The Levant, a culturally rich region comprising countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine, is renowned for its flavorful cuisine and deep culinary traditions. For food enthusiasts, the Levant offers an array of culinary fairs that go beyond mere gastronomy to celebrate heritage, innovation, and community. This guide explores some of the must-visit culinary fairs in the Levant, what to expect, and how to make the most of your foodie adventure.

How to Plan Your Culinary Fair Adventure

1. Research Dates and Locations: Many festivals are annual, but dates can vary. Check local tourism websites for up-to-date information.
2. Dress Comfortably: Festivals often involve a lot of walking and outdoor activities.
3. Bring a Reusable Bag: You’ll likely want to purchase goodies to take home, from spices to handmade treats.
4. Stay Open-Minded: Be willing to try new flavors and dishes you’ve never heard of before.
5. Capture the Moments: Many fairs are visually stunning, so bring your camera to document the experience.

1. Beirut International Food Festival (Lebanon)

Overview:

Located in the vibrant heart of Beirut, the Beirut International Food Festival is a testament to Lebanon’s status as a culinary capital. This annual event attracts foodies and chefs from across the globe, showcasing the diversity of Lebanese cuisine alongside international culinary delights.

What to Expect:

• Live Cooking Demonstrations: Renowned chefs demonstrate how to prepare traditional dishes such as kibbeh nayeh and tabbouleh, along with modern fusion creations.
• Tasting Stations: Sample everything from Lebanese mezze platters to international cuisines.
• Wine and Arak Tastings: Explore Lebanon’s burgeoning wine industry and sample arak, the country’s signature anise-flavored spirit.
• Workshops: Learn the art of rolling vine leaves, baking manakish, or creating desserts like baklava.

Insider Tips:

• Visit the festival’s “Heritage Corner” to discover old family recipes passed down through generations.
• Arrive early to secure a spot at the most popular workshops, as spaces fill up quickly.

2. Amman Gourmet Week (Jordan)

Overview:

Amman Gourmet Week is a culinary celebration that highlights Jordan’s vibrant food scene, blending traditional Bedouin flavors with modern gastronomic trends. Hosted annually in the capital, this event caters to both local foodies and international visitors.

What to Expect:

• Street Food Village: Sample authentic dishes like mansaf, falafel, and kunafa from local vendors.
• International Pavilions: Discover global cuisines from Italian pasta to Japanese sushi.
• Food Competitions: Watch local chefs compete in live cooking challenges to create the ultimate Jordanian dish.
• Farm-to-Table Exhibits: Learn about the importance of sustainable agriculture and organic farming in Jordan.

Insider Tips:

• Don’t miss the “Jordanian Coffee Experience,” where you can learn about the traditional preparation of Arabic coffee.
• Evening sessions often include live music performances, adding to the festive atmosphere.

3. Damascus Food & Culture Festival (Syria)

Overview:

Despite challenges, Damascus continues to be a hub for cultural preservation, and its food festival is a celebration of resilience and heritage. This event highlights the best of Syrian cuisine, known for its rich flavors and diverse influences.

What to Expect:

• Traditional Dishes: Enjoy classics like muhammara, fattoush, and kibbeh prepared by local chefs.
• Sweet Delights: Sample famous Syrian desserts such as maamoul, barazek, and halawet el-jibn.
• Cultural Performances: The festival often features dabke dances and oud music, adding to the immersive experience.
• Artisan Markets: Browse stalls offering handmade pottery, textiles, and cooking utensils.

Insider Tips:

• Attend the “Storytelling Through Food” segment, where elders share the history of iconic Syrian dishes.
• Pair your meals with a refreshing glass of tamarind juice, a local favorite.

4. Palestine Food Festival (Palestine)

Overview:

The Palestine Food Festival is an annual celebration of the region’s rich agricultural and culinary heritage. Held in various cities, including Ramallah and Nablus, this festival is deeply rooted in Palestinian identity.

What to Expect:

• Olive Oil Tasting: Experience the cornerstone of Palestinian cuisine by sampling different varieties of locally produced olive oil.
• Traditional Cooking Classes: Learn how to prepare dishes like musakhan, maqluba, and stuffed grape leaves.
• Agricultural Tours: Visit local farms to see how ingredients like za’atar and freekeh are cultivated.
• Cultural Activities: Enjoy poetry readings and dabke performances that complement the culinary experience.

