Gourmet Week delivers taste of Lebanon

07 November 2013

BEIRUT: Organizers are ringing in this years Beirut Cooking Festival with a week of specials at local restaurants and hotels. Around 25 venues have teamed up with Hospitality Services, the organizers of the annual cooking festival, and are offering deals and special menus this week to draw in patrons. Gourmet Week will continue through Sunday.

The first edition of Gourmet Week is about discovering products and discovering restaurants, which are doing special activities, special menus and special promotions to draw people to taste new things, Joumana Salame, managing director at Hospitality Services, told The Daily Star.

The week features more than 40 special events. Participating venues include local favorites serving traditional Lebanese and Armenian fare such as Al Falamanki, Mayrig in Ashrafieh and Sultan Ibrahim in Antelias. A number of top hotels are also hosting special menus and discounts this week, including The Four Seasons, Le Grey and Radisson Blu Martinez Hotel. And specialty restaurants and wine bars participating include sushi spot Shogun and Burgundy Wine Bar in Saifi Village.

The celebration is an opportunity to remind locals and visitors of the richness and unique experiences Lebanon has to offer in terms of gastronomy, Salame said.

This is the first year of Gourmet Week, which Hospitality Services is aiming to host yearly, as a complement to the Beirut Cooking Festival, held annually at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure center.

Both the Tourism Ministry and the Restaurant Owners Syndicate are supporting Gourmet Week.

Food is a part of our culture and very existence. It has also become an important component in tourism, said Tourism Minister Fady Abboud. Abboud said he hoped Lebanon could draw upon its strong culinary heritage to bring tourists to the country.

Paul Ariss, president of the Restaurant Owners Syndicate, listed some of the accolades Lebanon had received for its food enterprises, including Beiruts No. 20 rank in Nast Travelers 2013 Readers Choice Awards.

Lebanon has become an international icon of the most important gourmet destinations, Ariss said.

Beirut Cooking Festival is a three-day event running Thursday through Saturday. In its third year, the festival has grown to include more interaction among visitors and exhibitors. Nearly every stand at this years festival will offer a way for guests to taste, learn and even compete through food and its related fields.

The event has also spread to encompass discussions and how-to sessions related to serving food and general entertaining. Sonya Sabbah, an image consultant and etiquette coach, will demonstrate how to prepare formal and informal seating arrangements. Lana El Sahley, a stylist for Nancy Ajram and fashion blogger, will offer style advice for this seasons slew of holiday fetes. And dietitian Sabine Karam will be giving the rundown on the Blue Zone Diet, which shes promoting as a way to boost longevity and general health.

Celebrity chefs will come with a slew of familiar recipes to which theyll give a bit of a twist: things such as moghrabieh, kebabs, chocolate buche, traditional Lebanese cheeses and fondue. The festival has also grown to incorporate lessons on meals outside of French and Levantine culinary heritage.

Take, for example, a demonstration by Elmer Garganta, Japanese head chef at Shogun, an upscale sushi spot. Or a presentation by Le Greys top chefs walking guests through the process of making paella.

Nearly a dozen activities on the lineup this year prepare guests for holiday cooking and party hosting. Several bartenders will join Beirut Cooking Festival to present Christmas-themed concoctions or harder cocktails for New Years.

Learn how to make truffles and distribute them as gifts this season; how to spice up your hot chocolate recipe; or how to incorporate seasonal ingredients like pumpkin, chestnut and pears.

Food advocates, everyone from promoters of organic eating to preservers of Lebanons traditional recipes, will also present their various causes over the next several days. Cookbook author Barbara Massaad will host a discussion with Lebanese chefs on Slow Food Beirut, a collaboration among top foodies who seek to promote cleaner and fairer food system in the country.

Every stand has done the effort not to treat Beirut Cooking Festival as an exhibition, Salame said.

In contrast to BIELs annual hospitality trade show, the HORECA exhibition, Beirut Cooking Festival is geared toward the general public.

This is for foodies and food lovers, Salame said. Even children.