Screw the Critics! Not all experiences are Eutopian. Welcome to the real world. At least at the end we got some good pig shots.

Funniest episode this season! Many of us watch the show for it's uniqueness, it's attitude, excellent narrative and great cinematography. No one-hour show can even scratch the surface of any city, state, or country; there will always be something or someone not covered and someone who is offended for things included as well as the lack there of. I grew up in South Carolina, and did I think Bourdain did everything I would do during his trip there? Hell no! But I loved the show for what it was, just as I loved seeing Zamir hammered on his 50th birthday. As a devoted viewer, after seeing so many shows go 'right,' I found humor in watching one go awry. If you're offended, change the channel! Rock on, Bourdain!!!

We have been following the exchanges on the boards regarding the
Romania episode. Clearly this show elicited some strong reactions and we appreciate the feedback both positive and negative. It is particularly dismaying to us to read of good hearted Romanians and fans who tuned in expecting to see a depiction of a country they know, love and recognize as their own but were disappointed.

People who are familiar with Tony’s shows (dating back to A Cook’s Tour days) should know that Tony and Zamir have a longstanding relationship and have traveled together on more than one occasion. For better or worse the show was an honest portrait of Tony’s trip to Romania with his old friend Zamir along as a sidekick.

For the record, we DID hire a number of Romanians to assist us with this production and looked to them for guidance and scene suggestions. However, our attempts to set up authentic experiences and off-the beaten path locales typical of No Reservations were, more often than not, foiled at every turn. It was a source of frustration that our requests for “everyday, working class food-related” scenes were again and again either discouraged or seemingly impossible to arrange. The prevailing wisdom was that “the best French restaurant in town” or patently “set up” scenes were preferable to what most Romanians would recognize as reality. Although certain commentators would assert that we ignored their suggestions in favor of our own agenda, this was certainly not the case. If anything, we worked more closely with official tourism entities than we usually do. Most scenes and locales were strongly recommended by them. The scene at the “mici” joint—which we shot against the explicit wishes of our minders, remains an example of a show that for good or bad, might have been.

We do out best to make shows that are both informative and entertaining. In some people's eyes, we failed on the Romania show. We didn’t show those people the country and scenes they wanted to see -- instead we showed them what we experienced during our brief time in Romania. We are not in the business of making fun of people. That is not our hope or our intention when we visit a country new to us. We well know that our very best shows are the ones where we are allowed to see people as they are—not as our official hosts or government representatives wish us to see them. In this instance, the results were often absurd and we showed what we experienced. Romania has survived far worse than our travel show. As the Executive Producers of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations we stand by the show we made.



Chris Collins & Lydia Tenaglia
Executive Producers / Directors
Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.

yesterday I posted a comment about the Romania show; today I haven't found it; it was erased. Why? There weren't any offences in it, maybe some mockery.

Chris and Lydia,
Thanks for visiting the forums and sharing your side of the production of the Romania episode.
mod_ben

romanian2008,
I did not delete your post. I think you are talking about this post you put on a different thread.

quote:

Originally posted by zeropointzero:
We have been following the exchanges on the boards regarding the
Romania episode. Clearly this show elicited some strong reactions and we appreciate the feedback both positive and negative. It is particularly dismaying to us to read of good hearted Romanians and fans who tuned in expecting to see a depiction of a country they know, love and recognize as their own but were disappointed.

People who are familiar with Tony’s shows (dating back to A Cook’s Tour days) should know that Tony and Zamir have a longstanding relationship and have traveled together on more than one occasion. For better or worse the show was an honest portrait of Tony’s trip to Romania with his old friend Zamir along as a sidekick.

