Obama Pays Moving Tribute To Bourdain

Washington: Former US President Barack Obama took to Twitter to pay a touching tribute to the globetrotting celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain who apparently committed suicide in a hotel room in France. Obama shared a photo of the celebrated USD 6 lunch he shared with Bourdain at a Hanoi restaurant in Vietnam in 2016.

"Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer. This is how I'll remember Tony," Obama tweeted. "He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him," he said.

Bourdain was found unresponsive in a hotel room in France yesterday. According to CNN, the cause of the death was suicide. Bourdain, 61, was in France for work on an upcoming episode of his CNN series "Parts Unknown." The renowned American chef was filming for Parts Unknown season 8 while the then president Obama was negotiating a deal with Vietnam that ended a ban on selling military equipment to Hanoi when the two met for the famous lunch at Bun Cha Huong Lien, a traditional roadside joint.

Bourdain later said he had found Obama to be "very relaxed and at ease" during their time together. "What can I tell you about what it's like to sit across from the President of the United States and drink beer from the bottle?," he had told CNN.

"I can tell you that Barack Obama was, in spite of having had a high-ranking leader of the Taliban whacked in Pakistan a few days previous, very relaxed and at ease. He seemed to enjoy himself sitting on a low plastic stool eating noodles and pork bits with chopsticks," he said.

President Donald Trump described Bourdain's death as "very sad". Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn as he departed for the G-7 summit yesterday, Trump said he enjoyed Bourdain's television show and found the author and world traveler "quite a character". (PTI)