Lebanon , Syria #Barakability Business Classroom 2.0 Education Food for Thought Heritage Lifestyle Women-Led Enterprises 81 Smiles Photo Credit: CNN by Jennifer MacKenzie 3 months ago Everyone knows that eating healthy is good for the body. But it turns out that cooking delicious food also has a vast positive impact on mental health , as 13 Syrian and four Lebanese women discovered through a pilot initiative that provides culinary training as a means to cope with depression, poverty, and the aftershocks of war. The result— a fledgling catering company with a rich menu of mouthwatering dishes—is good for everyone.
Co-sponsored by the UNHCR and Tawlet Restaurant in the Caritas Migrants Center in Beirut, the six-month workshop provided lessons in gourmet theory and practice , including hygiene techniques. The women flourished in the course, quickly inventing dozens of recipes, and making warm, familial friendships in the process. Their work culminated in a fixed menu called “Atayeb Zaman”, or “Old Time Goodies”, which they now cater throughout Beirut.
For the women, the difference between before and after the course was life-altering. From having “nothing to look forward to”, as one put it, they found a sense of purpose and of self. Participant Ibtissam told the UNHCR’s Dana Sleiman that the workshops gave her the feeling “ that I existed .” Kamal Mouzawak, Tawlet ‘s owner, told CNN that through cooking women are “the keeper of tradition, of life, of health, of [their] family and society.” Plans are now underway, Sleiman adds, to replicate the project in Syria and other parts of Lebanon.
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