{"id":380427,"date":"2024-12-24T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=380427"},"modified":"2025-02-25T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T18:40:46","slug":"from-lebanon-to-sao-paulo-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/from-lebanon-to-sao-paulo-state\/","title":{"rendered":"From Lebanon to S\u00e3o Paulo state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 As they say, when we can\u2019t find what we want, we make it ourselves. That\u2019s how the couple Priscilla Mariana and Alfredo Saab opened the Souk Nachar<\/a> grocery store in Tatu\u00ed, S\u00e3o Paulo state, 139 km from the S\u00e3o Paulo city. Living in the city of 124,000 inhabitants since 2021, when they left Guarulhos due to the pandemic, they missed the Arab-origin products they were used to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided to open the grocery store here in Tatu\u00ed because we wanted to eat those things, and they weren\u2019t available around here. Not even in the supermarket. We couldn\u2019t find tahini, which is a rather simple product, or even good-quality olive oil. Spices, in general, were also hard to find, so every time we wanted something, we either had to go to S\u00e3o Paulo or Sorocaba,\u201d says Priscilla, who, before starting the business, used to be a teacher and study psychoanalysis.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The
The entrepreneurs ended up innovating by taking Arab products to the S\u00e3o Paulo municipality of Tatu\u00ed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The couple chose Tatu\u00ed because it was the largest city on the route to Porangaba, a small town with just over ten thousand inhabitants where they have a farm. And since they were already in the entrepreneurial spirit, they decided to open the small market. \u201cWe thought that if nothing worked out, at least we\u2019d have a big stock to eat later. After all, we already had to leave the city to buy these things anyway,\u201d says the owner of Souk Nachar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name comes from \u201cSouk,\u201d meaning market in Arabic, and “Nachar,” a combination of the names of the couple\u2019s children: Ana Najla and Charbel. The youngest was baptized in Lebanon last year, named after the Maronite saint, the church the family attends. Alfredo Saab, Priscilla\u2019s husband, is a son of Lebanese immigrants who, upon arriving in Brazil, worked in commerce. His father was a peddler, his mother ran a clothing store, and later, in the 1990s, they had a snack bar inside the S\u00e3o Paulo Municipal Market. Saab had worked with his father and even ran his own snack bar in Guarulhos, so commerce and food were in his blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City of Sweets<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tatu\u00ed is known as the \u201cCity of Sweets,\u201d and in July, the Sweet Fair takes place. The Saab couple participated in the 2024 edition with their Arabic sweets and it was a huge success. \u201cFor sure, the ones with pistachios were the best sellers\u2014and they were the most popular at every other stall because the nut is in high demand,\u201d recalls Priscilla. The owners of Souk Nachar participated with traditional Arabic sweets like qatayef<\/em> and burma<\/em>, which include pistachios among other classic ingredients.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Arab
Arab sweets like qatayef and Burma were a hit a the city\u2019s fair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Most products sold at the emporium come from a Lebanese importer, as they insist on sourcing products specifically from Lebanon, not just any generic Arabic goods. What matters most, besides quality, is variety. \u201cWe never wanted to sell just one thing. We\u2019ve always wanted to bring a little bit of everything. The concept of \u2018souk\u2019 comes from that idea, from the concept of a marketplace that can offer various things, not just food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also sell dishes, such as shawarma, and options more familiar to Brazilians, like hot dogs and hamburgers, as well as some local sandwiches, like the \u201cgalinh\u00e3o<\/em>\u201d\u2014it looks like a hamburger, but is made with shredded chicken and ham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the store already has its loyal customers. \u201cOur audience is quite specific because it’s made up of people who like Arab food. There are a few curious ones, but in general, it\u2019s older people, 40 and up, always someone who says things like, \u2018My grandmother used to make this.\u2019 Younger people don\u2019t know much about our products\u2014we were the ones who brought it to the city and innovated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tatu\u00ed, like many cities in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo, also had Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, but their traditions, including culinary ones, may have been lost over time\u2014or remained limited to descendants. Now, with Souk Nachar, the locals and people from the surrounding region can (re)discover the flavors of traditional Arab cuisine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Souk Nachar
Rua Onze de Agosto, 793 A \u2013 Centro \u2013 Tatu\u00ed \u2013 SP
Instagram profile<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arab nations are food suppliers to Brazil<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Report by D\u00e9bora Rubin, in collaboration with ANBA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supplied<\/div>
Supplied<\/div>
Supplied<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Souk Nachar emporium offers a variety of Arab products in the city of Tatu\u00ed and surrounding areas. The business was inspired by the habit of the couple Priscilla Mariana and Alfredo Saab of consuming Arab food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2309,"featured_media":383286,"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":[91],"tags":[52051,4600,3455,9583,52049,48585,32662,52050],"class_list":{"0":"post-380427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-alfredo-saab-2","9":"tag-arab-food","10":"tag-arab-products","11":"tag-arabs-en","12":"tag-emporiums","13":"tag-lebanon-2","14":"tag-produtos-arabes-en","15":"tag-tatui-2"},"wps_subtitle":"The Souk Nachar emporium offers a variety of Arab products in the city of Tatu\u00ed and surrounding areas. The business was inspired by the habit of the couple Priscilla Mariana and Alfredo Saab of consuming Arab food.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380427","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\/2309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}