When you enter Esther's kitchen in her family apartment, it's hard to know where to look. There are pots on the stove to your left, a sink full dishes beside it, both dirty and clean — remnants of past meals and evidence of those to come. In the center is a table, repurposed as a workbench and serving station. Above it, cabinets are filled with empty Tupperware, cookbooks and recipe notes. Opposite the door stands the refrigerator, perpetually full and covered with photos, reminders, and mementos.

Esther, a Lebanese woman in her sixties and a mother of three, has a kitchen that mirrors many others. It tells a story of family, womanhood, motherhood and daughterhood. It's the heart of the home, just as food is central to family life.

"When I visit my mother, I say hello and naturally head to the fridge. I was raised with the idea that there was always something to eat at home," says Sophie*, Esther's daughter.

A Legacy of Cooking

"Every time I see them eat, I think about the hours I spent preparing the dish: four hours gone in ten minutes!" With three children in their thirties, two living abroad, grandchildren, and an elderly mother, Esther has always spent countless hours doing things for others.

For her, food is a pretext to set the table, gather loved ones and bring joy.

"Everything I eat or cook, I learned from my mother," says Aline Kamakian, founder of the Mayrig restaurant in Beirut, which means "mother" in Armenian.

In this family, cooking traditions have been passed down in various ways, despite the challenges of children moving away. Esther’s eldest daughter, living in the Gulf, often video calls her for guidance on traditional dishes. "I think she wants to reconnect with her childhood from abroad," Esther muses.

Andre Maalouf, author of several Lebanese cookbooks, believes that cooking is a cultural anchor when everything else is forgotten. Sophie, who stayed in Lebanon, observes that this culinary transmission continues: her daughter, not yet ten, already spends hours in the kitchen. "Sometimes I watch her, and it looks like she's been cooking her whole life," Esther jokes.

Generational Differences

The practices haven't changed, but the time dedicated to cooking has, influenced by women's desire for emancipation, explains Maalouf. Kamakian also notes that adaptation is key: "Nowadays, we find basic elements of traditional dishes in frozen, ready-to-cook versions," reducing preparation time while maintaining tradition.

Despite different time constraints, their relationship with cooking remains consistent. "There was already a difference between my mother's generation, who didn't work, and mine. I had to balance a job with everything else," Esther shares. When asked what she would do with time spent on herself, she hesitates but thinks it would be reading or walking, not cooking. "But I don't complain, it's fine," she adds with a smile.

"I love cooking, but between a job and a child, I don't see where it fits in my daily routine," Sophie explains. Her work often requires her to eat out. She cooks when she can, while her sister abroad juggles two children, a job, and hours spent on family recipes. "My daughter's father can cook too, we each have our role," Sophie notes. For women of her mother's generation, men had no place in the kitchen, "They were just there to eat!"

Esther's granddaughter, watching her cook for hours, might have been inspired. At seven years old, she is sure she will open her own restaurant one day.