ANTHONY BOURDAIN: PARTS UNKNOWN with Justin Cook

What made Anthony Bourdain more than just a TV host — and why does his work still matter? In this episode of Film Nuts, I sit down with climate journalist and photographer Justin Cook to dig into the lasting legacy of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, the CNN docuseries that turned food into a lens for understanding people, place, and power.

Justin breaks down why Bourdain's storytelling never really felt like travel television — it was actual journalism, and really good journalism at that. We talk about the Charleston episode, Waffle House, why the Jerusalem episode hits different right now, and how watching Bourdain sit at a grandma's kitchen table in Gaza and tell a story through food changed the way Justin thinks about his own reporting.

Justin is a solutions journalist covering climate change across the American South, and the parallels between his work and Bourdain's approach are honestly kind of wild. We also get into why there are whale skeletons buried in the Tar River in North Carolina, which I absolutely needed answers to after stalking his Instagram.

This one is about storytelling, journalism, the power of showing up somewhere with genuine curiosity, and yes — a very passionate defense of Waffle House.

Justin's work:
Justin’s Portfolio https://www.justincookphoto.com/
Justin’s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justincookphoto/
Origins: Climate Change and Solutions in Princeville, North Carolina, America's Oldest Incorporated Black Town https://www.originsclimatestories.com/
Tide and Time: Sea Level Rise and Solastalgia on
North Carolina's Outer Banks https://stories.pulitzercenter.org/tide-and-time/

Transcript

Anthony Bourdain: [00:00:00] I mean, I just wish that more Americans had passports. The extent to which you can see how other people live seems useful at worst and incredibly pleasurable and interesting at best. 

Justin Cook: I really love the way Anthony Bourdain used his platform to center regular working class people and sort of told stories about social issues through food.

I think when you first watch Anthony Bourdain, it's like, "Oh, this is inter- this is like a travel and a food show." But it's like, it's not. It's like, it's jour- it's actual journalism.

Taylor D. Adams: Hey, folks. Welcome back to Film Nuts, a show about why we love what we watch. Resident travel lover and wannabe foodie Taylor here . And I'm so stoked to be back for a new and very special season full of 100% in-person conversations with fun and unique film and TV lovers. So let's just get right into it.

What is a TV show actually capable of? [00:01:00] Can it do more than just entertain? What if it opened your mind to other parts of the world, other people, other food? Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown was the final docuseries of the late author, chef, and host that was the show's namesake. Bourdain's mix of snarky wit and experienced palate and genuine desire for human connection gave audiences a real and honest look at places and people different from themselves.

His belief that we should all try as many things as we can led him to have a profound impact on viewers, like my guest today. Justin Cook is a climate journalist and photographer whose work and philosophy were shaped by Bourdain's vision. Justin's photographic essays and narrative journalism projects tell stories about ordinary people who are being impacted by climate change, and connect the issue to things that they are passionate about, including their homes, sacred places, and history itself.

Today, we chat about [00:02:00] Bourdain's unique approach to telling stories, common misconceptions about journalism, and why Waffle House is so amazing. So pack your bags. Here's Justin Cook talking about Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown right here on Film Nuts. 

Justin Cook: I think I'm fine, like, within the confines of, like, my 1,200 square foot home in my community, but, like- I think if you're an intelligent and empathetic human right now, you probably aren't doing well- Like, in the larger scheme of things. 

Taylor D. Adams: You know, for reasons, 

Justin Cook: Yeah That are, but, I mean, as a journalist too, like, I'm con- I have to stay on top of what's happening, and a lot's happening. Yeah.

Like, holy sh*t. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. How, as a journa- how do you deal with covering, reporting, reading about, seeing things that just have a personal effect on, you? How do journalists kind of cope with that, or, do they? 

Justin Cook: I mean, I don't think a lot of them do it well. If you go to, like, a lot of the [00:03:00] national conferences, there's a lot of binge drinking.

Taylor D. Adams: Okay. 

Justin Cook: I have a therapist. I feel like I have a good, like, community of people that I can talk to. 

I also find a, I tend to be I tend to channel the feel- the feelings, and particularly the, like, anger and, like, sadness i- back into the work that I do. 

and I'm also doing, like, a specific type of journalism now that is actually, like, way better for my mental health, called solutions journalism.

That focuses on climate solutions. Okay. And it's, like, this four-pillar process that you have to go through. but it investigates, like, what people are actually doing at a community level to deal with and adapt to climate change. And, I think if I was just, like, reporting on disaster after disaster, I would've, like...

I don't know. Like, I'd probably be, like, committed at this point. 

Taylor D. Adams: So it's more, like, finding ways that people are coming up with the solutions that you- Yeah ... as you me- as you mentioned, as [00:04:00] opposed to just, like, "Hey, this is bad." 