For the record, we DID hire a number of Romanians to assist us with this production and looked to them for guidance and scene suggestions. However, our attempts to set up authentic experiences and off-the beaten path locales typical of No Reservations were, more often than not, foiled at every turn. It was a source of frustration that our requests for “everyday, working class food-related” scenes were again and again either discouraged or seemingly impossible to arrange. The prevailing wisdom was that “the best French restaurant in town” or patently “set up” scenes were preferable to what most Romanians would recognize as reality. Although certain commentators would assert that we ignored their suggestions in favor of our own agenda, this was certainly not the case. If anything, we worked more closely with official tourism entities than we usually do. Most scenes and locales were strongly recommended by them. The scene at the “mici” joint—which we shot against the explicit wishes of our minders, remains an example of a show that for good or bad, might have been.

We do out best to make shows that are both informative and entertaining. In some people's eyes, we failed on the Romania show. We didn’t show those people the country and scenes they wanted to see -- instead we showed them what we experienced during our brief time in Romania. We are not in the business of making fun of people. That is not our hope or our intention when we visit a country new to us. We well know that our very best shows are the ones where we are allowed to see people as they are—not as our official hosts or government representatives wish us to see them. In this instance, the results were often absurd and we showed what we experienced. Romania has survived far worse than our travel show. As the Executive Producers of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations we stand by the show we made.



Chris Collins & Lydia Tenaglia
Executive Producers / Directors
Zero Point Zero Production, Inc.

Chris and Lydia,

It is quite ok to stay be your show. Maybe ZPZ and Bourdain should also stay bt the agreements they concluded. Why don't you make public your Romania filming agreement and let everybody know how many locations included in it Bourdain and your crew have visited and filmed at. Why don't you make public a list of locations you refused to film at?

Glad to see the Producers are actually reading these comments. I must say that I was an avid viewer of this show in trying to get to know o ther countries and possibly plan a future trip to these places. BUT when I saw the Jamaica episode and the fact that they only visited one town in Jamaica and misrepresented the whole island and its culture, I now know that the show is a total FAKE. I can only hope that this show gets cancelled ASAP ! I have been reading the Romania comments and I felt the same way when I saw the Jamaican show. All the other people I told to watch this show felt the same exact way. You have lost a fan, and all I have to say is ANDREW ZIMMERMAN. He should be sent to Romania and Jamaica and not this Alcoholic Bourdain.

If any one interested, here is the program of Mr Bourdain (real) visit in Romania
http://mturism.ro/fileadmin/mturism/PublicitateAchizitiiPublice/vizita_sua.pdf

Everyone who ripped Tony on here should be ashamed. According to Chris and Lydia, Tony tried to show the country in the most positive light, but it is hard to do when at every turn you have someone not wanting the cameras in their shop and nobody wanted to help Tony. All everyone wanted was to show Romanina as all sunshine and rainbows, but after viewing the show and reading these post,it is clear that Romanina is anything but that. I say thank you Tony for showing your true emotions while making this show and not selling out just to make a few viewers happy. If they are true fans, they will be here next Monday at 10 P.M. following your next adventure.

A Loyal Viewer

Dear Friends, Dear Travel Chanel President.
When you name a show " America" you do not show Jamaica ave and long island lowlifes and say this is America. When you go to show a cimitery and holowen in a motel(romania does not have Holowen) and pigs cadavers after they were eat it and a meal in a joit with drunk people,including your employes , than you should have call it " DRACULA AND CIMITERY VISIT, just LIKE that, and nobody would have whatch or care. Good for you! Congratulation! but you can go again and show the genuine experience of a culinary expert tourist, I offer to go and show you around, or if you do not want me, choose one of the many famous american citizens expats in the movie INDUSTRY, that have residence there. You have my email address, I would be more than delighted to help. Vonegut's niece, Bruno Copolla, and many others.

