Latest news with #Dakkak
Observer
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Observer
Making leftovers feel like a feast
When Salam Dakkak was growing up in Jordan, dinner didn't end when the plates were cleared. It simply transformed. Her mother would take whatever remained — a spinach stew, a lentil soup, even sautéed vegetables — and tear up old bread, reheat the dish, pour it on top and finish it all with a cool yoghurt sauce and some fried nuts. 'It wasn't just leftovers,' Dakkak said. 'It was a brand-new meal.' That meal had a name: fatteh. Long before appearing on restaurant menus or Instagram feeds, fatteh, from the Arabic verb fatta (to break or tear), was a tradition across Arab households, a generous layered dish that breathes new life into food. Today, Dakkak, 62, the chef-owner of Bait Maryam in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, serves fatteh at her Levantine restaurant in the classic chickpea-and-yoghurt style and in countless other interpretations — some she even helped pioneer. Msakhan, the Palestinian dish of roast chicken with sumac and onions, was, according to her, first served as fatteh in her restaurant. 'The point is to not waste food,' Dakkak said. 'Whatever you have leftover, you repurpose, you make beautiful, you add some new elements and then — Ya Allah — just try how delicious it becomes.' 'People are turning everything into fatteh,' said Sawsan Daana, a Kuwait-based Palestinian chef and founder of Matbakhi. Eggplant fatteh. Food styled by Samantha Seneviratne. — The New York Times Online, you'll find rich, refined, even theatrical versions of the dish. But at its heart is always an unchanged structure: crispy bread, topped with something warm (legumes, vegetables or meats and in more traditional iterations, rice), something cooling (a yoghurt or chili-lemon sauce) and a crunchy element (fried nuts, pomegranate seeds or more toasted bread). Once you have these few elements, you can assemble a different version every night or pull it together in minutes when company comes over. But, despite all that, fatteh hasn't quite caught on with home cooks in the United States. 'A lot of foods like fatteh, mulukhiyah, bamieh — any of these foods we grew up eating at home — they are a lot less popular in restaurants,' said Ahmad Alzahabi, 28, a Michigan-based Syrian content creator, who added that restaurants help introduce Americans to foods they'd eventually want to make in their own kitchens. For restaurants, it can be a matter of execution. 'It's a dish that needs to be prepared and eaten right away — the hot and cold, the soft and crunch, those elements have to come together just right,' said Philippe Massoud, the chef-owner of Ilili in New York and Washington, DC, who has occasionally served fatteh over the years. 'So you have to prepare and serve it last and eat it first.' This has made fatteh impractical for him to keep on regular rotation. But that hasn't deterred others. Salam Dakkak, the chef-owner of Bait Maryam, at the restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. — The New York Times At Oleana Restaurant and Moona in Cambridge, Massachusetts, fatteh is always on the menu and one of their top sellers. 'I fear our customers will launch a revolution if we remove it,' said Mohamad El Zein, the owner of Moona, laughing. Still, where fatteh always shines is at home. It's an economical, adaptable and endlessly forgiving blueprint, filling without being fussy and impressive without trying too hard, the kind of meal that makes use of what's on hand but still feels like a feast. Or, as Dakkak said: 'Fatteh is not just one dish, it's a format. It can be anything.' — The New York Times
L'Orient-Le Jour
02-05-2025
- Business
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Syria signs contract with CMA CGM to operate Latakia port for 30 years
The general manager of CMA CGM Levant, Joseph Dakkak, confirmed Thursday to L'Orient-Le Jour the signing of a contract between Syria and the French company to develop and operate the port of Latakia for 30 years. 'CMA CGM has officially signed the contract for the concession of the container terminal at the port of Latakia for a period of 30 years. CMA CGM is committed to modernizing and developing the terminal to meet the growing demand of Syrian importers and exporters and strengthen the region's supply chains,' said Dakkak, general manager of CMA CGM Levant. AFP also reported the information, citing Dakkak and the port director. According to the official Syrian news agency Sana, the contract was signed at the presidential palace in Damascus, in the presence of interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, between the General Authority of Land and Maritime Ports and the French company. Port director Ahmed Moustafa told AFP that the contract provides for an investment of 230 million euros: 'The first year, 30 million euros will be injected, then over the following four years, a new quay will be built for a total amount of about 200 million euros.' He emphasized that 'this is the first investment contract with an international company in Syria' since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. The new quay, to be built at the container terminal of the port, will meet 'strict international standards, with a length of 1.5 kilometers and a depth of 17 meters,' Moustafa specified. This infrastructure will allow 'the entry of large ships that currently cannot access the port of Latakia,' he continued. As for the operating revenue of the port, Moustafa indicated that it would first be shared between CMA CGM and the Syrian state, 60 percent for the state and 40 percent for the French company. CMA CGM had already been operating the container terminal of the port since 2009 under a former contract that had been renewed several times before resulting in this long-term agreement, the port director specified.
