Anthony Bourdain has traveled the world, eating the exotic and the bizarre for his CNN series Parts Unknown. Today, he’s in Hanoi, Vietnam shooting for an upcoming episode–and his dinner companion is President Barack Obama.
“Bourdain will explore the purpose of the President’s trip and his interest in the people, food and culture of Vietnam,” a CNN rep told Politico.
The President’s three-day visit to Vietnam, coming four decades after the Vietnam war, began Monday.
.@POTUS & Bourdain eating at small, storefront restaurant serving Vietnamese specialties. (Pool photo by @carolelee) pic.twitter.com/oirN7wv1KD
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 23, 2016
Bourdain has written that his first trip to the country changed his life:
Going to Vietnam the first time was life-changing for sure; maybe because it was all so new and different to my life before and the world I grew up in. The food, culture, landscape and smell; they’re all inseparable. It just seemed like another planet; a delicious one that sort of sucked me in and never let go.
Total cost of bun Cha dinner with the President: $6.00 . I picked up the check . #Hanoi
— Anthony Bourdain (@Bourdain) May 23, 2016