I never miss a "No Reservations" episode..even the reruns. I don't always enjoy the use of certain animals, but I just love watching Tony and his adventures.The Romania show for whatever reason, didn't work out.Zamir wasn't a great choice ,okay...and I'm sure there were a lot more cities and a variety of better restaurants to choose from .oh well..it happened..At least with Anthony Bourdain,you know if the food is good,he'll say so,and if it's not he'll tell you that too.

quote:

Originally posted by dankohner:
Everyone who ripped Tony on here should be ashamed. According to Chris and Lydia, Tony tried to show the country in the most positive light, but it is hard to do when at every turn you have someone not wanting the cameras in their shop and nobody wanted to help Tony. All everyone wanted was to show Romanina as all sunshine and rainbows, but after viewing the show and reading these post,it is clear that Romanina is anything but that. I say thank you Tony for showing your true emotions while making this show and not selling out just to make a few viewers happy. If they are true fans, they will be here next Monday at 10 P.M. following your next adventure.

A Loyal Viewer

He didn't try to film anything.. read the blog anthony posted about the country.

I absolutely love your show, but the Romanian episode was like watching Borat. You mocked a people who have looked up to us since their Communists times - and believe me, we are like their older brother. That's not a very nice thing to do to them, and since its not really what you do on your TV show, I think you owe them a remake, without Zamir. Hell, I could show you a better time. I went to Brasov a few years ago, had a great experience, and ate great food. Here's a few hints: its pronounced "Sweeka", not "Tweeka", the Romanians hate the Russians because of communism (so don't use Zamir again there), and try the polenka with beef - its awesome. I know that ya gotta produce a show and that you can't please everyone, but ya can't slam Rachel Ray if you're gonna suck too. This episode was funny, it did hit some quirky chords about Romanian culture, but it bombed because you weren't courteous to a generally friendly people (actually Zamir wasn't courteous, and you allowed it). I watch your show because I find you very interesting, very honest, and (almost) always respectful of your hosts. That's a winning formula, not the Borat style I saw last night (taped). However, overall great job with the series! Thanks.

quote:

but the Romanian episode was like watching Borat.

You act as though Borat didn't make fun of Americans, too. In fact, a few of the people shown in the movie tried (unsuccessfully) to sue the producers of Borat because they were so displeased with the light in which they were presented in the movie. They were white, American frat boys who were shown to be racist cads - I'm relatively certain that the idea was that they were the epitome of the southern redneck stereotype.

I realize this may be somewhat off-topic, but it seems that those who continue to reference Borat seem to forget that Americans were pretty much the butt of most of the jokes in that movie.

Dear Mr Bourdain,

Beside the 2 mistakes you made (having a non-local guide, and - worse! - talking to the Ministry of Tourism before the shootings), you got it right: Romania sucks big time. And not only from the culinary point of view.

I'm 36, born and raised in Romania (I was 18 when to commies went down, or changed their names into some "democratic" parties or whatever.) I'm in advertising, which pays me a much better life than that of the regular Romanian. And which also helps me see things a bit clearer (i.m.h.o.) than your average proud-country-loving pal.

First things first: Romanian cooking DOES NOT EXIST. We just don't have a traditional dish. Period. The things our mothers cook are made of so many culinary influences that we grow up on a mix of Turkish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian and God knows what else. We share almost every item on a menu with our neighbours (or fomer occupants…), a lot of the stuff having the same names in a couple of languages around the Balkans.

And guess what? As a nation, we’re very young. The commies’ history books teached us that we came all the way from the Romans, but that’s as fake and stupid as it can get. As a formal country, we still have a couple of years to go to reach 100!… 200 years ago, the Romanian language was not even close to what we speak today...

Long story short, you cannot have Romanian food if you don’t have Romanians, can you?

So, if anyone told you stories about “traditional cooking”, that’s bull. We have some popular dishes, but this is it. No tradition, just pop cooking.

And if anyone fooled you and your team into some “traditional places”, I’m sorry you fell for it. 18 years ago, Romanians only ate in restaurants 3 or 4 times a year. Maybe. Can you call 18 (actually less) years tradition?

