November 29, 2025
Saucy nostalgia alert
Show HN: Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.st's
Bourdain’s lost lists resurface—fans laugh, cry, and plan snacks
TLDR: An independent archivist revived Anthony Bourdain’s old Li.st posts via the Internet Archive. Fans responded with nostalgic stories, food wars over buns and soy-wasabi, pilgrimages to his hawker picks, and a call to recover the missing lists—proof that saving web culture still matters.
Anthony Bourdain’s long‑vanished Li.st posts are back—well, partially—and the internet immediately turned into a food court of feelings. An indie archivist pulled them from the Wayback Machine, thanked RB for the spark, and linked them here. Commenters rolled in with reverence and chaos: one shared a legendary live moment where Bourdain paused mid‑set just to see a very NSFW phrase in sign language—peak Tony mischief, peak crowd meltdown.
But the real drama? Bourdain’s “Crimes Against Food”. His line that “God is against the brioche bun” lit up a fresh bun war, with fans cheering his grease‑absorbing gospel while the brioche‑defenders promised napkins and better baking. The sushi police showed up to defend rice etiquette against soy‑wasabi slurry offenders, and the truffle oil drag got an amen chorus. Meanwhile, travel nerds raced to his Food I’m Thinking About list, plotting Singapore hawker pilgrimages and swapping stall stories via this section. Cinephiles piled on too, flexing takes about Ratatouille being the only movie to nail pro kitchens, and begging to recover missing lists and the clipped Big Night entry. The vibe: archival heroics, snack planning, and a collective mission to rescue more Tony breadcrumbs before they disappear.
Key Points
- •An independent page hosts a partial archive of Anthony Bourdain’s ~30 li.st postings from around 2015.
- •The archive’s content was recovered using the Internet Archive, with some items and images still missing.
- •The “80’s Playlist” list was created at CNN’s request and features diverse 1980s tracks; the list image is unrecoverable.
- •“Crimes Against Food” details Bourdain’s critiques of specific dining practices and ingredients.
- •“Food I’m Thinking About” and “Food on Film” highlight dishes (e.g., Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore) and films that accurately depict cooking.