Next Sunday: Shall I Go Cherry-Picking or Biking from Nakoura to Tyr?

I usually go hiking on Sundays! Not only is it considered a good workout for at least 4 hours on a weekend while connecting with the green, sun, birds, flies and butterflies around, but it's also a breath of fresh air from all the work, noise, cars, cities and pollution. It is quite rare that I skip a Sunday hike, unless it's heavily raining during winter, but when summer is here, some events just tingle my interest!

So this coming weekend, the 16th of June, I'm lost. It's basically a day with friends and/or family. Last Saturday was kinda easy: Morning run followed by Souk El Tayeb's market & lunch and then an afternoon swim.

I have visited Souk El Tayeb's Saturday's market few times now as well as their authentic Lebanese restaurant, Tawlet, and I must admit that is full of fresh deliciousness from home-made jams, labne balls immersed in olive oil, Lebanese pantry, pickled olives with almonds, home-made cakes to rose water and organic fresh fruit and vegetables... you name it! And what I admire the most is that all the food has this 'teta-has-been-here' feel in them!

You'll find the freshest organic fruit and vegetables

Some seriously appealing radishes

All kinds of greens from Swiss chard, spinach, scallions, mint, parsley, coriander... I love those!

Of course, delicious red cherries

Home-made cakes - This lady, Nada Saber, has some good brownies!

And my favorite, Coara's whole-wheat wild green pies!

So the point is, Souk El Tayeb is known for its seasonal events that support Lebanese produce from olive oil tasting, tabboule day, apple picking, to figs from Kfour...

And this coming Sunday, it's cherry picking time!

Cherries are one my favorite tarty fruits and they are in season around this time of year in Lebanon! So this upcoming Sunday, 16th of June, I can be hiking, rappelling and cherry picking all while enjoying some Lebanese dabke and having traditional Lebanese food. Best part is that this event includes both eating good food and physical activity in nature. This way I'll have my cake and eat it too!

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On the other hand, though it's the first time I hear about SPACE Outdoor, their biking and swimming trip seems to interest me a lot! My friend forwarded me this poster and I was hooked. Cycling along Naqoura's sky-blue beaches, touring Tyr with its phenomenal culture and then relaxing on warm [clean] sand beaches while enjoying some entertainment games! Looks like a winner trip to me, if only I wasn't lost on which to choose!

So what would you go for??

Slow Food Beirut's Earth Market - Authentic Traditional Lebanese Food in the Heart of Beirut!

After visiting Furn El Sabaya just couple of days ago, the ladies enlightened me about a market they join every Tuesday in Hamra, Lebanon in which they sell their home made goodies. Therefore, not to be missing on the action of real authentic Lebanese food prepared from scratch, I had to visit this Slow food Beirut - Earth Market (Souk El Ard)!

Turns out the market is totally worth it!!
I met with Chirine, the coordinator of Souk El Ard, and asked her about the concept and mission behind this weekly market 
>> Souk El Ard is an activity organized by Slow Food Beirut, a non-profit Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) branched from the International NGO, Slow Food, that has been founded in Italy in 1989 opposing the 'fast-food' lifestyle and supporting 'slow-food' instead. Slow Food now encompasses more than 150 countries with over 100,000 working to ensure slow authentic food does not go unseen! Slow food organizes similar Earth Markets in different countries and aims to serve 'Good, Clean and Fair Food'. 

• 'Good' - Authentic, diversified, fresh, and artisan local food products preserving the countries' culinary heritage
• 'Clean' - Organic food, free from genetically modified organisms and pesticides that does not harm the environment, animals and humans
• 'Fair' - Fair trade for small-scale agriculture and producers with sustainable approaches to fishing and farming as well as ensuring accessible prices for consumers

Slow Food supports local farmers and producers by organizing educational programs about sustainable diets, farming, fishing, GMOs, slow fish, as well as local markets in which those producers sell their own home made produce. The founder of Slow Food has also founded the first university, University of Gastronomic Sciences, in which one can study links between food and cultures

So bottom line, ou have to check what this market has to offer.
My friends and I actually got (here goes the list): 

• For lunch: Purslane pies (fatayer), spinach pies, wild green pies, pumpkin kebbe, wild thyme and cheese pie, vegetarian stuffed cabbage leaves
• For dessert: Sugar-less carrot cake and sugar-less chocolate & orange cupcakes
• Beverages: Water and freshly squeezed orange juice
• To take home: More greens fatayer (for the family), pumpkin kebbe, organic carrots, organic zucchini, preserved vine leaves, thyme with sumac, sesame and sunflower seeds, eggplant compote (my dad loves those) and best part of it all, my new baby basil plant

Baked dandelion, purslane, wild thyme and spinach fatayer made with whole wheat

Furn El Sabaya's Mouwaraqa along with their healthy chocolate cupcakes,
orange cupcakes and carrot cake

I wish I had taken a 'hotter' version of this photo, but this one must go up!
In the market, you can actually find Lebanese and Armenian home made lunch meals which you can have right away or take home such as baba gahnouj with sprinked pomegranates, swiss chard (dlou3 sele2) & tahini, dandelion (hendbe) with chickpeas, fresh fava beans (foul) & tomato sauce, stuffed cabbage leaves (me7she malfouf) and the list goes on! So if you are craving your mom/teta's cooking, thank me later!

