Anthony Bourdain Finally Visits Iran (and this is what he found)

Iran has one of the great cuisines of the world. When I first tasted Iranian food, it was a revelation. The combination of richness, lightness and subtle blends of flavour has to be sampled to be believed.

As for Iranians, well, you don't expect Americans (sorry to say this) to know much about the world beyond the borders of their own country. Most of the rest of the world knows what fantastic people Iranians are. Let's not forget that they had a great civilization when Rome was still a village. And they've been civilized ever since. All great cultures have their periods of convulsion; one of Iran's is happening now. One day the ayatollahs and their bullyboys will be gone, but Iran will endure.

Not so sure about her enemies, though.

originally posted by: the owlbear
Iran is the same as everywhere else. People hate the government, try to do their own thing without getting caught, and live. I know some people from Iran, they left during the war that the US paid for on both sides. They visit every year except last year when they went on the hajj. They gave me a nice rug.

I worked with a couple of Iranian fellows that came over in the Eighties, pretty much as you described. Most hated the govt, they did as much as they could without getting caught. There was no western tv programing allowed so everyone had a sat dish in the kitchen window. For the most part..people are just people and want the same things as most of us.

a reply to: vonclod

People are the same the world over. Just because somebody wears different clothes or does a funny dance doesn't make them less of a person. Celebrate humanity. We are all strange. Maybe one day we can get along. Maybe. We are getting less violent on the whole compared to 500 years ago. We may be more efficient in killing but we dont (for the most part) enjoy an evisceration show. Religion is just an excuse for profit and warfare. Always has been.

Iran

Have a read of that, pretty sure they didn't have a camera crew with them, read enough travel stories and you will see that Iran is mentioned as the friendliest country in almost all of them, you shouldn't blame the people for there governments policies.

a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Yes-imagine an average Joe going there without a film crew.

He would more than likely be kidnapped and beheaded by the oh so peaceful Iranians.

originally posted by: FalcoFan
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Yes-imagine an average Joe going there without a film crew.

He would more than likely be kidnapped and beheaded by the oh so peaceful Iranians.

Very uncalled for. Guys, don't feed the troll.

originally posted by: FalcoFan
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Yes-imagine an average Joe going there without a film crew.

He would more than likely be kidnapped and beheaded by the oh so peaceful Iranians.

Sorry but this is just ignorant. Not all Iranians are muslim extremists. They are some of the friendliest people I've ever met, and generous to a fault. What the video shows is reality. Even if you had no camera crew and you aren't famous, you would still find people would be inviting you into their homes if they knew you were a guest in their country. Many middle eastern countries have the same type of hospitality. Iran and Lebanon are two that I know for certain have very generous and kind people (the average citizens, not the powerbrokers). I've met someone that has traveled the middle east extensively and he mentioned that if you are backpacking around in many of these countries, you wouldn't even need to stay at a hotel unless you absolutely wanted to, as many families will offer you food and lodging for free.

Just because the government there is corrupt and oppressive doesn't mean all the people want to chop your head off. I am extremely vocal about my distaste for fundamentalist extremists, but I have met enough middle eastern people to know that you can't paint them all with the same brush.

Here's one I saw recently that I thought was pretty cool. Rick Steve's - for those who don't know he does a travel program - and here's his take. I like that he doesn't pull punches. Talks about 1953 and 1979, shows the propaganda on the buildings and explains what it means(he does this all the time with old religious paintings on his show).

I'll watch the Bourdain later when I have more time, looks like it ought to be good also.

Have you heard this one: A Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew walk into a bar. They have some drinks, shoot the breeze, and laugh a lot. True story.

Thanks for an awesome thread.

originally posted by: The GUT
Have you heard this one: A Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew walk into a bar. They have some drinks, shoot the breeze, and laugh a lot. True story.

Thanks for an awesome thread.

I'm sure it has happened. Quite a few Muslims I know imbibe, just not to stupid proportions. Arak is awesome. I have no idea how he got it but a friend of mine got a bottle sent to him. His dad was one of the bigwigs with King Hussein's airfleet. He forgot to tell me they add opium to their booze.

originally posted by: TheSpanishArcher

I'll watch the Bourdain later when I have more time, looks like it ought to be good also.

It is a TV show, but Bourdain is pretty straight forward. I think you'll like him.

