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Ro o t s & R i t u a l COFFEE AND CULTURE IN ETHIOPIA .

T H E I N - F L I G H T M A G A Z I N E O F E T H I O P I A N A I R L I N E S

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 20

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Cuisine

SPOTLIGHT

Bringing LebanonsBreadbasket to Table

Tawlet Ammiq restaurant connects Beiruts rural farmers and urban diners. | B Y T I M F I T Z S I M O N S

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estaurants across the globe try to bring the farm to the table,

but there arent many places where you can gaze across

your plate upon the farms themselves. Tawlet Ammiq

a restaurant in Lebanons fertile Bekaa Valley is just a

90-minute drive from the bustle of Beirut, but it feels a world away.

There, on a hill overlooking Lebanons breadbasket, a visitor can sip

wine pressed from grapes grown one town over, munch on salads tossed

with greens from the farms sprawling out below, and savor freekeh(an

ancient grain) stewed with livestock that once grazed on the hills that

cocoon the restaurant. At Tawlet Ammiq, the people, the food and the

land that gave birth to them both are all within sight.

On warm Saturdays and Sundays especially, Tawlet Ammiq is packed

with Lebanese and foreign diners nibbling on such fine fare as roast trout,

grilled cauliflower marinated in tahini sauce, artichoke hearts stuffed

with lamb and pine nuts, eggplant drizzled with cilantro and lemon, and

kibbehnayeh a Lebanese delicacy of raw

lamb ground with bulgur, wrapped in pita

bread and eaten with mint and raw onion.

After eating, guests are invited to

lounge under umbrellas, on pillows and

in lawn chairs, and gaze at the snow-

capped Mount Hermon looming above

Bekaas rolling fields.

The story of Tawlet Ammiq is the story

of founder Kamal Mouzawaks efforts to

bring together Beiruts moneyed, urban

consumers and the countrys patchwork

of small farms.

In 2003, Mouzawak founded Souk el-

Tayeb (delicious market), the countrys

Tawlet Ammiqis housed inLebanons mostenvironmentallyconscious building,surroundedby protectedwilderness areas.

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Kamal Mouzawak (above) founded thefarm-to-table restaurant with the aimof celebrating foods sourced from thesurrounding Bekaa Valley.

first farmers market. Its always been

about connecting rural to urban, he ex-

plains.

Souk el-Tayebs quick rise to popularity

led to the markets expansion from sim-

ply selling organic vegetables, honey and

spices to also hosting a series of regional

food festivals. Mouzawak and his staff

enticed food tourists to different cornersof the country, to appreciate the grape-

vines of the north as well as the cherries

and figs of Hammana and Kfour. The food

festivals seemed to help Lebanese people

reconnect with their foods geographic

heritage. Soon Mouzawak was asking him-

self, Why cant we benefit from it in a

more regular way, and more easily?

So in 2009, Souk el-Tayeb launched

a restaurant in Beirut called Tawlet,

which means kitchen table in Arabic.

At Tawlet, rotating cooks from surround-

ing villages and the countryside prepareregional home-cooked meals and serve

them buffet-style, with diners sitting

at both communal and smaller tables.

Small-batch production Lebanese wines,

preserves, olive oils, paper crafts and

other products found in the weekly farm-

ers market can all be purchased from the

restaurants own boutiques.

Though Lebanese food is revered

worldwide, most diners will only ever

taste mezze the small, shared dishes

such as hummus, baba ghannoush, tabbou-

lehand labneh that are shared and eaten

with bread. These dishes dominate the

menus of Lebanese restaurants in Beirut

and around the world. But the cook-

ing most Lebanese eat on the average

weekday is a more informal and varied

experience that centers around a tabkha,

meaning a one-pot meal.

Housed in a converted garage in

Beiruts trendy Mar Mikhael neighbor-

hood, Tawlet reintroduced the tabkha to

the Lebanese dining scene and pulled

back the curtain on traditional family

cooking for its foreign visitors.

But Tawlets next step opening a

branch in Lebanons poor and agriculturalBekaa Valley was as much a prod-

uct of serendipity as of planning. While

Mouzawak contemplated an expansion,

another organization was about to pro-

vide him with just the space needed.

In early 2007, the Swiss Agency for

Development and Cooperation embarked

on a project to build Lebanons most

ecologically friendly model building in

Ammiq, a small town in West Bekaa.

When the building a restaurant space

was completed, SADC sponsored a

contest. Tawlet won, and so Mouzawak

was handed the keys free of charge

to Lebanons greenest building. In May

2012, Tawlet Ammiq opened its doors to

its first customers.

Blending the themes of ecological

stewardship with the restaurants character-

istic banquet-style dining, Tawlet Ammiq

invites diners to contemplate where their

food comes from and the ways in which de-

velopment can partner with environmenta

preservation. Atop its insulating green roo

solar panels generate electricity and hea

water, and a breeze-powered ventilatio

system utilizes lower temperatures under

ground to cool the building without the us

of air conditioners.

Sandwiched between the Shou

Biosphere Reserve and the Ammi

Wetlands Reserve, Tawlet Ammiq als

has the rare honor of being surrounde

by protected wilderness. Migrating bird

traveling between Africa and Asia stop in

the areas swamps and ponds to relax an

rehydrate, and the countrys famed cedar

dot the hills above the compound. Diner

can even arrange, through Tawlet Ammiq

a pre-meal mountain hike or an evening

guided bird-watching expedition.

And with the restaurants recent ad

dition of a three-bedroom guesthouse

adventure foodies will find a trip to Tawle

Ammiq not only delicious but also con

venient and comfortable perfect fo

exploring the tastes of the Levant.

Tim Fitzsimons is a Beirut-based radio an

print journalist. An avid consumer of tahini an

whatever fruit is in season, Tim eats grapefru

in the winter, strawberries in spring, cherries i

summer and apples in autumn.

BEI

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