Insider Tips:

• Check out the “Nablus Sweets Pavilion” to taste authentic knafeh nabulsi, a Palestinian dessert known for its gooey cheese and syrup-soaked pastry.
• Many vendors sell homemade preserves and pickles—perfect souvenirs to take home.

5. Byblos Seafood Festival (Lebanon)

Overview:

Situated in the ancient coastal city of Byblos, this festival is a seafood lover’s paradise. It celebrates the region’s maritime heritage with a focus on fresh, locally caught seafood.

What to Expect:

• Fresh Catches: Savor grilled fish, octopus, and prawns prepared on-site by local fishermen and chefs.
• Cooking Competitions: Witness creative seafood dishes crafted by talented cooks.
• Wine Pairing Events: Discover the perfect Lebanese wines to complement your seafood.
• Marine Workshops: Learn about sustainable fishing practices and traditional boat-making.

Insider Tips:

• Take a stroll along the picturesque Byblos harbor at sunset for the ultimate festival ambiance.
• Book a spot at the seafood banquet, which offers a multi-course tasting menu of the region’s best dishes.

6. Levant Fair

Overview:

Beyond large festivals, the Levant is dotted with smaller, community-focused farmers’ fairs. These events are perfect for discovering organic produce, artisanal products, and homemade treats.

What to Expect:

• Seasonal Delicacies: Depending on the time of year, you might find fresh figs, pomegranates, or cherries.
• Handmade Goods: From jams and honey to soaps and olive oil, these fairs are a treasure trove of local craftsmanship.
• Interactive Activities: Participate in olive picking or learn how to make za’atar blends.

Insider Tips:

• Bring cash, as many vendors may not accept credit cards.
• Chat with the vendors; they’re often eager to share stories about their products and heritage.

Why Culinary Fairs in the Levant Are Unmissable

Culinary fairs in the Levant are more than just food events; they are cultural celebrations that offer a window into the region’s traditions, innovations, and community spirit. Whether you’re sampling knafeh in Nablus, watching a chef prepare mansaf in Amman, or sipping arak in Beirut, these festivals promise an unforgettable journey for your taste buds and soul.

So pack your appetite and embark on a culinary adventure through the Levant. You’ll leave not only with a full stomach but also with a deeper appreciation for the region’s rich heritage and hospitality.

The post A Foodie’s Guide to Culinary Fairs in the Levant appeared first on M_Expo.

If you decide to invest, launch a new business project in Utah, or simply live in this state, you have wonderful prospects. Utah regularly occupies the top lines of all sorts of ratings:

• State No. 1 in terms of economic outlook according to the American Legislative Exchange Council in 2024;
• State No. 1 according to the U.S. News and World Report ranking of 2024; 
• 2nd place among all states in terms of growth rates in 2024
• 2nd place in terms of the quality of education;
• 3rd place in infrastructure development, etc.

It is possible to list all the state’s first places in numerous ratings endlessly, especially if studying them in a historical retrospective. Even from this data, it is clear that Utah offers many opportunities for business and investment. But you can succeed in them only if you rely on deep analysis and know the market well. In order not to make a mistake in your chosen investment or business strategy, it is better to resort to the services of a financial advising firm. In this case, your investments will turn into significant profits, and you will enjoy the favorable economic situation that has developed in this state.

Why Use Financial Advising Services 

Comprehensive Analysis

To invest your assets in any promising project, you should evaluate it by many parameters:

• Expected profit under optimistic, moderate, and pessimistic forecasts;
• Reliability of the investment project;
• Availability of alternative similar projects with better performance indicators;
• Possible risks and effective ways to mitigate them, etc.

To make such an analysis, you will need professional knowledge in finance, economics, law, science and technology, and other disciplines. Financial advising companies bring together specialists from different scientific fields. Therefore, you will receive an objective and reliable assessment of various investment or business projects.

Excellent Knowledge of Promising Investment Opportunities in Utah

To invest in the most profitable project, you need to know the whole context. This includes possible alternatives and the success or failure stories of investment project leaders. So, most of your time should be devoted to studying the market and monitoring all changes, including changes in the regulatory framework. Professionals from financial advisory firms do this regularly. Therefore, they know many details of financial and other markets in Utah that a beginner will not notice.