Justin Cook: Yeah, we know it's bad, so, like, what are we doing? What's the plan? yeah, my favorite, one of my favorite climate, thinkers, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, says, "Fuck hope.

What's the strategy?" 

And I think that's kind of, like, where my brain is right now. Hope should be a byproduct of, like, having action- 

Taylor D. Adams: and 

Justin Cook: taking action and having a strategy. 

That's, to me, h- where I, have hope. Otherwise, it's like, oh, my God, there's a bunch of carbon in the atmosphere.

Was it the EPA just killed the endangerment findings that, like- 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah ... 

Justin Cook: you know, designates, CO2 and greenhouse gases as a pollutant, and, like, undermines ability to regulate them. 

So. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah, like, yeah, at a loss for words or sh*t like that. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. What do you mean? It's ha- everything's happening so fast.

Yeah. Like- 

Taylor D. Adams: I've been, stalking your Instagram for a little while. I w- I 

Justin Cook: wanna- Which, which one? 

Taylor D. Adams: I really wanna know, why the hell there are whale skeletons in the Tar River here in North Carolina. [00:05:00] 

Justin Cook: You know, millions of years ago, whales were freshwater, and they lived in the Tar River. I'm just kidding.

That's not true. thr- millions of years- You had 

Taylor D. Adams: me 50%. 

Justin Cook: you had, 'em- Convinced. You had, me at the beginning, the first half. yeah, so, so millions of years ago, eastern North Carolina was an ocean. And basically because sea level was 70 feet higher, because climate, global climate was four degrees Celsius warmer, and atmospheric carbon levels were the literally the same as they are today, which is really scary because essentially our environment and our oceans have not caught up according to the science.

there was an ocean that basically extended to where Interstate 95 is. 

So there were whales swimming around Rocky Mount. They were swimming around Princeville. They were swimming around Tarboro. They were swimming all over the place. so when the, sea kinda went in and out because you had these episodes of, like, glaciation, glaciers, ice age, mini ice ages, that sort [00:06:00] of thing, All that stuff would get buried, so there'd be, like, whale skeletons, shark's teeth.

Anything that was in a shallow sea that died got buried and fossilized, so you can find their bones. 

It's pretty cool. 

Taylor D. Adams: That is cool. how did you, like- What made you go start digging in that river, like in the first place? 

Justin Cook: I have an identical twin brother. and one day he messaged me and was like, "Hey, did you know you could like buy megalodon teeth on eBay, and a lot of them come from North Carolina?"

And I was like, "What?" And so like w- we figured out that there was like this group of like nerdy, like amateur fossil hunters that you could like join, and like they would take you on like digs around the eastern part of the state. 

Taylor D. Adams: That's cool. 

Justin Cook: They have these like really cool relationships with quarries, and they basically, like a couple times a year they'll have access to dig in these quarries.

They kinda cut down into these old [00:07:00] sediment layers from- where the ocean used to be. And I was like, "Wow, you can like find this stuff in North Carolina." And then one thing led to another, and we started finding our own spots. And, we, fossil hunt as a way to- That's cool ... reconnect to, the Earth really- our environment. 

Anthony Bourdain: If you've been to France, chances are you haven't been here. France's second-largest city, the oldest city in France. It sits right by the Mediterranean. The food is famously good, yet it's a victim of bad reputation, bad history. Marseille, as it turns out, exactly the kind of place I like. 

Justin Cook: I love Anthony Bourdain.

Rest in peace. I really love the way Anthony Bourdain used his platform to center, like working, regular working class people, and sort of used, [00:08:00] sort of told stories about social issues through food. 

Like, I think if you... I think when you first watch Anthony Bourdain it's like, "Oh, this is int- this is like a travel and a food show," but it's like, it's not.

It's like, it's jour- it's actual journalism, and it's really good. but he connected all this stuff to like the most intimate, parts of people's lives. you know, the food, the stuff they care about, their sacred places, their identity, and, and really used it as a way to talk about really complicated subjects and show people in a complex and nuanced way kinda beyond how they're portrayed in like traditional legacy media.

there's like a number of, episodes that really stand out. Like, I actually re-watched the one about Jeru- Jerusalem today. 

Taylor D. Adams: I, also did. Which 

Justin Cook: is like s- Really? 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. Like, 

Justin Cook: It's so good. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah, it's so good. Yeah. It also like feels, you know, especially pertinent. 

Anthony Bourdain: We, all of us bring stuff along when we, [00:09:00] travel.

Your reconceptions, your personal belief system, the full weight of your, life experience. It's gonna come to bear on the way you experience a place But whatever you may think and whatever baggage you may bring to this place You should see this 

Justin Cook: That was when, that was the episode that introduced me to Layla Hadad, and then I think it was Betty and Mona, the street racers in- Oh, right

the West Bank. Yeah. Like, when I think of, like, the occupied West Bank, like, the fir- that, that's not the first thing that comes to my mind. 

