Food Artisan

In Lebanon, soup and tea have something in common. Not their ingredients not a preparation trick … but the fact that both have the reputation of being able to cure the sick. If one falls ill, both are consumed in quantities. If you offer someone tea, he/she would in surprise and wonder and ask you if you though he/she is sick.

Japan is a world onto its own; it is a land of order, respect, organization and perfection. A visit to Japan leaves an indelible impression. Personally, my life is divided – before and after Japan, BJ and AJ if you like.

After years of Japanese “avant-gout” learned through my macrobiotic cooking studies and constant craving for Japanese food, I finally had the opportunity to visit Tokyo for “Beirut to Tokyo” an event organized by Tyler Brulé’s Monocle Magazine.

Tomatoes are an integral part of Lebanese culture and cuisine and an annual topic of debate. Tomatoes are an aroma, a month and a part of our national identity.

Tomatoes are at their prime in the month of September. They are meaty and rich in flavour and perfect for tomato paste. The is nothing like the smell of a wood fire (often fragrant, resinous pine) heating a desset (Harry Potter-style huge copper cauldron) full of bubbling deep-red tomato sauce being reduced until thick and metamorphosed into tomato paste.

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!