Beit Douma: Beirut’s Home Away From Home

The Wall Street Journal

IN 2004, Kamal Mouzawak, a former food and travel writer, launched Souk el Tayeb—Lebanon’s first farmers’ market—with the goal of celebrating small producers, fostering a model of sustainable agriculture and helping unite a divided country. Every Saturday morning in downtown Beirut, a neighborhood that’s home to shops like Hermès and Gucci, makeshift stalls fill the streets and 100 farmers lay out their wares. Amid Lebanon’s clash of cultures, religions and classes, the market demonstrates Mouzawak’s campaign to cultivate good food, make it available in a bustling metropolis and sell it at a fair price. Now, over a decade since he founded Souk el Tayeb, Mouzawak has expanded his influence with the launch of Beit Douma, a guest house with an eye toward architectural preservation.

From: The Wall Street Journal FULL STORY