20 May 2013

BEIRUT: Locals got a little taste from star chef Jamie Oliver Friday afternoon as a mother-daughter cooking duo served up a handful of the Brit’s basic recipes at Ginette in east Beirut’s Gemmayzeh. The buffet lunch at this cafe-gallery was held as part of Oliver’s international Food Revolution Day, a day when people from New York to Mumbai cook to promote the chef’s mission: making homemade food from scratch.

In that spirit, Caline Chaya Chaoul and her daughter Youmna served a buffet full of delicious but easily replicable dishes from fresh ingredients: grilled salmon marinated in Asian spices, roasted chicken with couscous, artichoke salad and leg of lamb. For dessert they baked pistachio maamoul with ice cream and double chocolate muffins.

Sounds ordinary? That’s exactly the point of Food Revolution Day, which seeks to educate a world population growing increasingly dependent on fast food about the joys and health benefits of basic home cooking.

“The idea is to educate the younger generation about real food,” Youmna said. “Maybe they’re eating at home now, but when it’s their turn to cook, they won’t know how to do it.

“The younger generation doesn’t think they have the time, but it’s as easy as getting oranges and making orange juice instead of buying it. Something so little makes a huge difference,” she added.

Youmna helps volunteer alongside her mother, who is the official Food Revolution Day ambassador in Lebanon. She was keen to point out that the term “real food” has nothing to do with diet foods – just back-to-basics cooking.

“You can take any greens you have from the fridge, add olive oil and lemon, and salt and pepper. It’s so easy,” Youmna said.

Almost all premade foods at the grocery store have preservatives, for example, she said. And worldwide, few children are taught what it means to be eating junk or fast food, though many eat such things regularly. Even parents who cook regularly are ignorant of unhealthy cooking practices, like deep frying versus baking.

Some 90-100 people turned up to the event, and each person received printed cards with every recipe from the buffet meal. “So people can cook at home and share this. Everyone can do this,” Youmna said.

Oliver launched his international Food Revolution Day last year in a bid to encourage better eating habits worldwide. The global day of action inspired hundreds of activities around the world Friday, including the event in Gemmayzeh.

Home cooking in Lebanon remains a cultural mainstay. That along with recipes that rely heavily on things like legumes, unsweetened yogurt and local, seasonal produce makes Lebanese cuisine inherently healthy.

“In Lebanon, it’s less of an issue because we still eat at home and most mothers cook at home,” Youmna said.

But both Caline and Youmna lamented the lack of trustworthy data about obesity in Lebanon.

In a study published by American University of Beirut, the percentage of overweight children in Lebanon grew to 35 percent in 2008 from 20 percent in 1997, an increase echoed among adults and senior citizens.

A lack of information is all the more reason to urge people to hold onto their food traditions.

“Cooking is something you learn from your environment and if you don’t know what it’s about, even if you eat home-cooked meals every day, then you won’t cook as an adult,” Youmna said.

Caline and Youmna have bigger plans for tailoring Food Revolution to the country’s needs. They are currently working on teaching cooking in select schools, kindergartens and universities.

“We want to teach kids how to cook something easy,” she said.

Caline said she had long been a fan of Oliver’s and followed his recipes and various projects.

“When I learned about this revolution, I thought I would love to be one of the ambassadors,” she said. That was as simple as taking a questionnaire and filling out some official paperworks, “And here I am,” she said.

Caline doesn’t work professionally as a cook, but loves making food for family and friends – which is at the very heart of Food Revolution’s mission.

In the long term, Caline said she hoped to use Food Revolution as a way to feed impoverished people in the country and teach about nutrition.

As the guests left from Friday’s homemade lunch, Youmna asked their guests what they thought of the meal. “They were saying it was light and they left feeling satisfied but that they ate something fresh.”

Copyright The Daily Star 2013.