Men Zeit el Balad

My collab with Malfoof that was centered around olives and the South

You might already know of Malfoof, especially if you remember my mention of it in February’s Grapevine. On May 1st, I teamed up with Josephine to host one of the food heritage events she’s been having at the Malfoof space as part of a sponsorship from BERYT¹.

This one, EAT THE MOVIE, is self-explanatory but instead of a spread that matched a foodie film like Tortilla Soup, we used my two shorts that were about last year’s olive harvest as the theme to tie it all together. The whole night was linked to the steadfast, magnanimous olive tree and the South. We called it Men Zeit el Balad which has a double meaning in Arabic: from the country’s oil or from the same country. Both meanings reflect the goals of the event which were 1) to center the olive tree and all its gifts, 2) to highlight their use in Lebanon’s cuisine from north to south, and 3) to stress that the Israeli aggression happening in the South is happening to Lebanon. War on a part of the country is still war on the country.

All photos in this post are taken by the talented Tamara Saade who longtime readers may remember from her spread in Aanab No.4. Follow her on Instagram and hire her to capture the spirit of your wedding this summer.

Now, let me walk you through the experience.

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First, we wash up.

We had 14 people booked for our Labor Day evening and almost everyone arrived 10 minutes early. At the door, attendees were asked to wash their hands with olive oil soap using a typical plastic ibreek and bucket.

Get your hawiyyeh (ID) stamped.

When they booked a spot, guests were asked to bring a passport photo with them to Malfoof. Their photos were stapled to a blank replica of the hawiyyeh my grandmother had to use to access the South during the occupation. After they filled in their information, their new IDs were then stamped using the line stamp from a counting book by Joan Baz and Dar Onboz².

Take in the space.

Besides olive branches, the space was filled with family photos, books, and tokens from the South. All corners of the room were meticulously set up as vignettes of the village life, including a red rakweh with towers of auburn coffee cups, a collection of empty bottles stashed for oil storage, and stacks of soap from Tripoli’s Sadein. There were also two prints by Palestinian artists, Sliman Mansour and Nabil Anani.

Watch two shorts + two bonus clips.

We projected my two shorts (pre-harvest and harvest) on a white sheet draped over the doors in the middle of the space. I also shared some footage my aunt took of the destruction found at my grandparents’ house when she took the risk to go see it a few weeks ago.

Go to the South.

Guests presented their IDs at the door so they could enter the South and find a seat on the cushions around a long, low table.

Rose from Darmmess shared an intro to her olive oil production, her experience during the 2023 harvest of Deir Mimas, and then a taste of Darmmess’ EVOO.

EAT THE MOVIE.

Then it was time to EAT. The plates on our humble table included: fresh saj and kammouneh by Zahra from Majdelzoun, greens³ and kebbe by Rudayna from Rachaya, makdous from Baalbeck, olive oil and olives from Kfarkila, and labneh mkaazaleh from Shouf.

My very pregnant sister made two lemon EVOO cakes (using our olive oil) for dessert to have with herbal tea.

Before you go, give to the tree & it’ll give back.

As an end to the night, we asked attendees to write what zeitoun⁴ means to them on a tag and hang it on the tree. In return, they’d get a small vial of olive oil from my family’s 2023 harvest and a postcard of Suzane Kteich’s illustration⁵ that was inspired by my short.

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Some extra sparkles.

• Parents being parents: My mom dropped off the lemon EVOO cakes and my dad passed by just before we started too. Mom moved the Windex out of the way even though it was there on purpose and dad told Josephine that we should host an event together (as if he wasn’t standing in one).

• Yasmine, an enduring reader of Aanab, attended and introduced herself. Meeting readers in real life never gets old!!

• Joseph attended and he remembered that we had first met when I had coffee with a friend at his cafe, Levant, and I’d gifted her a bottle of olive oil after she had gifted him one of her photos.

• We put the olive branches in beautiful, earthy pots and vases by Danya from Gray Gardens and we served Wata Cider, Almaza, and water with dinner.

• Aftermath: My sister got an order for her lemon EVOO cake, I had coffee and more lemon EVOO cake with Josephine the next morning after we dismantled everything and closed the books on this event, Chef Sally Jane recapped the night in her newsletter, and I received texts and voicenotes from friends saying that they’re proud of me ❤️ I also got to take a bundle of olive branches home to put in my kitchen —they didn’t last long though because Penny started eating them. Of course.

Thank you to everyone who was a part of this magical night!

1. As stated on Malfoof’s Instagram: These events are organized by Malfoof and sponsored through BERYT, which is implemented by UN-Habitat through funding from the Lebanon Financing Facility (LFF), administered by the World Bank (WB). The Cultural and Creative Industries component is implemented by UNESCO Beirut.

2. The book, “Count to Ten: I Went Looking for Palestine But I Found” was created by Joan Baz and Dar Onboz after a journey to South Lebanon. Each illustration is available as a rubber stamp and the line stamp is a graphic depicting the southern border. The book was also on display during the event at Malfoof.

3. Typically foraged greens: hendbeh, zweyteh, and mashe

4. Olives in Arabic

5. After I posted the short on Instagram, Suzane posted a beautiful illustration of the first line I say drawn within an olive tree. She graciously agreed to have it used as a postcard. I added a QR code on the back that links to the short on YouTube.