Thought of the day

"The man who understands, he understands the earth is a foreign land ..." Slow Food Newsletter Let's preserve the earth for our future generation... it's our duty!

A New Blog : Man'oushe - The Lebanese Thyme Pie

Today I created a new blog: http://manoushe-thelebanesethymepie.blogspot.com/
Check it out! It's important to preserve our culinary heritage. This is one way! Do you have a story related to the topic, post it by all means. Let's all contribute to this man'oushe blog. I'm very excited about it.

Defining a Cuisine Trail

I found a very interesting definition of a cuisine trail...I invite you to read it... Cuisine trails are important to sustain culinary traditions; to safeguard proper techniques of production, and finally I think it is of foremost importance to protect one's local culture. Food being an important part of culture!

"A cuisine trail is a collective of thematically related regional food producers such as farmers, bakers, and cooks who work cooperatively to sell and market themselves. In some areas, food producers can apply for an official cuisine trail designation, which entitles them to assistance with marketing from government agencies, and lends an air of officialdom to the proceedings. The goal of a cuisine trail is to increase awareness of regional food producers, improve tourism revenue, and increase income from agricultural operations.
The guidelines for a cuisine trail vary, depending on who is administering the cuisine trail program. As a general rule, the participants have to be regionally close to each other, allowing visitors to reach every producer within a day or two, and they must be related to each other in some way; apple farms and cider makers, for example, or a group of breweries. Often preference is expressed for small, locally based producers, rather than big companies and members of chains.
Once a cluster of producers gets together to create a cuisine trail, they can work together to promote themselves to visitors. For example, participants might pool marketing resources to create maps, brochures, and other promotional materials. Alone, each producer couldn't hope to reach a very large audience, but with combined incomes, the producers generate more marketing clout, ensuring that their materials will be seen and heard by more people.
Producers often work cooperatively to sell goods, as well; for example, they might offer discounts to each other's establishments to visitors, encouraging visits to every stop on the cuisine trail, and they might promote other local food producers to their guests as well. Gift baskets and other packaged products along the cuisine trail often include objects from each producer along the way, allowing people to take home a memento of the cuisine trail for friends and family.
One of the benefits of cuisine trails is that they can work to preserve rare regional culinary traditions. Apple farms, for example, can afford to grow rare heritage apples when they work cooperatively, ensuring that such apples remain profitable. A cuisine trail can also be used to preserve unique food preparation techniques for future generations. Cuisine trials stress the cultural value of small, artisan producers, and they can encourage visitors to look up similar producers at home so that they can learn more about the culinary history of their regions."

Article on Man'oushe in the Daily Star

In yesterday’s newspaper… an article on the 2nd edition of Man'oushe - check it out.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&article_id=102922

2nd edition of Man'oushe

The 2nd edition of Man'oushe is finally out in all major bookshops in Lebanon.
If you want to order online go to: www.barbaramassaad.com
The book has won a prize from the International Gourmand Cookbook Award and has been shortlisted in the best of the world category. The ceremony will take place on July 1 in Paris. It is a big honor to attend and represent Lebanon on stage. I shall keep you posted for the results and the description of this magical night. I shall attend the ceremony with my husband and three children thanks to the generosity of Mr. Edouard Cointreau; founder of the Gourmand Cookbook Award. Can't wait!!!

Delicious Watermelon Jam

Have you ever thought of making jam with watermelon? Well it's delicious and very colorful.
In the upcoming book, Moune: Exploring the Lebanese pantry , I will share with you this fantastic recipe which will become one of your favorites. Kids really go for it because of it's sweet taste and bright red color.

Say Cheese

I attended a very interesting seminar in Italy in the Science of Gastronomy University in Pollenzo in Bra last year. The seminar dealt with the cheese tasting. I think it's important to pass on what you learn to everyone who may be interested, so here goes: When you are tasting a cheese for the first time it is very important to focus on the 5 senses: nose, eye, ear, mouth, and hand... ear? yes ear! Sight: Here you will focus on the colors that you see. Look carefully at the shape of the cheese. The size is important when it falls under set rules. Is the size even, convex, plain, what is the height of the cheese. Is the rind of the cheese formed (young cheese) is it eaten (mature cheese)? Cheese connoisseurs say that the rind is the kidney of the cheese. Notice the color of the rind, is it brown or white? Look at the paste of the cheese, is it smooth, does it have "eyes", are the holes regular? Taste: Is the taste good or bad, do you like it or not? does it meet your expectations, how would you describe the taste, what is the intensity of the flavor? Touching: Only use your hands when studying and tasting a new cheese. Notice the reaction that your finger gets when it touches the cheese. Do your hands get sticky, do they become humid? What is the reaction of your tongue and palate when it touches the cheese? Hearing: Does the cheese make a tearing sound. Does it have a chewy sound? To resume: When you taste a cheese for the very first time make it like a wine tasting event. Carefully take the cheese in your hands, break off a part, smell it, breath in the aroma, describe what you smell: fruity, floury, vegetable aroma, acidic, ect... Taste it and see how your mouth reacts to the cheese, describe what you taste. You can compare with other cheeses and slowly but surely you palate will educate itself to the cheese tasting experience. What is your favorite cheese? Mine is Gorgonzola Dolce...Stefano, my cousin Zaza's Italian husband just had some flown in to me from Italy...Yummy! If you are seriously interested in learning about cheese, here is an excellent website that will highlight important cheese facts and notions: www.specialistcheesemakers.co.uk/images/sca-logo.jpg Enjoy!

