Monthly Photos　January 2013

Photos taken by ILCAA staff and associates are posted here once a month; most of them are taken during their field research in Asia and Africa.

(The copyright belongs to the photographers.)

From a restaurant with good view

Bread is a staple food in the Middle East and Europe and its importance has been represented in metaphors; Bread as a symbol of the Christ’s body at communion, or bread multiplied by the miracle of Jesus. Actual “daily bread” varies in its shapes and names according to the region and group; bread baked by Druze people is thin and as wide as the size of coffee table; bread in Egypt is called “Aeshi” and the color is dingy grey. The bread popular among the Arab countries in the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean is called “Khubuz” which is in flat and round shape. Fresh from oven, “Khubuz” is swollen like a balloon with vapor inside and soft in its texture.

In a restaurant on the mountain of the eastern Beirut you can taste this fresh bread with its famous dishes of raw meat of lamb. It will be a special moment when you eat them with the local drink “Arak” overlooking the sunset in the trees and sporadic houses in the mountain. Being so beautiful, however, the place is located in a route which was used as a loophole to the city of Beirut when the avenue from the airport was too dangerous to pass. Food and place inevitably reflects history of the people.
With all this in mind, I wish you all have a happy and stable new year with good prospect.

DEC 2012
Bread serving at a restaurant “Sakhra,” Lebanon
Photograph by Aiko NISHIKIDA

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