In the last years of communism, the food was so scarce, and people so poor, nobody would ever thing about going to a restaurant. The only restaurant dinner I remember from my childhood was when I was very little and my family was on holiday at the seaside. I had grilled pork and french fries, a smell and combination I still have something special for even today…

So, no Romanian food, no traditional places. (I take that you went for the Dracula subject to make the show a bit appealling for your American public… Wich is fine, but mind you: we don’t have a Dracula tradition! It’s just a myth we “took back” from Stoker’s book and the movies, when we were free to do so - after 1990.)

But it doesn’t mean you cannot find nice places to eat and hang out in Bucharest and all over the country. I guess this is where your mistake about the guide and the Ministry of Tourism comes in - you got caught between a guy who didn’t know the places and some stupid officials paid to make Romania look good (the official kind of good) on TV…

The Bucharest restaurant market developed big and fast the last couple of years: lots and lots of new places, improved cooking and services, a larger range of prices. All the signs of a competitive market.

I know it pretty well, and I feel like those restaurants can give locals and foreigners the taste and feel of true Romanian cooking. Not traditional, not “peasant style” (as they call it on the menus), nor fusion or whatever, but the TRUE Romanian restaurant business - dishes from all over the world (almost…), cooked and served in full honesty by unsofisticated chefs for a growing mass of cheerful middle class Romanians, who go out more and more, and do it not to eat Romanian (whatever that may be), but to eat well.

That’s what you missed in Romania. But I guess it’s because you didn’t look for it. Maybe next time :-)

You went for something else, and what you found was dissapointing. And then you came on TV and the blog and told the truth. And a whole lotta noise started, mostly because a lot of us Romanians love our country a bit too much. And you know how love is blind…

So, nevermind the hate comments. You got it right.

(For all the Romanians here: chill, bros! The man told what he saw. Do you REALLY see something else? I mean, beside your ancient cry “oh, here they come again to rape our poor-but-so-beautiful-and-so-full-of-talent-and-honesty country!”… Come on. Who are you defending Romania from?... The enemy in this is not Bourdain. It's us.)

Romania and Bucharest have restaurants that are 150 year old. and beauty and traditional that you have not even dreamed of. So you better go back and make a show as you do in Haway and visit with open heart with no arrogance, that is a European country, one of the oldest and one of the oldest civilization of latin, jewish nest. The music, the parties, the night life the dancing, the ald restaurants , the new restaurants, real people, the danube, the delta, teh black see. the oltenoia, moldova, ardeal, the Spa's with mineral waters 100's of them, full cities, the moldovan anciants, curches, the nest of kosher jewish rast european, the hunting restaurants in Montainsg the catles and the palases the hotels around them, the Transilvania, Calusari, the sky resorts and food there on the sky resorts, the top of the mountainsg, the sfinx, the stones Babele in the top of the mountains, the hot waters, the waterfalls , the falls, the 70% sault many lakes, the drinks, so many liqours, the wine country from where many of your compatriots both land, the 20 - 50 years ols wines and cogniacs, the Atheneum with the history of the place on the round walls , writers house, 150 yo buiding, all the arhitectures, poeples houses, the factories for Armani suits, the beautiful amaiding wemen and the exotic dancing the 20 lakes in Bucharest, the oldest park in Europe , Cismigiu, the amaising nevel else seen life night, the elegant sofisticated food, the rustic in the mountains. the swiming pools with open view to the sky slope, and so on...

mon_ben.. would you please edit the post 9 for me, please, my english is not that good,
thank you

Marius, you are so full of crap that we can all swim to Romania in it.

zeropointzero ... there was a travel agenda to follow, and no one followed it, why, no one knows but you, tony and the camera men, however, the agenda wasnt followed, it was your responsibility and you failed at it, even if you wanted to do another show in Romania, you may not be permitted again, and honestly i wouldnt blame them for now allowing you. I dont blame Tony for this at all, the producers do have a large roll in the making of the shows.
also it doesnt matter how long him and zamir have been friends, you cant send an idiot to a country that he pretends to know, so he can make a fool of himself and the shows host. zamir was an embarassment, and he shouldnt be allowed to go on any further shows.