Bourdain: “I’m Feeling a Little Pessimistic About the World These Days”

Globe-trotting, show-hosting chef Anthony Bourdain, back safely from Lebanon (where he was filming a Travel Channel show when the conflict began) fielded questions online this morning from Washington Post readers. Asked if a No Reservations episode was in the works based on the trip, he replied: “We’re trying to figure some way to show how beautiful and hopeful Beirut was before the bombing, how terrible a thing it is that happened, what we’ve lost, the pride and hopefulness and optimism that was smashed…It will not be a regular episode of No Reservations.”

In another highlight, one reader asked how Bourdain’s world view, particularly as it relates to food and travel, has been changed by the experience.

He replied:

Great question. I don’t know yet. I suspect the answer to be a depressing one. Where once I believed that the meal was a leveling experience, a thing that could make a difference, that over food and drink in some small way people could make a difference ... I’m not so sure anymore. It seems now that whatever we eat, however proud we may be, good and bad alike are crushed under the same wheel. Obviously, I’m feeling a little pessimistic about the world these days.

We’re feeling a little pessimistic too, Anthony. If only some good conversation over a little hummus and baba ghanoush could help things now.

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