It takes a lot to get Gen Z to stop scrolling, but the trailer for Tony, A24’s new biopic, seems to have just what it takes. The film follows a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain on the harrowing path of becoming a line cook out of necessity rather than passion, many years before he hosted the award-winning show No Reservations. His story mirrors that of a contemporary college student finding their way today. Though many young adults today missed seeing him on air entirely, there has been a resurgence in digital admiration and appreciation for Bourdain and his philosophy. This is demonstrated by the wave of 15-30-second Bourdain edits being created across social media platforms. People seem to identify with more than just Bourdain’s love of food; his radically empathetic and accepting approach to life is what a burnt-out generation like Gen Z has been searching for.
That renewed interest makes the modern obsession with kitchen culture impossible to ignore. From drinks in quart containers to identifying the specific plain white work T-shirt that Carmy wears in The Bear, the internet is embracing the utilitarian aesthetic of line-cook life to the fullest. If your feed is plastered with discourse on plating and pairings, you may well know that Anthony Bourdain is the grandfather of all things gritty.
You can see this aesthetic all over TikTok, where creators are racking up views by pairing Bourdain monologues with footage straight from the line during a rush. But for local student line cooks, the reality behind the line is a lot less glamorous than a curated edit. “The current portrayal is not entirely accurate to what it’s like,” Maddox Surles, a cook and student at the University of Phoenix who balances classwork and the demanding nature of a professional kitchen, told Spoon University. “The hours are long, you never get a chance to eat, and sometimes you have to hold your pee in for hours.” While an edit can make the intense environment seem cinematic and enticing, the daily toll is physically and emotionally grueling. “Kidney infections are common amongst line cooks because we often don’t even have time to use the bathroom,” she explained. “The culture is similar to that of blue-collar jobs and is definitely romanticized on social media.”
The kitchen’s intense, chaotic nature simply cannot be captured on a phone. When the rush hits, surviving heightened ticket times relies on skill and instinct. “Flash cooking” is a shortcut that would likely surprise the customer, Maddox noted. “It refers to using a piece of equipment called a salamander, or a ‘sally.’ It’s much hotter than the typical industrial kitchen oven.” When you’ve got a ticket waiting and hungry customers in the dining room, there is quite literally no time to waste. “If I’m cutting into a steak that isn’t quite to temperature, I will throw it up in the sally to finish it off,” she said. “This cuts valuable minutes off the ticket time.”
Under this kind of pressure, cooking transforms into a split-second muscle-memory march. For Maddox, she works best when the stakes are high and the heat is higher. She’s thrilled by the challenge of achieving a perfect sear, especially on trickier menu items such as scallops. The real enemy on the line? A basic sandwich. “They rarely take long to cook,” she admitted, “But there are so many steps, and when it’s busy, it can throw your whole service flow off.”
That brutal dynamic raises the question of why any person would choose to step behind the line in the first place. This question becomes the invisible string connecting Anthony Bourdain all those years ago and young cooks today. Maddox, like Bourdain, was drawn to the kitchen by practicality rather than passion. “It was one of the only options for me before I went back to college,” she shared.
Everything seems more polished on a screen, and social media chases perfection as long as the algorithm rewards it. Bourdain had a sort of morbid curiosity about life that could be felt through the camera. Grease and all, he embraced the messy aspects of cooking and life, and people today can still see that. He has once again shown up as a reluctant hero to young chefs who gravitate toward his idea that a meal is so much more than just the food on the plate.
The upcoming movie hopes to provide further insight into a lifestyle we’ve already seen blow up online, prompting viewers to answer the question on most people’s feeds: What Would Tony Do?
For young food writers and creators, continuing Bourdain’s legacy isn’t about finding the next viral latte that makes a line out the door. It’s about stopping the people in that line. It’s about asking the barista how they developed the recipe based on a family favorite. The Bourdainian philosophy is one rooted in empathy and community, focusing on connection and enjoyment. In a world that often feels incredibly curated, Anthony Bourdain points the way towards a tastier, more meaningfully connected future.