Taylor D. Adams: Oh, 

Justin Cook: yeah, 

But I was like, that blew my mind. I was like, that's dope. that's really cool." 

Taylor D. Adams: With hi- I mean, for me, like, with his approach to just any place that he went, any person that he talked to, like, these aren't the people you're gonna see on any other, like, news journalism outlet.

Justin Cook: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's exactly right, and like, I think [00:10:00] the, one of the tr- the things I love most about his work is that he used his storytelling, like his privilege and his platform to challenge power, and the traditional stories that, like gentrification, colonialism, imperialism, war, race, class, all those things.

and he did it, to me, like, like, I mean, around f- like, sitting in a grandma's kitchen in Gaza or the West Bank and telling a story through food and having, like, meals with people, that's like one of the most intimate things you can do, and that, like, really resonates with me. And, like, my approach to a lot of my climate journalism is the same way.

It's to, like, spend a long period of time with people, around their dinner tables, really getting to know them, and then but instead of, like, thinking about climate change as this sort of like, like hyper-object that's like too big to touch, like how do you make it really, small and personal and connect it to the things that people are passionate about?

and I think that I kinda [00:11:00] learned that from, watching that show. 

Taylor D. Adams: How did, you first get into journalism? 

Justin Cook: I was I was- 

Taylor D. Adams: I'm sorry. is that a tough question? 

Justin Cook: No, it's... No, there's a, well, there's a couple different stories. Well, d- first was, my mo- my, my, my maternal grandfather and I were really close in high school, and we had, a US history project where we had to interview a World War II veteran.

So I interviewed him, and through the interview process, like, did tons of research about his unit and figured out, like, where he was and built this, like, relationship with him where he trusted me and told me about th- things he went through that he hadn't even told his own daughter. 

And that was when it clicked to me that, like, h- w- when you're...

the power of interviewing people, the powe- power of, like, having, like, like an intentional relationship with people and building trust and confidence, like, can [00:12:00] allow you to, like, uncover things that people wouldn't necessarily tell everyone. But, yeah, it just, like, it really, it just really... The bug of, like, storytelling really bit me.

Taylor D. Adams: Anthony Bourdain has, like- been around cultural consciousness for a very long time, both on TV and in print. Like, when did you first, when were you first introduced to either him or, like, one of the shows or one, maybe a book he wrote? 

Justin Cook: Man, I'm trying to think of the first time I ever watched...

Well, I remember, the first episode I ever watched. 

Taylor D. Adams: Oh. Yeah. 

Justin Cook: Which 

Taylor D. Adams: one was it? 

Justin Cook: he went to Charleston. 

Taylor D. Adams: Okay. 

Justin Cook: With Sean Brock. 

Taylor D. Adams: Okay. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. You know where I'm going. 

Taylor D. Adams: I have an 

Justin Cook: inkling. Yeah. and I love that episode because they go to Waffle House. 

Anthony Bourdain: Hi, gentlemen. Oh. 

Sean Brock: Oh, the pecan waffle. You just crush it.

You put every s- You just 

Anthony Bourdain: slather it. 

Sean Brock: I [00:13:00] want it to be swimming in syrup and Ahmad Ganay's vegetable oil. 

Anthony Bourdain: oh, that's good. that's good. 

Sean Brock: Yeah, see? You don't come here expecting The French Laundry. You come here expecting something amazing. 

Anthony Bourdain: This is better than The French Laundry, man. 

Justin Cook: When I saw that, I was like, oh, like, this guy is, like, really open to, like, any experience.

And like, and the way he embraced it, like, everything about that episode, like, especially that se- that section, yeah, it, made me proud to be a Southerner. 

Cause I've been a Waffle House fan for a long time. 

School Principal: Same. 

Justin Cook: And, yeah, And like, but s- some people just, like, really look on... look down on it.

I'm like, dude, it's a... it's, like, one of the best third spaces we have. 

They've taken everything from us, but they haven't taken Waffle House. you can see a fight while you're there. I've seen marriage proposals in Waffle House. 

Taylor D. Adams: That's nuts. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. It was awesome. That's- That was on the one on Electric Road in Roanoke, Virginia.

Okay. [00:14:00] I remember it like it was yesterday. I hope they're still together. That'd be great. He made me proud to, to, like, be a Southerner when I watched that show. And, like, he could have had, like... Like, you know, he had, like, a critical look at the South, too. It wasn't, like, just this rosy episode about, like, how good the food is.

Taylor D. Adams: Right. 

Justin Cook: But, like, he, did what he did with every other culture. He, like, celebrated the food. He celebrated hash browns smothered, covered, chunked. He s- he celebrated a pecan waffle covered in vegetable product. Like, I wanna say butter. And just 

Taylor D. Adams: drowned in syrup. 

Justin Cook: Drowned in syrup. Like, he celebrated that. And I'm like, hell yeah.

