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Beef, fish or olive oil, essential foods in traditional Lebanese food, have become prohibitive due to hyperinflation of more than 200% in food products.
Lebanese cuisine, called “the jewel of the Middle East”, is recognized as one of the best Arab foods and occupies a reference place in world gastronomy. With many points in common with the Mediterranean diet, it is based on a healthy diet full of flavour. Spices and olive oil are the foundation of Lebanese cuisine that is mixed with all kinds of vegetables, nuts, and a wide variety of fish and beef.
But the collapse of its economy, where the local currency has lost more than 200% of its value against the dollar, is changing the eating habits of the Lebanese due to the high prices of products. Housewives and cooks have had to adapt the traditional Lebanese diet to their pockets, to the point of eliminating red meat in dishes and replacing it with legumes or potatoes.
After three decades behind the scenes, on his daily live cooking show on LibanTV, chef Antoine has stopped preparing his recipes with the ingredients he used to cook and substitutes them for cheaper products. “I decided to change my dishes. It used to always serve meat, fish, chicken and sometimes salmon, but after the economic collapse, the cheapest meat, which is the vaccine, has become unaffordable”, explains Chef Antoine to France 24.
“Enough is already going on for Lebanese families so that they have to feel bad for not being able to eat red meat. Out of respect for them, I have eliminated meat and I cook just as tasty with aubergines and chicken eggs, which have a lot of protein”, acknowledges the famous Lebanese chef.
Despite the difficulties faced by so many Lebanese these days, chef Antoine has not lost his sense of humor and likes to joke while preparing his dishes on his cooking show. He once revealed the secret of his famous vegan meatballs. “I told my audience that my trick was to hide 500 grams of minced lamb meat under layers of vegetables.” Within hours, the video went viral.
But, without a doubt, his biggest secret is the affection with which he treats his audience, sharing his childhood memories in his mother’s kitchen, listening to each one of the housewives who call the program asking for doubts and advice.
Chef Antoine’s cooking tips and secrets inspire women like Josephine Saadeh to survive hyperinflation in food items. She is the mother of two young children and her husband works as a driver for a taxi company.
With a salary in the devalued Lebanese pound and inflation of more than 200%, Josephine has enough to buy basic products. So Josephine has had to change the family’s eating habits and she has stopped buying beef for her children which she substitutes for chicken once a week.
He no longer prepares his delicious zucchini stuffed with minced meat or chicken livers, but instead stuffs them with tomato and chopped onion. And for her stews, instead of homemade meat broth, she uses concentrated tomato paste to give it more flavor.
“In Lebanon we no longer cook with beef. I’m worried because I can’t give my children a rich and healthy diet like I used to do before. The minor has allergies to many products, and the food he can eat is too expensive and I can’t afford it, so I feed him vegetables and rice”, explains Josephine, while she prepares a stew in the kitchen of the house of her
Since the Government lifted subsidies on food imports due to the economic crisis, commercial activity in wholesale markets has also been affected. The sale of red meat has fallen by around 70 percent in supermarkets and by 50% in restaurants. The reason is that the price of imported red meat has increased fivefold, selling for $33 a kilo, which is equivalent to the average salary of a Lebanese.
The establishment where Mohamed Hassani works as a butcher hardly sells red meat to restaurants, supermarkets and customers, even though they are buying less than half of what they used to buy when red meat was subsidized.
But superinflation, and falling imports, are not the only problems affecting consumer goods. Husein Daaboul, a consultant for a Dubai-based import company, is concerned that the quality of food merchandise has declined.
“Lebanon imports 80% of the food products consumed in the country. But due to the economic crisis and the shortage of dollars, not only has there been a significant drop in imports, but the quality of imported products has also decreased. Before, we imported red meat from Australia and dairy from Europe. Our markets are now the Turkish or Arab countries that sell cheaper, but of worse quality”, this export consultant warns France 24.
Lebanese gastronomy is yet another victim of the deep economic crisis facing Lebanon. The pride of its gastronomy, due to the variety and quality of its products, is mutated to recipes with cheaper foods to be able to adapt it to the reality of the Lebanese pocket.
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