Did you see this? Anthony Bourdain on Armenian food



Somehow, this got past me. I thought I saw the episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel show that featured Lebanon, but I must have wandered out of the room at the wrong time.

This video clip came our way from the ArmenianArchives YouTube channel. It shows the famous chef/writer/traveler eating at Onno, an Armenian restaurant in Beirut.
Much of this food is instantly familiar to me, although the names are a little hard to  recognize as relayed by Bourdain’s companion in what seems to be a British accent.


It’s always fun to see Armenian food get international attention, especially on a popular TV show. It all looks delicious.

One dish that wasn’t on Mom’s menu when I was growing up: butter-basted baby sparrows.
Of course, I immediately thought of Lucine Kasbarian’s book, The Greedy Sparrow, based on an Armenian folk tale. Obviously, this is a bird with special meaning in the Armenian culture — and, if you read the story, one that definitely deserves to be eaten.


I’ll pass, though. The rest of the meal looks good enough to satisfy me for a week.