Dear reader,
With the recent escalation in the country, followed by yesterday’s mass evacuation of Beirut’s southern suburbs, I wasn’t sure I should write this week. But my mom said something worth noting, which I’ll get to at the end.
On Wednesday, my mom asked me to get some tomatoes on my way home. “Do you know how to pick the good ones?” I hesitated, so she doubled down. Obviously, I took that personally. I needed to prove — to myself — that I could. It felt like the least one can do for their family in times of war.
I first checked a vegetable shop and sent her pics of the tomatoes. She said they all looked bad, so I went to the supermarket, trolley in hand, knowing I wouldn’t leave with just tomatoes.
I stood in front of them, stared into their bright red void for a while. I Googled “Is it better to pick small tomatoes or big tomatoes?” When that got me nowhere, I asked the man working there for help. Goodbye raging feminism. Still, it made me proud to be Lebanese — just asking someone to help pick vegetables. In another country, I wouldn’t even think of it. Maybe I’m just sentimental. And patriotic?
I picked up cucumbers, garlic, a leafy vegetable whose name I don’t know. Heading toward the weighing station, I passed by the red onions. I pictured myself buried in salads all week. Heaven. When I got home, my mom eyed my red onions and asked why I bought them. I said for work salads. She looked at me ever so seriously and said, “The number one rule, and the only rule, is to never eat onions or garlic at work.”
So here I am, writing this down at the office, eating a bland, no-onion salad — in between strikes, because it’s war and my breath is expendable.
If you’re currently stuck at home, physically or mentally, and feel like cooking before the end of the world, here are a few quick recipes to make for the family: Jaimee Lee Haddad’s vegan Sambusek and Samosas, Yasmina Hayek’s seafood moghrabieh (minus the chardonnay) and Anissa Helou and her mother Loris’ zucchini in tomato sauce.
Melissa Manouchakian
Distribution editor
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As people flee their homes due to Israel's mass evacuation orders of south Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, World Central Kitchen chefs in Lebanon - led by Chef Corps member Aline Kamakian - are once again providing tens of thousands of meals daily to displaced families
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