Of all the tributes to Anthony Bourdain, the chef, author and TV presenter who was found dead on Friday at the age of 61, one of the most heartfelt may have come from Marilyn Hagerty of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Hagerty is a food columnist for the Grand Forks Herald. In 2012, when she was 85, she wrote positively about a new Olive Garden in the city, which she called “the largest and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks”.

“The chicken Alfredo ($10.95) was warm and comforting on a cold day,” Hagerty wrote. “The portion was generous. My server was ready with Parmesan cheese.”



For her praise of the widely derided chain, Hagerty was subjected to widespread online mockery. Bourdain, one of the most famous faces in food journalism in the world, quickly came to her defence.

“Marilyn Hagerty’s years of reviews [are] a history of dining in the America too few of us from the coasts have seen,” he tweeted. “We need to see.” He went on to denounce the “snarkologists (myself included)”.

Hagerty’s newfound fame brought her to New York, where she reviewed a street hot dog cart for the New York Times. She met Bourdain and he ended up editing and writing the foreword to a book of her collected reviews.

“She is never mean,” he wrote, “even when circumstances would clearly excuse a sharp elbow, a cruel remark. In fact, watching Marilyn struggle to find something nice to say about a place she clearly loathes is part of the fun. She is, unfailingly, a good neighbour and good citizen first – and entertainer second.”

In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Friday, Hagerty remembered how Bourdain “spoke up for me at a time when people all over the country were making great fun of the column I write”.



“To have a man of his stature rise up and befriend me,” she said, “it meant a lot to me.”

She added: “You know, sometimes you go through life and … you think about all the wonderful things that happened to you. And one of the wonderful things that happened to me was when Anthony Bourdain spoke up for me and wanted to publish my columns in a book.”

Hagerty said she heard about Bourdain’s death when her son sent her an article about it. It was “sad, shocking news”, she said.



In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.