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You may recognize Anthony Bourdain and his bizarre eating habits from the Travel Channel, but Bourdain has taken his digestive talents to a new show on CNN called “Parts Unknown.” The second season premiered Sunday night with a landmark trip to Israel. With travel privileges unimaginable to most inhabitants of the region, Bourdain traveled from Jerusalem to the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, some of the most polemic real estate in the world. The show is part culinary diary, part cultural and political reflection. Catering to news-hungry CNN viewers, Bourdain utilizes food as a vehicle to transcend fierce political and cultural divisions and to humanize those who are stuck in the cross hairs of decades-long religious and political division. This trip exposes the cultural and physical walls erected throughout Israel that divide the Christians from the Jews from the Palestinians from the Armenians, all claiming ownership of the Holy Land. No stranger to criticism himself, Bourdain explored his own ancient Jewish roots while reflecting on the complex geo-political divisions: ”And there’s no hope, none, of ever talking about it without pissing somebody, if not everybody, off. Maybe that’s why it’s taken me so long to come here.”
While the issues plaguing the people of this region are not summarily understood, Bourdain attempts to dissect the problems facing his hosts through candid discussions over traditional meals. He meets and eats with a Jewish settler and author, a Palestinian family uprooted from their traditional homeland, a Muslim-Jewish couple who own a restaurant, a Muslim theater teacher, and others. Each one has a different cooking style and a different perspective on the regional drama. The Jews only eat kosher; the Muslims don’t eat pork. But all have a voracious appetite, and it’s more than just hunger for bodily nourishment. The food is an ethnic hallmark, a communion with their heritage and their identity. Bourdain aptly notes, “Cook with pride, eat with passion.”
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Of course Bourdain ate everything he was offered by his various hosts. He’s known as much for his dirty mouth and brusque attitude as for his ability to consume just about anything. During his trip, he was served a vegetarian and kosher Jewish meal, fire roasted baby watermelons of Bedouin origin, and a traditional Palestinian meal ofmaqluba with a family who own a farm in the Gaza strip. Even within one political sect, the food is unique to the family’s background. Bourdain’s Palestinian host Laila el-Haddad, journalist and author of the cookbook The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey, noted that, “All food in Gaza is different than anything else in the Arab world.” Laila maintains a culinary blog that follows Laila’s book tour around the U.S. and other culinary notes.
Despite the anticipation of the next great meal, there is a tension in the air that can’t be masked. At one point when preparing dinner, a distant gunshot interrupts the conversation, but Bourdain’s hosts don’t seem fazed. It’s a bleak reminder of the unceasing clash between the Palestinians and the Israelis that is embedded in daily life.
Food is a uniting necessity, a respite from the chaos, and a reminder of ethnic pride. Every host wants to show Bourdain the best their culture has to offer: “It’s a hospitality thing. Anywhere you go in the Muslim world it seems. You feed your guest; you do your best to make them feel at home.” It’s hard to imagine life behind the concrete walls and barbed wire or beneath the shadow of military occupation and religious division, but for a few minutes at least, a shared meal overcomes different backgrounds and beliefs and nourishes both the human body and soul.
Next week, Bourdain travels to the Andalucía region of Spain. Check out Anthony Bourdain’s show “Parts Unknown” on Sunday nights at 9pm on CNN.
By
Brandon Faske
Amazing article. I had very similar thoughts about the episode and thought it really encapsulated the best of what Anthony Bourdain does. He understoods the historical and social meaning of food and uses it as a medium to transcend cultural differences. No matter your view on the geo-political divisions between the Israelis and Palestinians, it is impossible to watch Bourdain’s journey and not re-focus on the human element of it all.