GROUNDAs the rest of the world discusses the concept, a producer’s kitchen in Beirut is bringing the farmer to the table.!"#$% &'('"#%), describing something as “like downtown Beirut” was an insensitive synonym for the ravages of war and civic collapse. With its French-colonial Art Deco buildings and Levantine laneways packed with bars and cafes, Beirut was once crowned the Paris of the Middle East; much of that was liquidated during a 15-year-long civil war. >

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A CARAFE OF ANISEED-FLAVOURED LEBANESE PALATE

CLEANSER ARAK IN TAWLET, A PRODUCER’S KITCHEN.

EPICUREAN DELIGHTS, DELECTABLE DESIGN AND THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE.ALATEp

VOGUE LIVING JAN/FEB 11 55

< Lebanon’s defining characteristic was always its unique ethnic and religious diversity, which had long underpinned its status as the most cosmopolitan city in the Middle East. The civil war is still closer than a distant memory, but a moneyed diaspora has ensured the capital’s phoenix-like rise as the centre of Arabic avant garde.

As the concrete of development is hastily poured over Beirut’s raw wounds, traditional farmers, chefs and some very patient tetas (Arabic for grandmothers) are collaborating at Tawlet, a radical ‘producer’s kitchen’ set up by writer turned guardian of the Lebanese culinary tradition Kamal Mouzawak, which is drawing on Lebanon’s only truly secular asset for renewal and reconciliation: its legendary food.

Tawlet follows another extraordinary Mouzawak project in Beirut. On Saturday morning, in the rebuilt Saifi district, adjacent to where the ‘green line’ once divided the city into east and west, is the farmers’ market Souk el Tayeb. Established in 2004, it is a place where producers from all communities – Palestinian, Muslim, Christian, Druze – come together once a week to sell their produce. During the Hezbollah-Israel conflict in 2006, the market remained open and garnered international headlines for its ‘make food, not war’ stoicism.

It is Tawlet that is Mouzawak’s masterstroke. Meaning ‘the kitchen table’ in Arabic, it’s a revolutionary concept for an eating house that has brought Lebanese people together – no matter what their political stripe, ethnic background or religious conviction – to gather at the table and break pita. Drawing on the network of goodwill he has built with the market, Mouzawak now curates Tawlet, where each day a different farmer, grandmother or shepherd commandeers the space for lunch. It is fascinating to behold as each day brings new recipes, traditions and stories. In the kitchen, the language wafts in and out of English, French and Arabic as the young staff are instructed at first timidly and then often with chiding authority by the grandmothers. >

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OPPOSITE, ABOVE: LEBANON IS RIGHTLY FAMED FOR ITS SWEETS. AT TAWLET,

FRESH FRUIT IS ACCOMPANIED BY ARISHE (MOUNTAIN CHEESE), WILD HONEY

AND SEMOLINA CAKES. OPPOSITE, BELOW: TAWLET WAITERS SAMI AND

MOHAMED. THIS PAGE: TAWLET FOUNDER MOUZAWAK’S EXTENSIVE

TRAVELS PROVIDED INSPIRATION FOR THE INTERIOR OF HIS RESTAURANT,

WHICH IS MODERN AND UNPRETENTIOUS YET SOPHISTICATED.

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56 VOGUE LIVING JAN/FEB 11

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ABOVE, FROM LEFT: PLATTERS

OF WARAK ARISH AND EGGPLANT

ARRIVE FROM THE HOME KITCHEN

OF SAIDEH HANNA RIZKALLAH, A

GRANDMOTHER FROM THE WAR-TORN

VILLAGE OF AITOULEH; HOME-STYLE

LEBANESE COOKING LAID OUT AS

AN INTIMATE SHARED BUFFET; SIMPLE

RECIPES PRESENTED IN A BOLD, MODERN

WAY. BELOW: YOUNG CHEF GARO

MOUCHAGE WITH RIZKALLAH. BELOW

RIGHT: AT TAWLET, FOOD HAS THE

POWER TO HEAL OLD WOUNDS.

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< The buffet is laid out and always includes dishes from beyond the typical realm of mezze. Slow-cooked stews, goat kibbeh in yoghurt and vibrant tabbouleh and fattoush are piled high on white platters alongside perfectly ripe organic tomatoes, bundles of mint, fresh labne (yoghurt cheese) and tiny, crisp cucumbers.

Mouzawak views Tawlet as a “development project” but dining here does not feel like an act of charity. It inhabits a chic and open space that would be as much at home in New York’s Tribeca as it is in Bourj Hammoud, the Armenian quarter of Beirut. The food is varied, of exceptional quality, and those involved conduct themselves with a rare degree of pride and care. While the rest of the world is talking about a farm-to-table philosophy, Tawlet is bringing the farmer to the table. The cleverness of the Tawlet experiment is that it does not present the producers and their food as curious time capsules but elevates and dignifies their work. The glorious diversity of the Lebanese culinary tradition, once only witnessed in the private homes of the aged and under threat from conflict and migration, is now celebrated, shared and, ultimately, rescued. DAVID PRIOR

For more information, visit www.soukeltayeb.com.

58 VOGUE LIVING JAN/FEB 11