I do like that he always tries to be very respectful of the culture and people he is with. It comes off genuine, which I believe it is.

My favorite (recent) ep is the "boat lady" who makes soup. Vietnam, I think. Then he tries to re-create it.

Here is a video of a french guy who does a show called "I will sleep in your house", he is totally alone with 3 or 4 cameras mouted on him, and this is the episode in Iran. It's in french but you can use the youtube feature to translate the subtitles into english.



And for the sake of comparison, here is the episode in Israel, it's... different once they learn he is french.

a reply to: eisegesis

Thanks for posting OP.

Such a pleasant and refreshing change from the dribbling idiot ravings we're normally subjected to about Iran, admittedly from a small number of posters thankfully.

The host of the show seemed to be honestly amazed at what he experienced there, it being such a massive departure from what he was expecting to see and feel there, after being 'told' what to think by the MSM and a few regular forum posters on various websites.

TV needs more of this kind of thing, it shows one fundamental and inescapable truth of life, we're all the same...despite what those in power would prefer us to think.


I

This has always been one of my favorite videos from Iran. If I search some old hard drives I could probably find a few personal home videos with my friends exactly like it. Not so different at all.

a reply to: MysterX

Don't you watch Shahs of sunset?


America has the largest population of Iranians outside of Iran in the world, mostly in California.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: MysterX

Don't you watch Shahs of sunset?

America has the largest population of Iranians outside of Iran in the world, mostly in California.

OMG --- ridiculous guilty pleasure. Seriously

Haven't decided which girls are more over the top. Them or the American Gypsies.

originally posted by: eisegesis

originally posted by: FalcoFan
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

Yes-imagine an average Joe going there without a film crew.

He would more than likely be kidnapped and beheaded by the oh so peaceful Iranians.

Very uncalled for. Guys, don't feed the troll.

Indeed. I know many a person who has traveled there for months/years and hasn't come across a single attempted rape ,mugging or felt castigated for their nationality or skin colour. They did get offered free food accommodation, tea conversation and the like on a daily basis though.

The ayatollahs are crazy fanatics, the public are not - and now declassified documents show how MI6, CIA and BP overthrew the democratically elected government to impose pro-Western ayatollahs in 1953.

I like Zimmern better, although we would never be able to have dinner together.

Bourdain too many times seemed to talk down about this country while he was getting his bread buttered here and was way to liberal for me. Besides that watching his shows usually just turned out to be watching an alcoholic getting drunk on his shows......the guy has a drinking problem.

I don't always understand Andrew either.

He can eat the uncleaned intestines out of an animal and comment on how dirty and gritty they are because they are literally still crap filled and eat bugs and worms but yet he can't handle SPAM?!?! and Walnuts?!?!

Between the 2 guys though I could hang out with Andrew for the day but would get annoyed with Anthony and probably end up feeding him his teeth.

Seen Andrew go to all the countries that "kill Americans on sight" and has never had an issue and was treated kindly and with respect.

a reply to: mwood

Bourdain quit drinking and smoking. OK, he didn't quit drinking, but he cut back a lot since he had a child.

Zimmern won't eat anything cooked in local water.

I love this. Helps break down the misguided hate against Muslims.
Reading Raheel Raza's book after the whole 9/11 thing was something I'm happy that I did at the behest of my wise mother. I was in 5th grade when it happened so I didn't end up reading it till highschool at some point. And if any of you are my age cohorts then you probably remember the anti-terrorist hype that somehow included all Muslims when the fact is is that the terrorists are the minority

They're cowards who hide behind innocents. The fact that the terrorists actually believe that evil comes from outside of oneself and that they then have a duty to extinguish evil--baffles me. When the actions they take and the ignorant and illiterate hatred against something they obviously don't even understand are evil, I wonder why the bad guys never say to themselves...hmm...i feel like doing this is probably an evil thing. Why am i killing these ppl again? oh for that. oh but wait isn't what I'm doing a whole lot worse?! who am i to judge? etc. Their utter lack of morality and virtue astounds me. It is sad, really.

What's even sadder is how people equated terrorists with Muslims in general. It's just so wrong.

And yeah, Iran's government and political culture are wacky and suck with regards to human rights and civil liberties, especially. Doesn't mean that all of the people are wack as well.