Celebrating Lebanese olives

The Italian NGOs UCODEP and ICU in cooperation
with Slow Food Beirut are organizing a 2
day event celebrating Lebanese olives.
When? November 22 and 23, 2008
The event will be open to the public on
Saturday 22nd, from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
On Sunday 23rd from 9:00 a.m to 5:00 pm
Where? Khan el Franji, a beautiful location
by the sea in Saida, South Lebanon.
Here’s what’s going on
Learn about olive oil production in Lebanon
See live demonstration of oil extraction
Taste olive oils from all over the country
Participate in the competition for the best
Lebanese olive oil
Experience use of olive oil and wood for
handicraft production
Buy typical and local products from the
Earth Market
Join us to celebrate the olives of Lebanon!
The first day will be focused on producers, traders and wholesalers of olive oil in Lebanon.
Experts will offer workshops on olive production. There will also be an agricultural exhibition

Terra Madre 2008

It's been a long time since I've last written...You want to know the truth, my muse had left me all alone with a blank page staring at me for months. But guess what, my muse is back! She's Italian, she's wonderful, beautiful, full of empathy, full of love, full of trust, full of creativity, full of pleasure, sensual, mesmerizing, powerful, political, loving, cherishing...She's always been around in my life and has never left me for good. Her name is: Terra Madre.

The first time we were introduced officially it was in October 2006. I had just published my first book at the beginning of the year and had many projects in my head. In July, war broke out and changed all our plans. I saw my country being destroyed. I saw children being killed. I saw Lebanon's precious lands, agricultural territories, expensive infrastructure being destroyed. I was devastated. I felt it was personally done to destroy me. I would recognize places on TV which had been part of my culinary journey to make my book. I couldn't understand, there was no hope...

A trip had been planned with the initiatives of the founder of Souk el Tayeb, Kamal Mouzawak. I was invited because of my book and the efforts I had been building towards Lebanese food and its production. I was so frantic that I even considered not going to Italy, but fate decided otherwise.

Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto turned out to be a true revelation for me as a person, as an author, as a human being sharing this earth with billions of others. Meeting Carlo Petrini, the god of Slow Food was so inspiring that immidiately I thanked him for giving me back my energy to go on and to face my country positively regardless of all our misfortune. We were treated like kings and queens... We were fed both physically and mentally. I was housed with chefs from all over the world, we spoke of our country...of our losses...of our hopes... over a scrumptious dinner with Italian red wine.

The healing process took over and I was able to continue what I set out to do .... always having in the back of my mind... my muse... my Terra Madre.

The year 2008: alot has changed since then in my life. I have learned lessons of life dealing with lost friendships, power struggles, corruption, total loss of inspiration, neglect, fear....

Once again, she's at my side... October 2008... Terra Madre 2008 : the comeback...this time I feel true sorrow to leave Italy in fear of loosing once again my muse... but does one ever loose one's muse? I don't think so...it just fades away to be reawakened abruptly with an intense feeling of energy and fate.








This year I've decided to take my son with me because perhaps this could be the best education I could provide for him. I wanted to share my muse with my son Albert, who by the way discovered oysters and ate them everyday with PASSION!

I was welcomed by a wonderful hostess, an Italian woman called Imma. She jumped at my neck and kissed me as if we were long lost friend. She gave us her bed and slept on the sofa. She fed us as if we were her children. She kissed us goodbye before we left in the morning. She provided love and nourishment, another Terra Madre characteristic.

Lebanon with the organization of Slow Food Beirut (www.slowfoodbeirut.org) showcased a range of products: zaatar planted in the south, frikeh (smoked green wheat) make in Chama', wine produced in the Bekaa by the Khoury family, kishek el khamireh made by Earth and co., and a new book called From Akkar to Amel, a study dealing with a food trail of traditional Lebanese products written by Dr. Rami Zuraik. My son played the derbakeh to entertain passersby. But our stand was not only about products or entertainment, it was about pride. The pride we as Lebanese feel towards our small but rich country, Lebanon.








Once again the Italians have done it .... 7,000 participants, over 130 communities will go home with inspiration, new outlooks, hope, and energy!

Grazie mille Terra Madre ... a la prochaine ....

For those interested to learn more about Slow Food, please visit their website at www.slowfood.it , or visit our local chapter mentioned above. We welcome new members with
open arms.