Developing a Comprehensive Strategy

Since a financial consulting company has a broad perspective and deep knowledge, it will be able to develop the most optimal strategy to achieve your goal. For example, Certuity Company provides top-level family office services and is an expert in developing a wealth management strategy. With its services, you can ensure for your family profitable investments and financial prosperity for the next generations. But suppose you are only on the way to increasing your family’s assets and do not know how to achieve sustainable financial well-being. In that case, advisors will tell you the most effective path to financial stability.

Saving Time and Effort

Mastering financial and economic sciences takes time.  And if you decide to master them on your own, you will have less time for your family, friends, hobbies, etc. On the contrary, if you decide to turn to financial advisors, you will be able to follow your habitual lifestyle and receive valuable advice that will help you succeed.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Financial Advisory Service in Utah

The financial advisory services market in Utah can be confusing. There are so many options that it can be difficult to make a choice without a reliable tool to evaluate companies. So, before you compare alternatives, develop a set of indicators by which you will evaluate them. Here are some must-have indicators you should include in your evaluation list.

Lack of financial knowledge can be the main barrier to achieving significant financial goals. However, this barrier can be easily overcome if you turn to professional guidance. Utah’s financial advisory services market is well-developed, so you will not have problems finding wise advisers. But before entrusting your financial destiny to a consulting company, evaluate it comprehensively in accordance with the essential indicators. This way, you can protect yourself from misunderstandings and disappointments from the very beginning. And by trusting a reliable company, you will quickly see how your financial situation improves and the implementation of your main financial goal comes much closer.

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Art-Dubai was first held in 2006. It was invented by London dealer and gallerist John Martin and Dubai businessman Benedict Floyd for Western dealers and gallerists who, on the wave of unprecedented economic growth, turned to the East in search of new clients. The crisis has somewhat cooled the fervor with which the local rich rushed to invest in modern and not only art, but by no means extinguished it completely. In January in Abu Dhabi announced the opening dates for the Louvre and Guggenheim on Saadiyat (2015 and 2017 respectively) – they have several times rescheduled, and from different sides expressed doubts that the grandiose (for example, the area of the Guggenheim Museum – Abu Dhabi project by Frank Gehry reaches 42 thousand square meters) “cultural construction” will be completed. However, as for other smaller-scale initiatives, they all continue to develop: in Doha, two art museums are operating successfully (Mathaf, which currently hosts an exhibition of Cai Guoqiang, and MIA, which just opened the exhibition “Gifts of Sultan”), in Dubai, forming a cluster of contemporary art galleries, and in Sharjah preparing for another biennial, which will be held in March 2013 (not so long ago was announced its curator – Yuko Hasegawa, chief curator of the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art).

In recent years, Art Dubai has also become an important contemporary art center in the region. Since 2010, it has been headed by Antonia Carver, who took part in the creation of Bidoun, a magazine on Middle Eastern art published in New York, and the Art Center of the same name. Under her stewardship is a dynamic, fast-growing body that attracts museum and independent curators, collectors and dealers from all parts of the world. “The fair has its roots in the Middle East and East Asia, but it has to be a reflection of the global nature of art,” says Carver, noting that her main goal is to make the fair a meeting place for experts from East and West. And so far she is succeeding. This year Art Dubai hosted 75 galleries, with a wide variety of galleries showing art catering to different cultural, religious and political tastes.

Funding allows for a diverse, parallel, non-profit program that is now an attribute of any advanced fair. Art Week in conjunction with Art Dubai included performances, special projects, residency grants for artists and curators, a small design fair, a Sikka young art fair, and a forum on the media in art – with curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist, writer Douglas Copeland, LACMA director Michael Govan, and collector Sultan Sououd al Qassemi all participating. The fair is financially supported by Abraaj Capital, which once contributed a lot to the media frenzy surrounding the Middle East art market by purchasing a work by Mohamed Ehsai for its corporate collection in 2008. A huge canvas where the name of the painting “He is merciful” written in Arabic script in the form of green ribbons on a black background, was purchased for a record at the time 1.2 million dollars with an estimeite of 100-150 thousand.

