United foods of Lebanon

On a typical Saturday morning at Souk El Tayeb’s farmers’ market, Umm Ali, a woman from a village in south Lebanon, sells her now famous saj sandwiches next to Raed, a farmer from north Lebanon who sells fruits and vegetables grown on his land. Meanwhile, at Tawlet in Mar Mikhael, a restaurant that employs female cooks from around the country, one can indulge in typical dishes originating from the Bekaa one day and the Chouf another. The Souk El Tayeb organization, the brainchild of food activist and entrepreneur Kamal Mouzawak, truly brings together and celebrates the diversity of Lebanon’s rural regions. Mouzawak, who was born in 1969, grew up during the Civil War when Lebanese were fighting and killing each other over sectarian differences and generations of children were raised knowing only their own area or region of origin. Founder of the Souk El Tayeb organization