6.8/1089 votesLoading...#1 - Lagos, Nigeria
Season 10 Episode 3 - Aired 10/15/2017
Once considered the most dangerous city in the world, Lagos is, in many ways, the epicenter of modern Africa. The driving force of the city is a pervasive, almost pathologically positive outlook, a sincerely entrenched “can do” spirit. The ingenuity of the Nigerian people is the focus of Bourdain’s travels as he explores its food, music, and rich cultural diversity. Among the food offerings are fresh fish dishes, spicy soups, a great deal of beef, and the ubiquitous pounded yam. Bourdain also spends time with Femi, Seun and Yeni Kuti, the children of Fela Kuti, a family that is still at the heart of Lagos’ creative, political and cultural scene.
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7.1/1072 votesLoading...#2 - Indonesia
Season 12 Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/2018
A shadow puppet performance provides an entry into understanding Indonesia, a country comprised of thousands of islands whose people endured political turmoil, and one in which, Bourdain discovers, food is the great unifier. In this fourth largest country in the world, every area has it’s own unique traditions. In Jakarta, Bourdain eats at a Padang Restaurant where nearly every menu item comes to the table; while in Bali he visits the beach, commenting on yoga before joining in a traditional Balinese Funeral ceremony.
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7.2/10100 votesLoading...#3 - Ethiopia
Season 6 Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/2015
Acclaimed chef Marcus Samuelsson (Red Rooster, Aquavit) and his wife Maya take Bourdain on a personal tour of their native country to experience this nation beyond the headlines, first in Addis Adaba where they sample injera bread and beyaynetu platters, followed by drinking Turbo and eating Tibs with local skateboarding pioneers, listening to the traditional music of Azmari singers and legendary Ethiopian-jazz musician, Mahmoud Ahmed, a sampling Ethiopian coffee and a village feast with Maya’s family in the Gurage region.
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7.2/10100 votesLoading...#4 - Senegal
Season 7 Episode 6 - Aired 5/29/2016
Bourdain explores the distinct culture of the West African nation Senegal, which despite its deep-rooted religious beliefs, is known for its nightlife, global musical influence, vibrant fashion scene, rich food culture and history of tolerance. Featured guides on this journey include Chef Pierre Thiam, NPR Africa correspondent Ofeibea Quist Arcton, and famed musician Youssou N’Dour, for conversation and a taste of maffe, a much loved rich beef stew, popular throughout West Africa.
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7.2/1082 votesLoading...#5 - Minas Gerais, Brazil
Season 8 Episode 8 - Aired 11/27/2016
Bourdain explores the Brazilian heartland, known as the region where all the best cooks come from, and namesake to the country’s mining history. Home to baroque architecture, lush hillsides and mineiro cuisine (influenced by Portuguese, African and Indigenous people), which includes frango ao molho pardo (broiled chicken served in a sauce made using its own blood), that the host samples during a traditional country meal.
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7.3/10138 votesLoading...#6 - New Mexico
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 9/29/2013
Parts Unknown takes a close look at the mash-up of cultures that comprise this uniquely American state by sampling its food – a combination of Spanish, Mediterranean, Mexican, Pueblo and even chuck-wagon influences. New Mexico is also a land of drugs, guns, monster vehicles, and possibly extraterrestrials. It may also be the perfect place to investigate the underside of the Western cowboy ideal.
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7.3/10133 votesLoading...#7 - Las Vegas
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 4/20/2014
Anthony Bourdain travels to Las Vegas, a city known for over-indulgence, with food author Michael Ruhlman and visits locales that include Huntridge Tavern (in the shadow of the strip), and famed restaurant é by Jose Andres. Also featured are Penn Jillette, and former mayor Oscar Goodman.
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7.3/10103 votesLoading...#8 - Bahia, Brazil
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 6/8/2014
Parts Unknown tours Bahia, known as the “African heart of Brazil” and internationally recognized for its Afro-Brazilian music, art, design and food. A look at the dance/martial art of Capoeira, the region’s legendary food vendors, Salvadoran fishing neighborhoods, and a BBQ on the beach are featured.
