{"id":277781,"date":"2020-08-03T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=277781"},"modified":"2020-07-31T20:06:44","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T23:06:44","slug":"a-chef-bets-on-fresh-spices-straight-from-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/a-chef-bets-on-fresh-spices-straight-from-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"A chef bets on fresh spices straight from Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 The freshness of key ingredients in dishes by Mimos do L\u00edbano<\/a> comes straight from the Arab country. Chef and brand founder S\u00e2mia Raule Sassine is a daughter to Lebanese parents, and she keeps alive her connection with the country where much of her family still lives. \u201cThey never lost their connection with Lebanon. We\u2019re from an area near Tripoli, that\u2019s where my whole maternal family is. In 1990, we, the grandchildren, began going back (from Brazil to see Lebanon). Since we own land there where olives are farmed, there\u2019s always someone going: an uncle, a cousin, my father or my siblings. They\u2019ll always ask me what I want and then they\u2019ll bring that back to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sassine is the only one in the family who\u2019s in the food business. \u201cNo one in my family is in the restaurant business. Almost everyone\u2019s a doctor. I used to be a lawyer and I decided to take a break, and I used to cook at home a lot. And we started having leftovers, so I\u2019d send that over to people. And then people began to order. I spent a year just making dry curd, and that grew bigger and bigger. My library at home became my kitchen, and eventually things got too big for my house,\u201d said the chef, whose shop is in a mall in Vit\u00f3ria, Esp\u00edrito Santo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The chef recreates Lebanese dishes and has fun with how her Lebanese mom reacts to her innovative twists on Arab dishes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sassine has lost count of how many times she traveled to her family\u2019s home country. \u201cLebanon is a lot like Brazil when it comes to the joie de vivre and comfort. And they really like us Brazilians, they will make us feel really welcome. I could live there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Apart from the family olive oil, which fellow chefs appreciate, Sassine uses zaatar and pepper from Lebanon, which patrons at her takeout buffet usually request. She also does events and dinners at people\u2019s homes. \u201cI use that a lot on a day-to-day basis, and whenever I go cook at someone\u2019s home. It mostly the zaatar and the pepper, which my customers love, and I\u2019m worried about running out,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Before the coronavirus caused most national borders to shut down, Sassine used to be able to restock every two months as her people would travel to Lebanon and back. Now, she has a stockpile and is hoping to get more ingredients from an uncle soon.<\/p>\n

From tradition to creation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her business is eight years in and has a staff of four. Despite her bigger business, the chef makes a point of keeping the food fresh and cooking every day. \u201cWe range from traditional Arab food to recreations. My hummus, for instance, I\u2019ll season it differently. I have vegan options, I\u2019ll add mushrooms. I have quinoa and lentil tabbouleh. I have lactose-free dry curd. I\u2019ll adapt it a bit,\u201d the chef reveals.<\/p>\n

Sassine\u2019s favored service is cooking to order for dinners or parties at customer\u2019s homes. \u201cThey can either fetch the food or we\u2019ll send it down, or else I\u2019ll go down to people\u2019s homes and set the table. At times I\u2019ll show up and do the whole event, which is what people call \u2018chef at home.\u2019 What I like best is to cook for people at their places. I like to go in knowing what I\u2019m serving, so I\u2019ll give them a call and then do something very personal. It\u2019s encouraging, you know? To please people through cooking,\u201d says Sassine, who keeps portions flexible and changes up ingredients to suit each customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

The fulfilment she got from her new profession made her not go back to practicing law. She believes the career change was a fortunate twist of fate. \u201cMy father owns a professional uniform factory, but I\u2019m the only one running a business out of my generation of ten cousins. I make much less money these days, but my days are nicer. Some days I\u2019ll go in the kitchen at 6 am and my staff knows: \u2018She\u2019s about to create something new\u2019,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n
Press Release<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mimos do L\u00edbano founder S\u00e2mia Raule Sassine has been reinventing traditional Lebanese dishes for eight years now. She seasons the food with zaatar, pepper and olive oil produced by her own family in Northern Lebanon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2324,"featured_media":277773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[16451,9216,3706,10132,16450,9857,7195,16448,15002,16453,16452,16449,16454],"class_list":{"0":"post-277781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-chef","9":"tag-cooking","10":"tag-cuisine","11":"tag-food-en","12":"tag-mimos-do-libano","13":"tag-olive-oil-en","14":"tag-pepper","15":"tag-pratos","16":"tag-restaurant","17":"tag-samia-raule-sassine","18":"tag-sassine","19":"tag-zaatar","20":"tag-zaatar-en"},"wps_subtitle":"Mimos do L\u00edbano founder S\u00e2mia Raule Sassine has been reinventing traditional Lebanese dishes for eight years now. She seasons the food with zaatar, pepper and olive oil produced by her own family in Northern Lebanon. ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}