Hell yeah, brother. Like, that's right. It's so good. Like... And I just have so many memories attached to that, from college and, like, you know, you know, late nights at the newspaper, us going to Waffle House- stuff like that. And, yeah, it just made me... It just, like... It felt special. my favorite thing about that episode, if you look in the window, [00:15:00] you can see, like, the flicker of, like, blue police lights in the parking lot- Oh

which I think is really, like, the sprinkle on- 

Taylor D. Adams: It's f- it's true. Yeah. It's a... It makes it feel as real as it actually 

Justin Cook: is. It's very authentic. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. Yeah. 

Justin Cook: So... 

Taylor D. Adams: Why do you love Waffle House? 

Justin Cook: Oh my God, it's like- My brother and I always go there to, we fossil hunt. 'Cause if you've been digging up whales for six hours straight- Work up an 

Taylor D. Adams: appetite.

Justin Cook: Yeah, you- it's, you're really calorie deficit. It just doesn't matter what you eat at that point. Yeah. So, what's your go-to dish at Waffle House? 

Taylor D. Adams: hash browns, smothered and covered. 

Justin Cook: Hell yeah. 

Taylor D. Adams: two eggs over easy, side of bacon. 

Justin Cook: Hell yeah. I do the Texas, cheesesteak melt plate, and I get them to put scrambled eggs on the cheesesteak.

Oh. I know. It's so good. 

Taylor D. Adams: I think that's a, new move. 

Justin Cook: It's really good. It's really good. 

Taylor D. Adams: I'm gonna have to go there tonight. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. The pecan waffle is, like, the only way to do the waffle too. 

Taylor D. Adams: See, I haven't had the pecan waffle, and now I [00:16:00] need to. 

Justin Cook: Oh my God. 

Taylor D. Adams: And now I need to. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: Maybe the next episode we go to Waffle House.

Taylor D. Adams: Okay. Let's do a whole sequel. We'll, I will go with you to fossil hunt. Okay. And then we will go to Waffle House. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. That sounds great. Okay. Let's do it. 

Taylor D. Adams: Javi, you wanna come for that? 

Justin Cook: I'm down. 

Taylor D. Adams: All right. Amy, you there? He's, like, inviting everyone. Whenever I see an Anthony Bourdain clip, or someone also talks about how much they loved his work or anything like that, like, I'm, brought back to that joy, but I'm also brought back to the sadness that happened when he left us.

what... How did, did that affect you? Oh. Like, in a, like... It seems like a dumb question. I 

Justin Cook: was devastated. But, 

Taylor D. Adams: like, but, like, what happened 

Justin Cook: with you? I was devastated. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah? 

Justin Cook: Yeah. The only other death, like, sort of pop culture death like that really affected me so deeply was when Kurt Cobain killed himself.

Like, I remember that like it was yesterday. But I remember when Anthony Bourdain died. I was really, sad. Regular [00:17:00] people in countries that we have done... Our country has done a lot to colonize, pillage, destroy, plunder. They lost, a platform. 

And I think that's what was so sad about it.

He, I feel like he was so sincere and, like, self-deprecating, and took his job so seriously, and, like, but also had clearly had a lot of fun while he was doing it. Like, I just felt like he, he, just had this, like, everyman sort of, like, fight for the underdog type of quality to him, and he had a point of view, too.

Like, he was... I don't think that Bourdain necessarily believed that obj- objectivity was, like, the goal of his work. I think that he wanted... I, think what he... His goal re- I think was advancing understanding, showing complexity, and taking us someplace we hadn't, some- something, someplace we hadn't been before, and seeing something we haven't seen before, and dispelling a lot of [00:18:00] stereotypes, and making people more complex and more three-dimensional.

and I don't know of, other television journalists who do that really well at all- 

to this day. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. I was... I recently watched, I can- cannot remember the name of it, but it was a, documentary about, like, what happened with Vice- Yeah ... Media. And in that, it was, like, kind of showed that, oh, the higher-ups at Vice wanted, like, the salacious, wanted the scandalous- Right

stuff to try to get, even with, like, this, like, underdog underground attitude. But it's like, an episode of Viceland was shot in this one country, and then a week later, an episode of Parts Unknown on that same country comes out, and they are just completely- Right ... 

Justin Cook: different. Exactly. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. Yeah. Just to show the fact that, like, hey, like, can we get...

Like you said, there's no... Objectivity wasn't the goal, but if you at least [00:19:00] lean in with... Like, it could be wildly different perspectives as opposed to, like, this is the single definition of what this place or this country is. 

Justin Cook: Right. It's the danger of a single story. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: I think Bourdain always surprised me.

Like the episode where he goes to Houston and hangs out with Slim Thug. That episode is so good. and, like, when I... I, didn't know anything about Houston before I watched that, even just, even after li- having lived and interned in Texas. Like, but, you know, it- That episode has its, had its sort of its like its pitfalls, but it really, like as a product of like the time period when it came out was like right...

