A culinary journey across Lebanon; a personal and intimate’ look inside Lebanese kitchens, bakeries, farm fields, souks, local joints, gourmet restaurants and more.

Bethany Kehdy, Lebanese-American food author, blogger and founder of Food Blogger Connect, is the founder of Taste Lebanon, a boutique travel & service collective.  In collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, they aim at delivering anything but a cookie-cutter tour experience.

video production: Raspberry & Jam, filmed at various locations throughout Lebanon

On the week-long tour, which runs twice a year, Kehdy brings tourists into the homes of Lebanese farmers, producers and other culinary enthusiasts, where guests learn firsthand about traditional cooking techniques and practices.  Kehdy, and her band of foodies, traipse through Lebanon’s diverse landscapes, from mountain homes and thyme fields in the South to Beirut’s gourmet restaurants.  She takes guests fishing on the Mediterranean Sea, teaches them to make mezzah, as well as watch demonstrations on a variety of Middle Eastern foods, from saj to basterma to kebbah.  They visit souks, dairy farms, bakeries, olive groves, vineyards and an Arak distillery.    For Kehdy, the most important stop on the trip is a visit to Abu Kassem, the owner of Za’atar Zawtar.  Kassem is one of the few Lebanese farmers who has domesticated wild za’atar (thyme) plants, which is usually only collected in the wild (source: Megan Detrie, In The Garden, BROWNBOOK: An Urban Guide to the Middle East).

In 2010, accompanied by photojournalist Roderick Field, Bethany flew to Lebanon and spent five days collecting material for her article about Lebanon.  The Gourmet Traveller feature on Beirut is in the Food & Travel Magazine (February/March issue); you can read the article here or view the pdf file here.

the Guide,

you can read more about Bethany and her endeavors on her blog  Dirty Kitchen Secrets

credit: Oasis Magazine, photo courtesy of Bethany Kehdy

credit: Fit’n Style Magazine, photo by Šárka Babická