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Bourdain in Beruit
Jul. 28th, 2006 09:05 amThe Washington Post carried a transcript of an online interview with sybaritic author, chef, and raconteur Anthony Bourdain. I believe you have to register online with the WashPost to read it, but registration is free and it is a very interesting transcript.
He and his 4-person crew were in Beruit when the fight between Israel and Hezbollah broke out. Here's an excerpt:
He and his 4-person crew were in Beruit when the fight between Israel and Hezbollah broke out. Here's an excerpt:
Arlington, Va.: Read your book...great job, well done ...
Are the majority of the Lebanese people you spoke to more anti Israel or Hezbollah? Do they see Hezbollah as a benefit to their country?
Thanks
Anthony Bourdain: I can only tell you what I saw in my limited experience. As it happened, I was standing with a Sunni, Shiite and a Christian when Hezbollah supporters started to fire automatic weapons in the air celebrating the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers as a few supporters drove by the three people I was with all instantaneously took on a look of shame and embarrassment as if a dangerous and unstable little brother had once again brought the whole family into peril. At no time during my 10 days in Beirut did I ever hear an anti-Semitic or even explicitly anti-Israeli statement. To the contrary, there was a universal sense of grim resignation and inevitability to what Israel's reaction would be. Dating to the first seconds after Hezbollah started firing in the air, we were a largely Jewish crew. The last person to leave us as Lebanese fled in droves, was the Shiite from south Beirut. We had to plead with him to leave us and join his family. His house was later destroyed.
