Watch Anthony Bourdain in Lebanon, August 21.

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain is a smokin', traveling American chef with a love for spicy foods, international cuisine, and a curiosity and good sports attitude in trying all kinds of foods I would not even try a nibble of! He's taken us from China to Quebec and as he was in Lebanon, witnessed first hand, the start of the recent Israeli-Lebanon conflict. Here is an excerpt of an online interview hosted by the Washington Post:

Washington, D.C.: Do you think anything you filmed in Lebanon will make it onto the show?

Anthony Bourdain: 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. The surprising tenderness and sensitivity of the Marines who evacuated us. We're struggling with a way to tell that story without it being about me or about us. It will not be a regular episode of No Reservations

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.

Tune into the Travel Channels' "Antony Bourdain's No Reservations, Monday night 10 p.m. ET/PT.