In these troubled and difficult times, when terrorism is trying, where possible, to impose fear and division, our duty is to show that solidarity is a hopeful and life-giving value.
Since the launch of Eating City platform in 2010, we have invited two times Kamal Mouzawak, to speak about Souk el Tayeb project in Beyrouth. Based on this talk we wrote a case study in 2011 and we also asked him to make a lecture in 2014, during the second edition of the summer campus, on the thematic of food systems in Euro Med area. Today, the significance of projects following such dynamic, in the refugees camps in Syria seems to us inspiring and meaningful.
“Make food, no war “: Souk el Tayeb has recently broaden its field of experience to the syrian refugee camps in Lebanon, allowing them to empower Syrian women refugees’ livelihoods in Lebanon. It is doing this through reviving their culinary traditions and helping them develop the expertise to create their own cooking and catering lines.
The objective of the project is to break barriers between Lebanese and the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, to support economic empowerment and cooperation, to introduce and revive Syrian traditions in Lebanon, to use existing network to empower women refugees.
According to press release:
Tell me what you eat … so I know who you are! How to empower a group of Women in Lebanon through their traditional food and cuisine, develop their expertise and create a catering line of their own cuisine. In the context of unfortunate events taking place in Lebanon, Palestine and Syria … Souk El Tayeb attempts to look beyond the damaging reality, bringing a breath of fresh air to the women of those countries. Souk el Tayeb, in partnership with national and international partners, has developed and launched different projects targeting different groups of women, from different nationalities and backgrounds.”
Not only we are glad to quote them here, but we also hope that they will inspire similar projects in other places.
- Read the integral Press release
- two examples of projects : et
- articles and videos:
http://www.bonappetit.com/people/article/syrian-refugees-food,
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2013/12/22/jamjoom-syria-empowerment-food.cnn,
http://www.voanews.com/content/divided-lebanese-neighborhood-finds-peace-in-kitchen/2582033.html