Em Ali's live saj (flat bread), preparing manakich with rocka & cheese , wild thyme & labne, kechek, labne with hot sauce, thyme with assorted veggies or cheese - with someone actually chopping the food in the background, preparing everything fresh!

Beans, thyme, sumac & sesame fix, kechek, bulgur, rice, wheat, sesame, sumac, flax seeds, herbal teas...

Home made sweets, maamoul, marzipan, biscuits and cookies

Different authentic honey wax and honey flavors too!

A seriously delicious set of nut butters (cashew, peanut, walnut, almond and hazelnut)
as well as sesame paste

Freshly picked wild greens (ors 3anne, orra, wild dandelion, wild mint...) with Lebanese moune (pantry) of preserved marmalades, tomato paste, olives, olive oil, strained yogurt & olive oil, vinegar, vine leaves, plum preserve, gherkins, pickles, just to name a few

A huge variety of seasonal organic fruit & veggies

Best part of it all, I got my new baby organic basil plant. The farmer there taught me how to actually take care of it, water it with details on needed sunshine/shade hours and on how to properly pick the basil leaves to incorporate in dishes such as pasta, pizza... Yum (will keep you posted on this one!)

So you see, this market is playing a crucial role in preserving authentic and traditional Lebanese pantry, produce and dishes and it has an invaluable importance in helping local farmers keep doing what they love to do while profiting from their small-scale businesses. 
In fact, anyone who believes in slow food, their vision and their objectives can join the Slow Food Beirut movement for 10,000LL (almost 7 USD/year). Members can be both dormant and active supporters - You can contact the events' coordinator Chirine Alayan at chirine.alayan@hotmail.com or 70944308.

I see this market is a win-win situation for both producers and consumers, especially that I love our authentic traditional Lebanese food as well as the healthy and diverse nutrition it has to offer! In addition, the fact that this market is in the heart of Hamra from 8 am till 2 pm, students and employees walking by can actually make benefit of the healthy deliciousness as well! I am sure this won't be my last visit, I already know what I'll have the next time I'm there.

Slow Food Beirut Blog
Slow Food Beirut Facebook Page
Earth Market's Facebook Page

Why I'm Still Pro-Organic Food

Everybody’s asking about organic food today, especially after this all-famous study that suggested that organic food is nothing special and does not offer better nutritional value when compared with non-organic traditionally grown ones. Well, for me, choosing to go for organic food [and being able to afford them for that matter, let’s be frank, they are more expensive!] was never about more or less nutrients.

Let’s say both provide us the ‘same’ amount of nutrients, just like Stanford suggested. However, whenever I can choose organic – money-wise and availability - I go for it and here’s why:

Photo credit: 
bloggingfairtradelebanon

• To avoid questionable chemical pesticides in produce. Recent studies are even linking pesticides exposure to diabetes type 2!
• To avoid antibiotic resistant bugs + antibiotics + hormones IF I decide to have meat.
• To avoid human sewage, given that organic certifications ban the use of sewage sludge. And yes, in case you are wondering, organic certifications are applied in Lebanon by 2 bodies, check Libancert and IMC for more info on that.
• No irradiation allowed.
• Definitely no GMOs!
• And last but now least, the advantage in Lebanon is that we all know someone who plants fruits and vegetables at the comfort of their own homes, well at least I do. Better yet, we can plant our own – my family already does that so I have no excuses not to have me some ‘better’ quality of the ‘same’ nutritious food.

The study was conducted abroad so I really don't know how much of it applies for crops and meats in Lebanon. However, it also suggested that levels of pesticides and antibiotics in non-organic foods are within safety limits. Well, no, I don't get that. If you can avoid crap then do so. Now no need to be a freak about it, it is OK not to have non-organic food from time to time; our bodies can handle cleaning crap. But with today's pollutants everywhere, I suggest we give this body more breaks - breaks from toxins, pesticides, antibiotics, dyes, additives and industrial/environmental/chemical crap!

Photo credit:
http://www.personal.psu.edu

Your body is your vehicle and you gotta take care of it so bombarding the organic industry for wanting less crap in food is ridiculous.

Bottom Line

I'm one of those pro-organic, whenever possible and feasible, of course.

• If you can afford organic food, then do so.
• If you can choose less processed foods, less crappy, less toxins, less pesticides, less antibiotics, less synthetic additives, less dyes, no GMOs, then do so.
• If you can grow your own in your backyard, garden, balcony - and check Vertical Veg for that matter, then do so!