Social media was abuzz last month when two billboards popped up on the highway outside of Jounieh. The first, an advertisement for Tripoli-based Abdul Rahman Hallab 1881, a stalwart of Lebanon’s sweets industry, read: “It’s in Jounieh? Sweet…”, which prompted Douaihy Lebanese Pastries, firmly established in the area for 15 years, to retort via another giant billboard: “You’ve arrived late to Jounieh, sweetie”. “This is democracy! It was fun,” said Gaby Douaihy, manager and co-owner of Douaihy, summing up the ‘sweets-off’. Although it has survived many turbulent periods, providing much-loved high-quality products to local and foreign customers for decades and employment for thousands of individuals, Lebanon’s sweets industry rarely features in the news. The season of Ramadan — perhaps what pushed the battle of the billboards into the media spotlight — is the busiest period of the year for most Lebanese sweet-makers, and their approaches to product range and
Nathalie Rosa Bucher is a features writer specialising in arts and culture, human rights and environmental subjects. She has been based in Beirut since 2012.
