If you go to any family-run diner in the Mississippi Delta, chances are you’ll find tabouleh, dolmas and the Lebanese meat dish called kibbe tucked between the barbecue and fried chicken on the menu. That’s because waves of Lebanese settled in Mississippi between the 1870s and 1960s, setting up grocery stores and restaurants to make a living, according to NPR’s Kitchen Sisters and “the Faulkner of Southern food,” John T. Edge.

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Full title: “Children of Jihad: A Young American’s Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East”

Author: Jared Cohen, U.S. State Department policy planner and 25-year-old second-time author

Released: Oct. 25, 2007

Travel genre: Travel memoir, cultural commentary

Territory covered: Internet cafes and house parties from Beirut to Tehran

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When I visited Beirut last November, most of my friends and family thought I was reckless, even crazy. Because of decades of war and assassinations, Lebanon is thought to be one of those places visited only by war journalists, soldiers and aid workers. That’s wrong, of course. Beirut still retains its “Paris of the Middle East” mystique and manages to attract tourists, even as the country remains on edge.

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A year after war between Israel and Hezbollah rocked Lebanon, and with “sectarian tensions and political standoff” still simmering, Reuters reports that the country’s beach resorts are back and packed with revelers. “Until three weeks ago, it seemed that people couldn’t forget the scars of last year’s war. But now Damour is back again,” said Fady Saba, general manager of Oceana resort, referring to the coastal strip near Beirut. The resorts are using fashion shows and concerts, among other things, to attract travelers from Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, particularly Arabs from Persian Gulf states. 

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has had a busy few weeks. Not only was it busy issuing a press release claiming no affiliation with the new seven wonders, during meetings in Christchurch, New Zealand, the group added the Galapagos and their surrounding marine reserve; Samarra, Iraq; and Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park to its list of endangered World Heritage sites. Two more sites—the Royal Palaces of Abomey, Benin and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal—were removed from the Danger List. 

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The judges of the World Press Photo of the Year said Spencer Platt’s image—it captures a group of young, fashionable Lebanese women driving through a devastated Beirut neighborhood soon after Israeli bombings struck last summer—“has the complexity and contradiction of real life, amidst chaos. This photograph makes you look beyond the obvious.” Apparently many viewers haven’t been looking hard enough. 

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When we last checked in on Time Out Beirut in August, the city’s arts and entertainment magazine had suspended publication, declaring, “They are killing our city.” But the future seems to be looking up. According to the publication’s Web site, the magazine will relaunch in December. “Though the economy has been battered, though so many talented have fled, the city’s nightlife is no longer on hold and arts and entertainment is coming back slowly to Lebanon,” the publisher writes. “Its people are resilient, they are survivors with a love of their land and determination to make it the nation it can be. They will not give up. And neither will Time Out Beirut!” In another promising sign, Lebanon tourism officials are planning to make a bold statement at the World Travel Market show next month in London.

War may not be so good for children and other living things, but it sure clears out the tourists. So writes Kevin Rushby in The Guardian. Rushby is the author of the fantastic travel book, Eating the Flowers of Paradise, about the khat road though Ethiopia and Yemen, which I read when I was reporting on the drug’s use in the U.S. “The unfortunate truth about fear, tension or fighting,” he wrote in last week’s Guardian, “is that there are benefits to be had in neighbouring areas. That may be as simple as having few fellow visitors at great sites like Iran’s old Persian capital of Persepolis, or Jordan’s rose-red Petra -both badly affected by current troubles.”

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The Travel Channel aired Anthony Bourdain in Beirut last night, the story of what happened to the “No Reservations” host and his crew when they were stranded in Beirut, Lebanon last month during the early days of the war between Israel and Hezbollah. “It’s not a hard-news account of what happened to Lebanon or what happened to Beirut,” Bourdain says at the beginning of the show. “I think at best it’s a little bit of what Beirut was and could have been. What it felt like to be there when things went sideways. This is not the show we went to Lebanon to get.” Nevertheless, Bourdain returned with one of the more compelling travel shows—or any television show, for that matter—of the year. 

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Sunday’s New York Times Magazine article by Bernard-Henri Lévy (recently featured in a World Hum interview about his American travels) caught my eye. The French writer’s latest journey, in mid-July, took him to Israel, a country he has visited on many occasions. This time it’s the war in Lebanon that he ponders. 

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We’ve written about Anthony Bourdain’s recent experience in Beirut— the globe-trotting chef was there taping an episode of his show No Reservations when fighting broke out. (He was safely evacuated.) At the time, he wasn’t sure whether the episode would ever air. Now comes word that it will indeed be broadcast on the Travel Channel Monday, Aug. 21 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Remarked the Travel Channel’s Pat Younge, “This special is not about a celebrity chef in peril, but an opportunity to show unique footage of the Beirut that existed before the hostilities broke out—an unfinished portrait of the Beirut that Anthony wanted to show the world.”

The publisher of Time Out Beirut writes on the magazine’s Web site: “They are killing our city, but will not kill our way of life. Over the last three months Time Out Beirut has provided the Lebanese and tourists with an nightlife and entertainment scene that rivals any western city. We will be back and we will carry on our mission for reporting the real side of Lebanon and Beirut. We are hoping for a fast recovery and rest assured we will come back, stronger and bolder than ever. It is in our Lebanese character to do so. July, our latest issue, is a testimony to life in Beirut just before this man-made catastrophe, please have a look and read our magazine to find out what the world missed—This issue has become a collectors item as a testament to what Beirut has become.” (Via the New York Times.)