The Women of the House of Mouneh

At the House of Mouneh launch at restaurant Zahr el-Laymoun, the Lebanese, Syrian and Iraqi women sell their preserves they made in Falougha, Lebanon. This diverse kitchen is called House of Mouneh. It is a project created by civil campaign Lebanese for Refugees and funded by the US Embassy, that aims to build bridges between the people of Lebanon and refugees in the country. Proving true the adage that change can happen at the kitchen table, this group of Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian women who started as strangers brought together for the opportunity to turn the tradition of making “mouneh” into a livelihood now consider themselves family. Mouneh is the tradition of processing vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs and more into jarred preserves – the word comes from the Arabic mana, which means “to store.”