I think it was like right before or like right after Trump got elected the first term. He was trying to show us that like what we all really know is true, that immigrants are what make this country great. 

Anthony Bourdain: A typical Texas school, just like the rest of them. Nope, not even close. 

Teacher: Good morning. Good [00:20:00] morning.

All right. Repeat after me. Positive affirmations. Today is a beautiful day. Today is a beautiful day. I will work hard. I will work hard. I am important. I am important. Repeat, I will succeed. I will 

Anthony Bourdain: succeed. What percentage of your student body English is not their first language? 

School Principal: I would say about 80% of them 

Justin Cook: Again, it was an episode where, like, the, the South felt special.

I consider Houston the South. I think that people don't, they don't really appreciate the South- 

for, like, what we're actually capable of down here. 

Taylor D. Adams: What do you think... This is a loaded question that I probably know some of the answer to. What do you think, why does the South get a bad rap, and what is that rap?

Justin Cook: I mean, everyone thinks we're s- like a bunch of backwards hicks, but, like, to me, we're... What's that, there's this, like, saying that we're, like, a bunch of progressive cities held hostage by a bunch of [00:21:00] fascists via ger- gerrymandering. 

Teacher: Oh. 

Justin Cook: Like, that's my experience as a Southerner. 

but I think, like, like, when I meet people who, like, complain about the South or, like, look down their nose at the South, I'm like, "Hey, like, you know, most of Americans liber- America's liberation struggles have come from the South."

Like, ex- they're like, "Oh, like, it's like this religious place full of holy rollers." I'm like, "Yeah, and it's a place where, like, Black and brown people organized in church basements and, like, did the whole civil rights movement." And that's not even, like, you know... Let's, not even talk about Reconstruction- and, like, the magic that happened during that period, particularly in North Carolina. you know, you had radical Republicans and fr- new- newly freed Black people who were formerly enslaved, like, working together, like, to consolidate political power and to actual make, actually make change. And you could also argue that most of American culture comes from or comes through the South in some ways.[00:22:00] 

Yeah, 

Like our food, it's all, like, Afro influenced. Definitely. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah, the food for sure. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. The music. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yes. 

Justin Cook: Have you ever watched that, documentary Harlan County, USA? 

Taylor D. Adams: Oh, I've seen a little bit of it. I haven't seen the 

Justin Cook: whole thing. Oh, that movie will make you be pr- proud to be a Southerner. 

Yeah.

It's, they're, the, they're the 1970s, like, United Mine Workers strike. And it's, Duke Power that they're striking against. 

Taylor D. Adams: Oh, is it? 

Justin Cook: Yeah. Oh, 

Taylor D. Adams: wow. 

Justin Cook: Which I'm assuming is the same Duke Power- It's 

Taylor D. Adams: gotta be, 

Justin Cook: right? ... Duke Energy. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: but yeah. I mean, it's, like, a bunch of Appalachians, like, in Harlan County, Kentucky, led by a bunch of chain-smoking women, like, basically sticking it to a coal company for 13 months- and then getting a better contract. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: And I'm like, man, that's, like, inspiring. 

Like, that type of... You saw that type of behavior, like, spread, you know, to, You gotta think about, like, you know, I- I worked in Flint, Michigan for a summer, and, like, that was, like- Wow ... ground zero for the same type of activism.

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: but that's, like, you know, [00:23:00] that's stuff that we do in the South. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: So anyways, you're welcome, Yankees.

Taylor D. Adams: From a, journalistic standpoint, how has Anthony Bourdain, like, inspired your work? 

Justin Cook: The biggest, the-- I think the way he shaped my work the most is by complicating simplistic narratives. I think that's- 

the, biggest thing. Like, I think with climate, like, I feel like a lot of, like, legacy media coverage of climate feels, like, fatalistic and, like, hopeless.

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: But, like, when you drill down at the community level, like with real people and real places, like, you find people who are thinking about climate and taking climate action, sometimes whether they realize it or not, in the most interesting places. 

and I think that's-- I think that, like, that complexity and, like, the nuance and, like, discovering those stories by, like, h- be- really being in [00:24:00] people's personal space and in their personal lives and, yeah, I think that's, I think that's really how he's affected my work.

You know, I think about, like, I covered Helene, Right ... in 2024, and the, story that I wrote was about, and photographed, was about Appalachia as a whole, and sort of like how, you know, from an organizing perspective, that part of the country, it's-- This-- Appalachia's interesting 'cause it's like some of it's in the South, some of it's in you could argue the Midwest.

