My culinary trip to Byblos, Lebanon

My culinary trip to Byblos, Lebanon

Considering it’s from one of the oldest civilisations in the world, Egyptian food is not as well known as it should be, and I am delighted to have a new ally in my quest – Alice
Edde and the team from Edde Sands – invited me to bring it to Food Lovers, Recipe Explorers and Health & Wellness Aficionados in Byblos, The Lebanon.

Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to hear how much I love talking to people about Egyptian food. It wasn’t anything different when exhibiting at the World Travel Market in London recently supporting Egypt’s State Tourism Office at their stand offering “Taste of Egypt” culinary samples to visitors. An amazing event where I met lots of wonderful people including Alice Edde, who was so intrigued by my Egyptian food samples and teas, that she invited me to host cookery classes at the beautiful holistic wellness resort Edde Sands.

I felt so honoured and excited when I visited Byblos in April to open the season with my spring cooking courses titled Sham El Nassim “The Smell of the Fresh Breeze” inviting course participants to celebrate together with me what the Egyptians celebrate as the arrival of spring.

We explored the wonders of this Arabic nation with authentic, fresh, healthy and nutricious recipes such as Ful Medammes, Molokhia, Salata Bangar, Baba Ghanough, Ful Ta’amya, Salata Baladi, Kusheri, Shurbit Aadz, Umm Ali and many more. In this collection for some of the recipes I used my own-created Dukka spice & nut mix to flavour soups, sauces, salads, dips, vegetables, fish, meat, poultry and almost everything from eggs to eggplant.

I truly believe that Egyptian food is on the cusp of being embraced by the western world on the scale of Indian, Italian, Lebanese or Thai food. It certainly deserves to be, and the vast array of flavours and aromas means there is something for everyone.

I had the most wonderful holistic and culinary trip to the Lebanon. It was a great experience, meeting and eating and being part of such a committed creative team who put all efforts into the wellness week. Wonderful! Everyone enjoyed it…