Synopsis: Bourdain explores postwar Libya with the rebel soldiers who brought down Moammar Gadhafi’is regime in 2011. Bourdain witnesses a street celebration featuring fireworks, eats at a knockoff of an American fast-food restaurant, and attends a barbecue with anti-Gadhafi forces who show him that there’s more to Libya than what we see on the news.
On Libya after Gadhafi:
“It’s nice to see freedom. It’s nice to see the bad guy gone. It’s nice I feel welcomed here.”
On rebel fighters contacting NATO via Twitter:
Bourdain: “How does that feel, knowing you could call in a Tomahawk missile over there?”
Akram (former rebel fighter): “It’s out of the movies.”
On responses to Misrata’s war museum:
Hamid (former rebel fighter, pointing at a nail-studded chair): “The next president of Libya, the one who’s gonna be in charge, this is his chair. He has to think twice before he sits on it.”
Bourdain: “So never screw your people.”
Hamid: “Yeah, never screw your people.”
Bourdain: “Yeah, I’d remember.”
On eating a roadside liver sandwich:
“When they talk about a high-risk environment, I think they were talking about this.”
Guests weigh in:
Omar (former rebel fighter): “There wasn’t a future in Libya before the regime. We are not going to sugarcoat it. We were slaves for Gadhafi.”
Michel Cousins (British journalist): “Those of us who knew Libya, who knew there was another Libya with wonderful people, we would talk about it as you talk about a dead person. Do you remember this? Do you remember that? And then in February 2011, suddenly, there was a resurrection. The dead came back to life.”
Jawhar (former rebel fighter, referring to his uncle Kentaki’s sandwich): “That’s why we were fighting. That’s why we give a lot of blood for my country—because I wanted the taste of freedom.”
Bourdain: “The taste of freedom!”
Jawhar: “It’s a nice taste.”