

Beans.

Well, to quote the great American poet Robert Frost:

"Beans, beans, the musical fruit.

"The more you eat, the more you toot.

"The more you toot, the better you feel,

so eat some beans with every meal."

That's the reason we're coming up here.

- Yeah, it's beautiful. - Yeah.

I expect to be accosted by some Keebler Elves

at any moment.

We welcome you to Munchkin Land

The Munchkin Land

It moves!

Help!

You see, here in Asturias, nothing is plentiful...

And the people of Asturias,

even in the hard times, they know what to do...

with nothing.

I think Asturias has been a land

that with nothing has able to do a lot,

and that shows you the character

of the people of Asturias.

So, I'll tell you...

five-hour hike up the mountain, it's tough.

I'm enjoying this...

I'm enjoying this cold weather.

- Boom. - I'll tell ya.

Could you imagine when people that live here,

the only way to go down and up and bring things

was walking three, four hours?

I could well imagine.

How long was that hike from the funicular to here?

What, four hours? No, it was like-

- Oh, my God, I was not sure I was gonna make it.

Like, ten minutes, maybe 20.

You're in very good shape. Come on.

This is nothing.

And to eat this kind of food,

we need to put some exercise always before.

Oh, wow.

What is amazing is that,

if I ask you, "What do you think this is,

an appetizer, or it's a main course?"

Right.

Many people would say, "That's a main course."

I mean, it's fatty, it's heavy. I would definitely say that.

Well, we eat these in Asturias as an appetizer.

The first course.

Wow. And it's fa... ... "fabado"?

- Fabada. - "Favada."

Fabada.

It's very difficult to define a region by a dish,

but without a doubt,

Asturias is defined by this dish.

Fabada.

Deep, deep, soulful cooking.

You have to meet Guillermina.

Probably she's inside.

Guillermina's a very special person.

101 years old.

Well, she is not in the kitchen anymore,

but until not too long ago, she was.

In this day and age,

it seems that kitchens are manned by men.

We don't realize who is feeding humanity

are women.

In a woman like Guillermina, you see very much that.

She's the only one that could be up there in that place,

at the end of the world,