He's in Armenia—located between Turkey and Azerbaijan—which was formerly part of the USSR (1921-1991), and has a complex identity. Bourdain worked his way through the country, visiting Yerevan (the capital), Gyumri, the second largest city, the northern town of Dilijan, and even the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh (more on that later). Much of the episode discusses the genocide, as well as the diaspora that followed (Armenians had to flee the country for their own safety). “There are three million Armenians living in Armenia," Bourdain said. "There are another eight million around the world. Ever since the genocide, it’s been a long, existential struggle for survival.”
Because of this, the Armenia Bourdain experiences is identity driven, and there's a recurring theme of homecoming: people visiting the country for the first time since their ancestors were forced out, and moving back to invest in their homeland. Tankian exemplifies this when he describes his inaugural visit. "I remember, the first time I flew back to L.A. [from Armenia], the feeling I got getting out of the plane was, 'Why am I back here?'" Tankian says. "It’s this inescapable feeling of the land having some kind of pull on the blood.”
After sitting down with multiple Armenians, from tech educators to a grandmother who remembered the country's time as part of the USSR, Bourdain reflects on just how quickly Armenia is growing. "The connection, the collective yearning, and the flow of money, resources, and people from the Armenian diaspora back into the homeland are powerful and important—as you will see,' Bourdain says. "They are also vital to the nation’s survival. An astonishing amount of money is returning home from abroad—for schools, hospitals, and institutions—to help the country grow. And an ever larger number of overseas Armenians are returning, to see where they came from, to enjoy the food, and to reconnect—if they still can—with family, tradition, a way of life."
Lavash—and lots of it. The soft, tandoori-cooked flatbread made an appearance in four of his seven meals; wrapped and baked around trout (also an Armenian staple); toasted, stuffed with greens and onions; served as a side to accompany soup and various meats. Though this episode wasn't as cuisine-centric as some of Bourdain's other excursions, there were definitely still standout dishes. At Dolmama restaurant in Yerevan, he dined on braised lamb shank with rice pilaf and vegetable manti (baked dumplings with yogurt and garlic), saying "this is what my soul needed." At Mariam Movsisyan's (a friend of Tankian's) family home, ghapama—baked pumpkin stuffed with raisins, apricots, nuts, and rice—was on the menu, which her grandmother bolstered with sides of Armenian cheese, hummus, and (you guessed it) lavash. When the pumpkin came out of the oven, it was sliced to reveal the steaming, gooey rice mixture inside.
Meat also plays a large role in Armenian cuisine: as Bourdain notes, "this is a landlocked country in the middle of meat-on-a-stick zone.” We see him try oxtail soup, stewed liver, heart, and sheep's head as he chats with locals in Gyumri, while the episode closes out with a meal of khash—beef bone broth—in Dilijan. However, Bourdain's trip to Nagorno-Karabakh proved to be the meatiest of journeys—a feast of "Armenian barbecue," flavored with fennel and herbs.
This quotable moment can be attributed to Ruben Muradyan, a cybersecurity consultant Bourdain speaks with in Yerevan. “When you are being oppressed throughout your history, knowledge is something that can’t be taken from you," he says. "Anything might happen: The Soviet Union might collapse, there can be pogroms, there can be emigration. They can take your home, they can take your fortune, but knowledge and skill remain with you all the time.”
Later on in the episode, Bourdain decides to visit Nagorno-Karabakh, or the Republic of Artsakh, as ethnic Armenians refer to it. The territory, which is located within Azerbaijan's borders but has an ethnically Armenian majority, is heavily disputed and has been a point of contention for decades between the two countries, as previously reported by Traveler's Sebastian Modak. Bourdain flies in on a Soviet-era, M18 twin helicopter (in other words: very old and rickety), but his filmed time there appears to go pretty smoothly—at first. He shares a meal with a war veteran, journalist, and Azerbaijan-born Armenian in a location vaguely described as "Somewhere in the wilderness of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), near Jdrduz Canyon in Shushi." They discuss the violent conflicts that have broken out in the region, but end with a toast for a more peaceful future.
However, the Azerbaijani government requires that you obtain permission from the foreign ministry before visiting the region. According to the website for the Azerbaijani embassy in D.C., the policy for visiting territories is as follows: "Without the explicit consent of and a visa issued by the authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a person, who made/makes a trip to the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, will not be granted a visa to the Republic of Azerbaijan and will be deported in case of his/her future entrance." Upon learning of Bourdain's unauthorized visit, they declared him a “persona non grata.” In other words? He's blacklisted, and banned from entering Azerbaijan—which, according to Eater, he found out about when he read the paper a few days after the trip.