Midwest, yeah. It's going up like the sort of Atlantic coastal line. Pennsylvania, 

Taylor D. Adams: yeah, all 

Justin Cook: that. Yeah. But it has its sort of its own identity and sub-identities, but, like, it's been a place where- People have always had to rely on their neighbors and community to survive because of, like, geographic isolation, you know, neglect from the government- but also, like, terrible extraction from the coal industry and other fossil fuel industries, stuff like that. so when I was having lived [00:25:00] in Appalachia when I worked at the Roanoke Times in Southwest Virginia, I kinda understood, the culture and, like, how people related. And I remember the story I wanted to tell was, like, how people were using community as a climate solution up there.

and I pitched the story to a couple places, and they just... they, just didn't buy it. And then, it, an editor from Progressive Magazine reached out to me on Instagram Because I'd met her at a party in LA. Okay. And she'd been following some of the photos I posted and wanted to know if I wanted to write and photograph a story.

And I was like, "Sure. Here's my, idea." And she was like, "Go." There are very different po- like, politics in Appalachia. Like, Asheville, some of these, you know, Black Mountain, they're more progressive, more traditionally liberal, and there's areas outside of there that are like, it's red, it's Trump country.

but it was fascinating because wh- wherever you were politically, people were kinda doing the same thing. They were relying on their neighbors to survive. They weren't [00:26:00] waiting on FEMA. There is a woman I met, in Swannanoa pr- in particular who, was at a Baptist, like, a small Baptist church up there.

And I remember I met her and some of her family. They were reuniting for the first time in a trailer park that had been completely obliterated. 

Taylor D. Adams: Wow. 

Justin Cook: And they invited me to their church, and they were... they had turned their entire sanctuary into, like, a mutual aid station. Wow. Like, full of donations, stuff like that.

And, Sherry was in charge of the van ministry at that church. She would, like, drive around this church van and, like, kids who had, like, broken homes and stuff like that, like, take them to activities and- 

you know, minister to them. And she tore... She and her, aunt tore the seats out of the church van and used it to distribute mutual aid.

When I went up there, Sherry was like, "Hey, the church elders," AKA a bunch of men, "told me that I couldn't be- I couldn't feed Hispanic people and Mexican people in the trailer parks, so I got a, I got an interpreter. We're gonna do it anyways." She [00:27:00] was like, "That's bullshit." And, That is bullshit ... so I, like, rode around with her, like, you know, to these trailer parks and while they were delivering food.

And, the thing that, about Sherry that was really striking is, like, she didn't believe in climate change. And she was like, "I don't believe in climate change, but I respect your point of view, and I'm..." But then she pr- proceeded to spend hours asking me about climate change And asking me about my job. At least 

Taylor D. Adams: she wanted to, you know- 

Justin Cook: Yeah, she was- She, was curious

but that's the thing. She was incredibly curious, and she was smart. That part of the country g- can, be written off- 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah ... 

Justin Cook: is backwards or, voting against their own interests or whatever. When all the bullshit is stripped away, everyone has, like, the same needs, the same fears- They want, like, shelter, love, warmth, companionship, food, water.

And I remember that covering Helene, like, totally radicalized me. 

And seeing what was capable when the entire system fails, in some ways it was almost like a utopia. [00:28:00] And I think about it all the time, like in the kinda... Especially in the moment we're in now that's, like, so chaotic. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: And so, like, how do we, use our journalism to instead focus on what's possible and what's being done- 

as opposed to like, like the, just being like, "There- there's a problem." So going from, like, watchdog to, like, guide dog- Ah ... or, you know. 

Taylor D. Adams: I like that. I like that- Yeah ... metaphor. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. Or just showing people, like, "Hey," like, "it's actually, like, not hopeless." Like, there's people... Like, you can do something. You show up with the skills that you have.

Taylor D. Adams: From certain, vantage points and within certain groups, like journalism is seen as, or journalists are seen as- The enemy, for lack of a better term. Sure. Like, what, like, what is something that those individuals either aren't understanding or something that they've, some- something incorrect that they've been taught?

Justin Cook: I think there's a, I think amongst certain gen- amongst a, I think, a [00:29:00] specific generation and maybe a particular political ideology, they have, they're confused about what journalism is for- and what journalists actually do. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: There's this sort of idea that journalists are supposed to just, like, report the facts and let people decide, but that's not true.

That's never been, to me, the legacy of real journalism. Yeah, you do report the facts and people can decide, but, like, we also have to explain things and put things into context and to, you know, whether it's, like, history or telling people, like, "Well, what does this mean for you?" but also, like, journalism has always had a, like, the jour- I feel like good, effective journalism, there is this idea that, like, you should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Taylor D. Adams: Ooh, I like 

that. 

Justin Cook: That's like like, a bedrock- Right ... idea in journalism. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: And we see that all through the history of even the journalism in the United States, like Watergate. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: you rewind... the [00:30:00] example I give to people, that, you know, journalism, there's never really been this...

Objectivity is not, like, a goal. 

