Food (Or 4 $ Project)

One of the most powerful vehicles for storytelling is Food. Stories told through food concern both the collective and the individual. Food tells stories about our past, our heritage, our roots, how we live, and how we overcome our struggles. And this is the essence of this project.

Also part of the Lebanese Cash Consortium, which was established to improve the situation of vulnerable Syrian refugees and help coordinate cash assistance in Lebanon, I was recruited for an assignment called ‘’The 4 $ Meal’’, and the objective was to capture the process and the outcome of dishes prepared by Syrian household with 4$ only.

On set, emotions were condensed into dishes and bites, moments of laughter, of joy, of bitterness, of authenticity, and I remember one lady telling me ‘’back home we use to make this dish with a lot of meat, but now we can’t afford it.’’

This assignment taught me how communities reclaim their identities through their food, they tell their stories garnished with a sense of longing and nostalgia and hope that once they go back home, they will eat their dishes as they are supposed to be eaten, with a lot of meat and pine seeds.