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7.3/1099 votesLoading...#9 - Los Angeles
Season 9 Episode 1 - Aired 4/30/2017
An alternative tour of Los Angeles by Bourdain focuses on the impact and contributions of its less photographed and often overlooked Latino communities. From downtown, for Oaxaqueno specialties at Gish Bac and redefined Mexican food from chef Ray Garcia at Broken Spanish, to Hollywood, for a health-conscious but savory dinner with actor Danny Trejo (Machete) at Trejo’s Cantina, the host experiences this vibrant culture against a backdrop of LA glamour.
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7.3/1083 votesLoading...#10 - Sri Lanka
Season 10 Episode 5 - Aired 10/29/2017
As peace spreads throughout Sri Lanka following the end of its brutal civil war, Bourdain travels to the once divided nation to experience the reinvigorated people, food and landscapes. Starting in Colombo, the country’s capital, Bourdain discovers change in in a place he visited nearly a decade ago as he enjoys street food on The Galle Face Green, dining on light curries and lots of seafood. Taking a 10-hour train to the northern “time capsule” city of Jaffna, Bourdain experiences crab curry, a dish he calls the “holy grail of Sri Lankan cuisine,” for its spicy and fiery flavors.
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7.4/10121 votesLoading...#11 - South Africa
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 10/20/2013
Once considered the most dangerous city in the world, Johannesburg now barely makes the top 50. But the end of the apartheid has led to vast changes in the city. In this episode, Bourdain visits the suburb of Hillbrow (which remains a dangerous locale), spends a day in the life of a taxi driver and discovers the culture and food that make up modern day Johannesburg.
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7.4/10134 votesLoading...#12 - South Korea
Season 5 Episode 1 - Aired 4/26/2015
The season premiere of Parts Unknown uses reverse chronology to tell the story of the host’s return trip to South Korea after a 10-year absence. Bourdain experiences the nuances of hyper-modern Seoul which has its sights set on becoming the world’s top exporter of popular culture. Food options include Korean fried chicken, and a vintage Korean "army" stew, budae jjigae, with Spam, canned baked beans, frankfurters, ramen noodles and Kimchi.
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7.4/1095 votesLoading...#13 - New Jersey
Season 5 Episode 5 - Aired 5/31/2015
Bourdain travels to his childhood home state with his brother Chris and rekindles memories at classic roadside joint Hiram’s, known for its fried hotdogs, and Barnegat Light in Ocean County. He heads further down the shore to Atlantic City and stops by the Knife and Fork, Docks Oyster House with local reporter Brian Donohue, the Baltimore Grill to see husband and wife comedians Rich Vos and Bonnie McFarlane, and tours Asbury Park with none other than famed musician Southside Johnny.
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7.4/10103 votesLoading...#14 - Beirut
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 6/21/2015
The season five finale takes the host back to Beirut. Nicknamed “The Paris of the Middle East,” its nightlife is infamous, the population beautiful, and its cuisine legendary. During his travels, Bourdain meets up with freestyle artist Double A The Preecherman in the Mar Mikhael neighborhood, has a classic Lebanese meal with writer, publisher, activist Joumana Haddad, and visits a Syrian community in southern Beirut with CNN correspondent Nick Paton Walsh.
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7.4/10107 votesLoading...#15 - Borneo
Season 6 Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/2015
After a 10 year absence, Bourdain abides by his promise to return, dining on chicken rendang for a reunion meal at Aunty Aini’s, taking a boat ride to Kuching, traveling back to the longhouse at Entalau to attend the Gawai Rice festival, and acquiring a new hand-tapped tattoo, prefaced by a stop in “street food paradise” Kuala Lumpur for pork noodles and black pepper crab.
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7.4/1094 votesLoading...#16 - Buenos Aires
Season 8 Episode 7 - Aired 11/20/2016
Bourdain’s trip to meat-centric Buenos Aires during the hot summer month of February, features a meal with chef Francis Mallmann at one of his favorite local spots, Don Carlito's, and an after-hours soccer match accompanied by Soledad Nardelli and the kitchen staff of Chila.