I feel like. And I feel like people confuse that. They say, like, "Everything has to be objective," and I'm like, "Well, objectivity is a tool." To me, the goal is, like, accuracy and fairness- 

and, like, building trust. The example I give people is Ida B. Wells, Black journalist, a woman, who was work, worked during Jim Crow.

You know, she wrote that book, it was a compilation of a bunch of her work called Southern Horrors, and it's about lynching in the South. And her argument, which seems pretty, pretty basic, is that it's bad to lynch people. And I remember one time I was at the Washington Press Club for this, like, Pulitzer Center conference, and, a young student asked me, she was like, "Oh, your work seems sort of, has like, it seems to advocate for, you know, like, take, you know, taking on the climate crisis and stuff like that.

Like, how do you, like, how do you draw that balance?" I'm like, "I don't." [00:31:00] 

I believe that it's the greatest threat to- everything on the planet right now. Like, I have this saying that everything is climate. You can connect any issue to climate change. but I'll offer the example. I was like, "Who in the audience, thinks it's okay to lynch Black people?"

And, like, no one raised their hand. 

Teacher: Well, hopefully. 

Justin Cook: Well, that's because Ida B. Wells told us that was a bad idea, and no one listened to her. She was... You know, the white press ignored her. Like, sh- and but now we just, you know, take that as like we know that's, like, inherently true. Right. You don't, like, you don't kill people.

You don't lynch people. 

Taylor D. Adams: Right. 

Justin Cook: but yeah, like, you know, she was looked at as an outsider, and now there's, like, a bust of her at some of the major journalism schools in the country. 

And she had a point of view. She wasn't being objective. Sure. And some people were like, "Oh, that's, well, that's a documentary."

I'm like, "Well, it's all the same to me." 

Taylor D. Adams: Well, yeah, a, documentary has, it has an angle. Like, it has- Yeah ... a point of view. Like, it's not just here's raw footage- 

Justin Cook: Right ... 

Taylor D. Adams: Right ... that plays for two hours of something, and then you decide what it is. No, [00:32:00] it's- 

Justin Cook: Right, and I, just think that, like, that, there's just the fundamental understa- misunderstanding of, like, what we're here for.

Like, our job is to challenge power. 

Like, it's always, that's always been our job. 

Like, some of the, first instances of the first, yeah, instances of jour- instances of journalism in this country, like, during the Re- the Revolutionary War, were reporting about, like, the things that Br- the British did- 

that, like, were, they were killing people and, making us unhappy. Yeah. And yeah, it had a point of view. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, there's, all throughout history, there's, examples of that. This idea that, like, journalists have to be, like, totally neutral is just, it doesn't make any sense.

I can understand why people believe it. 

But I just don't think it's re- ac- I don't think it's accurate. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. No, I agree with you. Yeah. I think it's really hard for a lot of people to grasp onto that, too. Yeah. 'Cause, like, you know, I'm [00:33:00] guilty of, like, oh, if I read something that's true and I don't like it, I'll be like, "No, that's..."

Like, I'll have a gut reaction to something like that. 

Justin Cook: Right. 

Taylor D. Adams: And so, like, I can understand this, but yeah, like, there's gotta be something that... It's gotta be, the connection's gotta happen somewhere. So do you have, a favorite moment, favorite episode, favorite scene from Parts Unknown? 

Justin Cook: there's one episode that's really special to me.

It's the, when he goes to, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Okay. I love that episode. So my, my girlfriend is a climate journalist, and she lives in Brazil. Okay. She's Brazilian. And she lives in Belo Horizonte, which is, like, the c- the capital of, like, Minas Gerais. It's, like, this, like, it's, like, this state kind of in the mountains- Okay

in, Brazil. And I love that episode, because he goes to the Central Mercado, like, the big central market [00:34:00] in Belo Horizonte, and has this, like, liver dish at this, like, one specific restaurant. And the first time I went to Brazil to visit my girlfriend, she took me there, and I had that exact dish at the exact same restaurant.

Taylor D. Adams: Oh, wow. 

Anthony Bourdain: Bar da Lora is named after its owner, also known as The Blonde, who was the first woman to run a bar in the Mercado Central. It's a place to order a cold beer, wedge yourself shoulder to shoulder into a small table, and order this. You want this, by the way. 

Teacher: This place is famous for? 

 Leo Paixão: This place is famous for liver with jiló.

Jiló is, very important for us. It's like an eggplant, but it's green, and you need to eat it while it's still green. 'Cause if it ripens, it gets so bitter, you can't eat it. 

Justin Cook: And it was so fucking good. Oh, yeah? So good. And that is, like, the most overstimulating place I've ever been in my entire life. It's, like...

But it's, like, Brazilian. There's fresh fruit everywhere. Nice. There's a we- there's, like, there's, like, [00:35:00] live, there's, like, chickens and dogs. Like, that you can get- Just roaming around the- no. Like, you can, like, get, you can buy chickens there. 

