Food Artisan

Green is the color of life, of spring and of new beginnings. In a never-ending cycle, spring brings warmth and new growth, year after year. In our part of the world, Adonis, the gorgeous lover of Astarte (Aphrodite) is a symbol and a hero of spring. But in his version, spring is announced by a red flower, anemones, and not by green!

This story begins with a wedding. Ezzat Majed, a grandfather, is proud that he only had to leave his beloved Chouf Mountains once in his 85 years of life, and that was to buy a suit for his wedding many years ago. He and his cousin went down to Beirut; one bought the jacket, the other bought the trousers. The suit was worn in its entirety for Ezzat’s wedding the first week and for his cousin’s wedding the second. He and his wife, Abla, have remained on the mountain ever since, taking care of a herd of 500 goats and producing the best serdeleh cheese, which Abla preserves in old jars.

Is it the smell of tomato paste cooking over a wood fire in late September; the vision of a hot, thick whitish kishk (a local delicacy of goat’s milk and cracked wheat); a sweet, ripe fig – or better yet, fig jam loaded with sesame seeds; or a runny manoushé b’zebdeh w’sekkar (a flatbread dripping with melted butter and crystal sugar). These are all examples of simple, recognizable flavours that contribute to personal and collective memories, of individuals and communities across Lebanon.

What if life was an endless sweet summer, with fruit trees forever bearing apricots and peaches, wheat stalks always heavy with grain, and fresh herbs growing every day of the year? What if the air was always fragrant with jasmine and gardenia, and all of humanity was forever young and strong?