Jasmine and Fire
Home. The sense of belonging to a certain locality, surrounded by familiar people and places, regardless of whether one still lives in that location or not. This is the feeling food writer Salma Abdelnour had whenever she thought of her family鈥檚 apartment in Beirut. Although just a child when her parents fled the Lebanese civil war for the safety of Houston, Tex., Beirut lingered in Abdelnour鈥檚 mind as a place of contentment.
She remembered with fondness being surrounded by family and friends and days filled with simple pleasures like 鈥渁 day at the beach during a cease-fire.鈥� In Houston, she didn鈥檛 quite fit in and never felt fully accepted or integrated into the culture. She writes 鈥淚 had a hunch that at 鈥榟ome,鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 always need to explain myself, my name, my culture, my past鈥︹�澨�
These feelings continued into adulthood, remaining with Abdelnour in her new home of New York City. Despite living for over 30 years in the United States, Beirut still lingered in the author鈥檚 mind as the place where she really belonged.
In order to test this nagging suspicion that Beirut might be the place that she was really meant to live, Abdelnour turned her back on New York 鈥� which meant giving up a very full social life, her career, and a renewed romance with a man named Richard 鈥� to return to Beirut to live for a year. Jasmine and Fire is her book about that year.
Abdelnour returned to her parent鈥檚 apartment and forced herself to submerge into the war-torn atmosphere of modern Beirut. Family members who had remained in the city during the war were immediately on hand for her, providing her with a refrigerator full of her favorite childhood foods on her very first night back.听 She instantly felt 鈥渆mbraced in a way [she鈥檇] forgotten about鈥� and thought 鈥渉ow strange to be surrounded by people who love you for no other reason than that you鈥檙e Salma.鈥�
Dinner parties, phone calls and various social outings pulled the author from a beginning case of the blues and she slowly settled into a rhythm of writing coupled with an exploration of the city鈥檚 streets.
Being a food writer, many of Abdelnour鈥檚 reflections revolve around the food she re-experienced on her return to Beirut, dishes she remembered with fondness from her childhood. Specialities like 尘补苍鈥檕耻肠丑别, 鈥渢he seminal Beirut breakfast: doughy flatbread smeared with olive oil and zaatar 鈥� a spice mix of sumac, thyme, and sesame seeds 鈥� and served hot, straight from the oven.鈥� Slathered with labneh, a creamy yogurt-cheese, to Abdelnour, it is the ultimate comfort food, a meal Abdelnour feels she could eat 鈥渆very single day, forever.鈥�
Descriptions of other dishes such as rizz w鈥檇jeje 鈥� strips of roasted chicken over rice with golden raisins and pine nuts 鈥� or kibbe bi鈥檚ayniy 鈥� a savory ground lamb and burghul pie served hot with mint-spiked yogurt 鈥� will have readers longing for a taste.
In order to fully absorb the culture, Abdelnour pounded the streets of the city, at first in search of a decent cup of coffee, and later to 鈥渉elp bind and clarify [her] feelings for the city. She deliberately got lost, to force herself into finding new routes back to her apartment as she wanted to 鈥渓earn and relearn Beirut up through my soles and ankles and knees.鈥澨�
Some of what she discovered flustered her, like the intense stares, hoots, and whistles of the men as she walked past, unaccompanied by any male partner. Although 鈥淟ebanese women can drive, work, and dress however they want, [they] are still struggling for equal rights and a voice in government.鈥�
As she grew more comfortable within the city limits, Abdelnour ventured into the countryside, up into the mountains and down to Marjeyoun, near the border with Israel. She also took a trip, part vacation and part on assignment, to Egypt, and wound up on the streets when the first demonstrations of the Arab Spring began.
The longer Abdelnour remained in Beirut, the more at peace she felt. Which in turn brought its own questions. Would she be able to return to New York after her year in Beirut was over and reconnect with her friends and life there? Would her relationship with Richard survive the year apart? Would he consider moving to Beirut if she decided to remain in the city? Suddenly, Abdelnour was faced with the growing certainty that she could call more than one place "home" as 鈥渋t鈥檚 where you feel most yourself 鈥� and to be really at home means having a relationship with that place.鈥�
For food lovers and travel adventurers, Abdelnour鈥檚 journeys in Beirut will bring the city鈥檚 streets and social life to light, with insights into its political and religious worlds as well. Several听 Lebanese recipes are included (although a street map would have been another useful addition to aid the reader as Abdelnour meandered through the city.)
听"Jasmine and Fire" is a pleasing account of life in Beirut, the "Paris of the Mediterranean." Its rich food details will听stimulate appetites and the author's quest to find her true home will resonate poignantly for anyone who's ever conducted a similar search.
Lee Cart is a book critic and translator living in Maine.
