Ljubomir “cooks” Soup for Syria

All over the world, soup is the ultimate comfort food. And that is also why Barbara Abdeni Massaad chose it to be the star of a book that has a mission: to help the Syrian refugees.

Author of award-winning cookbooks, host of tv shows, photographer, culinary consultant and president of the Slow Food Beirut association, Barbara had the idea to create this book after visiting a camp of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, her home country. Faced with the poor conditions of these refugees, she began by photographing them to share their story, and, later, she started making soup every week for these families, as part of her work in Slow Food Beirut.

This is how the idea came to invite people from all over the world, including chefs, friends and followers of the Facebook page she created for this project, to share their favorite soup recipes, to be compiled in a book whose royalties to and part of the proceeds of the sale, will be donated to help fund the purchase and distribution of food for Syrian refugees through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

For the Portuguese edition of Soup for Syria, edited by CASA DAS LETRAS / Leya, Barbara invited some Portuguese chefs to share their soups. Ljubomir Stanisic, chef of 100 Maneiras, who arrived in Portugal 20 years ago after fleeing the war in Yugoslavia, was one of the guests who joined this project, contributing with a recipe for mackerel soup. In addition to Ljubomir, the national edition includes the recipes of chefs Kiko Martins, Rui Paula and Miguel Rocha Vieira.

Presented last Saturday, October 21, at the Lebanese restaurant Muito Bey (where Barbara is a consultant), Soup for Syria is now available for sale in bookstores and online.