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7.4/1048 votesLoading...#17 - Seattle
Season 10 Episode 7 - Aired 11/19/2017
Bourdain immerses himself in the “boom or bust” city of Seattle. Two industries are reshaping the city and its culture – tech and the newly legalized cannabis industry. Bourdain gets the skinny on the “tech bro” invasion of Capitol Hill, throws back a dozen succulent oysters at the Taylor Shellfish Company and enjoys fish & chips at the Pacific Inn Pub with band members of The Gods Themselves. Along the way, he also hangs out with legendary Seattle rocker, Mark Lanegan and mad food scientist, Nathan Myhrvold.
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7.4/1087 votesLoading...#18 - Cajun Mardi Gras
Season 11 Episode 7 - Aired 6/17/2018
In this celebration of Louisiana’s Cajun culture, complete with Zydeco music and a crawfish boil, Bourdain goes off the beaten path and takes part in the less familiar Mardi Gras traditions of the region’s history stemming from the French Middle Ages. Donning a conical hat, mask and colorful fringed costume, the host participates in the day long Courir de Mardi Gras in Mamou. Meals include a home cooked meal in Grand Coteau, lunch at Laura’s 2 in Lafayette with creole cowboys, and boudin & cracklings at Billy’s in Opelousas.
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7.5/10104 votesLoading...#19 - Houston
Season 8 Episode 5 - Aired 10/30/2016
Looking beyond oil, NASA, and football, Bourdain explores Houston’s diverse cultures, taking in a Bollywood-style dance in a grocery store, a Quinceañera in suburban Pasadena, and the city’s slab car parade, while making time for Viet-Bayou crawfish, East Texas barbecue, and a Congolese-Cajun stew.
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7.5/1071 votesLoading...#20 - Bourdain’s Impact
Season 12 Episode 4 - Aired 10/14/2018
This episode explores how Anthony Bourdain’s unique perspective and voice altered the world of food, travel and culture and in the process reinvented how audiences watched television and engaged intimately and actively with the world around them.
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7.5/1091 votesLoading...#21 - Lower East Side
Season 12 Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/2018
Bourdain takes a personal journey through this formerly bohemian New York City neighborhood, as he meets, shares meals and reflects with music, film and art trailblazers including Richard Hell, Deborah Harry and Chris Stein, Lydia Lunch, Fab 5 Freddy, Danny Fields, Amos Poe, Jim Jarmusch, Kembra Pfahler, John Lurie, Clayton Patterson and Harley Flanagan, whose collective cultural impact in the 1970’s and ’80’s has sustained through the decades.
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7.6/10208 votesLoading...#22 - Colombia
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 4/28/2013
The public face of Colombia has changed immensely over the past ten years and is still changing for the better. Tony will explore several regions of the country from the mountains down to the Caribbean coast to the coca leaf growing inlands formerly controlled by drug cartels.
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7.6/10202 votesLoading...#23 - Libya
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 5/19/2013
Libyan hip-hop, Italian restaurants, tribal allegiances and post-war uncertainty in Libya. Bourdain looks at the country through personal stories, food--and the music of anti-Qaddafi rapper expats who returned to fight.
Director: N/A
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7.6/10160 votesLoading...#24 - Peru
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 6/2/2013
Tony and his friend, world-renowned chef Eric Ripert, explore the far reaches of indigenous Andes in search of a rare variety of wild cocoa that is said to be the "best" in the world. They move from hip, modern Lima back in time into pre-Colombian Peru.
Director: N/A
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7.6/10122 votesLoading...#25 - The Bronx
Season 4 Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/2014
Bourdain explores the widely diverse cuisines and cultures found in the NYC borough just north of Manhattan. Bronx mainstays Afrika Bambaataa, Melle Mel, and Baron Ambrosia help guide the host through the music, food, art, and other offerings of this often misunderstood part of the city.
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The Worst Episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown
Every episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown!
Bourdain travels across the globe to uncover little-known areas of the world and celebrate diverse cultures by exploring food and dining rituals. Known for his...
Genre:Documentary
Network:CNN
Worst Episodes Summary
"Lagos, Nigeria" is the worst rated episode of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown". It scored 6.8/10 based on 89 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 10/15/2017. This episode scored 0.3 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Indonesia".