Taylor D. Adams: Okay. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. There's all sorts of stuff. Fascinating. You can buy, like, little, like, art knick-knacks, stuff like that.

Cool. there's always some soccer hooligans there, screaming and drinking beer- Okay ... watching television. It's great. It's a whole vibe. 

Taylor D. Adams: That's 

Justin Cook: great. but I, usually last about maybe 45 minutes in there- ... before I'm just like, "Okay, I need to go home and stare at the wall." It's really 

Taylor D. Adams: overstimulating.

Overstimulation. Yeah. Yeah, at that point. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. But it's, But that episode is great. I think that was one of... It just felt really special, 'Cause I think like, oh, like, the whole reason I met Amanda, my girlfriend, was because of my journalism- and because I have, and because I have, like, curiosity.

And the next thing you know I'm, like, in Brazil this place that Anthony Bourdain was at- Oh, man ... having the same meal. 

Taylor D. Adams: That's a cool moment to have. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. Yeah. It was cool. But the episode, the other thing about the episode was just cool was that it centers around how, [00:36:00] Brazilians have been taught for a long time that their ingredients aren't good, enough, and that to be a chef in Brazil you have to go study French and Italian cuisine- Oh

and do that. And that- 

Taylor D. Adams: Is 

that a, coloniz- colonization byproduct there? 

Justin Cook: Sounds like it. Sounds like it. Sounds just like it. But the thing, the, that episode, the, it, he, works with these sh- he, interviews and highlights these chefs that are doing the opposite, and they're using, like, local Brazilian ingredients.

And like- some of these ingredients, they don't, ship well. So it's hard to, get them to France or to Italy or whatever. holy sh*t, they're good. 

Taylor D. Adams: I've got some Anthony Bourdain quotes, and I'd like you- Oh, God. I'd like you to, sometimes he's talking about a place, sometimes he's talking about a person, sometimes there's, like, a fill in the blank.

I wanna try and gauge, what you might, think he's talking about in some of these quotes. What, what is he describing in this? 

Justin Cook: Okay. "

Taylor D. Adams: Do you smell that? [00:37:00] Motorbike exhaust, fish sauce, incense, the faraway smell of something... Is that pork grilling over charcoal?" 

Justin Cook: Is he in Vietnam? 

Taylor D. Adams: That is Vietnam. 

Justin Cook: Yes. 

Taylor D. Adams: That is Vietnam.

That's great. What episode is this from? "Easily the most contentious piece of real estate in the world." 

Justin Cook: Oh, I know this one. I'm totally spacing. Wait, what is it? 

Taylor D. Adams: it's from the Jerusalem episode. 

Justin Cook: Oh, yeah. Okay. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: Yeah. 

Taylor D. Adams: Yeah. 

Justin Cook: I was gonna say that or the White House. 

Taylor D. Adams: Ah. okay, fill in the blank here. "You have to be a romantic to invest yourself, your money, and your time in..."

Justin Cook: Dating a goth girl. 

Taylor D. Adams: Oh, but that's... I like that alternative other- The answer is cheese. Oh. The answer is cheese. 

Justin Cook: That does make sense, though. 

Taylor D. Adams: Who is he talking about? "I just find him personally objectionable." 

Justin Cook: Oh, Donald Trump. 

Taylor D. Adams: Who is he talking about here? "He's like Donald Trump but shorter."[00:38:00] 

Justin Cook: Is he talking about Putin? 

Taylor D. Adams: Yes. I'm talking about Vladimir Putin. 

Justin Cook: Wow, I'm doing okay. 

Taylor D. Adams: And my, last one for you. I, have a good feeling you'll get this one. it is indeed marvelous, an irony-free zone- Waffle House ... where everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. 

Justin Cook: I'm literally wearing, I'm literally wearing the shirt right now.

Taylor D. Adams: When I saw you wear that, I was like, "Well, he's gonna get one." "He's gonna get one of these at least." Justin, thanks so much, man. This was a, lot of fun. I really appreciate you coming in and talking about everything Anthony Bourdain, also the work that you're working on. 

Justin Cook: Yeah, thanks for having me. It was really fun.

I love what you're doing. 

Taylor D. Adams: Thank you. I appreciate that. I feel one of the best capabilities that television has, or any medium for that matter, is to inspire us. What we watch can inspire us to think differently, learn empathy, and travel freely. Anthony Bourdain's legacy is rooted in those ideas. Honest journalism is rooted in those ideas, and our lives can also be [00:39:00] rooted in those ideas.

I think Bourdain said it best, "Open your mind, get up off the couch and move." Please check out Justin's work in the episode description. I promise it's really impactful stuff worth reading. A huge thanks to Justin for chatting with me today, and a massive plate of thank you hash browns to you for hanging with us.

I hope you'll stick around to see the rest. Take care.