Since 2006, the number of galleries in Dubai has grown to 40. They are concentrated in two parts of the city: in the financial center of DIFC are more representative and expensive, in the Al Quoz area, located in the middle of continuous construction, more young and dynamic. Some, like Ayyam Gallery, hold two branches at once: in the financial center the gallery shows works by Othman Moussa (oil paintings that represent an extremely restrained commentary, both conceptually and formally, on the consequences of the Arab Spring), and in the Al Quoz neighborhood, works from the private collection of gallery owners Khaled and Hisham Samawi, which turned out to contain photo documentation of bloody scenes of Ashura celebration (a day celebrated by public self-exorcism as a tradition). The gallery occupies one of the largest booths at the fair and displays a selection of works by artists from Lebanon, Syria, and other countries in the region. The owners soon plan to open branches in London and New York.

Other major players include The Third Line, Green Art Gallery and Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde (IVDE). All of them have been selected by the selection boards of respected Western fairs, to which they will travel in the near future. The Third Line, for example, will exhibit at Frieze in New York in May. At Art Dubai, it showed work by young artists from Iran and Iraq (all of whom live and work in the U.S.). Among them is Amir Fallah, who makes colorful, vivid collages with meaningful titles (such as First to Believe, Last to Live). Haiwa Kahraman, who received her art education in Italy, paints on wood or cotton and depicts delicate female marionette figures – suspended by strings, they perform everyday actions: ironing, folding cloth or simply looking in the mirror. Two other galleries from Dubai, working exclusively with artists from the Middle East, have been selected for the Art Statements section at Art Basel, the world’s most prestigious contemporary art fair.

Local galleries have no problem choosing works for Art Dubai – they all know well the preferences of local collectors (and they are the ones the fair is primarily designed for) and cultural specifics (exhibitors are warned in advance that they should not show works that could be misinterpreted). There are many variations on the theme of Arabic ligature, collages, glitter, works based on a reflection on the traditions of the Arab world and Muslim culture, and especially many fantasies on the theme of carpet weaving. Saudi Arabia’s only Athr Gallery in Jeddah exhibited carpets of all kinds: Ibrahim Abu Mismar “weaved” carpets of copper, Ayman Yossri Deidban folded them of colorful paper napkin wrappers, and Nasser Al Salem printed calligraphic designs on fabric. Western galleries have more freedom in this respect. Some don’t tailor their exhibitions to local visitors. Goodman Gallery in South Africa had an exhibition of William Kentridge’s work. According to the gallery owner, his works were in great demand at the last Art Dubai, and during the preview of this year’s fair members of the ruling family of Dubai (the fair itself is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum) showed interest in some of the pieces. Although there is a rug here as well – a giant 4.5m by 4.5m mohair rug that looks like a woven collage with recognizable figures from films and Kentridge’s drawings.

Three reputable Western galleries participating in Art Dubai for the first time tried to diversify their exhibitions as much as possible. The Pace built its booth around the works of artists, each of whom would represent the city where the gallery has a branch. Given that The Pace has branches in London, New York, and Beijing, the booth featured works by Zhang Huang, Keith Tyson (winner of the British Turner Prize), and Tara Donovan. Arndt Gallery from Berlin had a similarly multicultural exposition: there was a giant five-meter-high mosaic dome by Khosrow Hasanzade of Iran, striking canvases by the young Indian artist Jitish Kallat, and works by Heinz Mack, a classic of German contemporary art and one of the founders of Zero. The most representative booth was that of Galerie Perrotin, a heavyweight of the French art market – Wim Delvoye, Bharti Kher, Farhad Moshiri, Takashi Murakami, the French duo Kolkoz: that is, unconditionally recognized commercial artists, whose works are the attribute of a model collection of contemporary art, no matter what part of the world we are talking about.

Some Western galleries, however, take a different tactic. Priska C. Juschka Fine Art from New York has only brought artists who are somehow related to the Arab world, although they are not at all basic to the gallery’s arsenal. For example, Nicky Nojomi, who moved to New York after the revolution in Iran, and Almagul Menlibayeva, who made a series of performances and photo stories in the Kazakh steppes. “Why show work that wouldn’t be likely to interest buyers?” says the gallery owner, who is coming to Art Dubai with exhibitions of artists from the Middle East or Central Asia for the third time.

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