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Food for Body, Mind & Spirit
Food That Lives On: Sharing Traditions - Sara Trad Interview - Book- A House in the Lebanese Mountains.
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In the mountains of Lebanon, there is a house called Beit Trad and food is never just about sustenance. It is a memory made edible, a quiet thread that carries stories from one generation to the next. Sarah Trad’s new book, A House in the Lebanese Mountains: Recipes & Stories from Beit Trad, invites us into that world. It is a place of light, generosity, and the enduring pleasure of gathering around a table.
We are privileged to share four recipes from this beautiful book: simple Peas and Carrots, a comforting Beef Stew, a fragrant Bulgur Pilaf, and a bright Lemon Lentil Soup. Each one reflects the spirit of a home where traditions live on through the act of cooking and sharing. Here we are bringing it to yours.
Visit the Gloria Goodtaste's website to view the full stories and available recipes highlighted in this podcast with pictures and additional info to further enjoy this episode. Go to: https://www.gloriagoodtaste.com
Welcome, welcome, dear listeners, to another delicious episode of Food for Body, Mind, and Spirit. I'm Gloria Goodet.
SPEAKER_00And I'm checked out. Today we're wrapping ourselves in something truly special. Food delivery. Sharing traditions across generations. In the mountains of Lebanon, at a house called Big Trad. Food is never served just a such substance. It's memory made edible. A quiet thread sharing stories from one generation to the next. We are talking about Sarah Trad's gorgeous new book, Big Trad, Recipes, Stories, and the Art of Lebanese Hospitality. Life, generosity, and poor pleasure of gathering around a table. It all lives on these pages.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know the book shows a way of life. It feels both timeless and yet relevant. It shows a place that high up the hills, way above the road. Overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It is more than a home. That's what I found in this book. It seems like a sanctuary shaped by the memories of the silence and the enduring art of hospitality. The story is so exciting because it has storytelling in it, transporting photography, and deeply personal recipes attached to it. It is really shows the beauty and food that are acceptable. Undertake with the hundred terraces that were wrapped in five and formals that were set to be to the field. This actually opens a different way of looking at food. It's a philosophy of living that prioritizes connections and rituals.
SPEAKER_00And above all, and this book is unbelievable to me. That is first of all, it's like a reference book. When you open it, it's a photography, it's like it was done by an artist. And it shows page after page the beauty of the food and the architecture of the place. It gets you interested in what is the best, what is big tread. What is contained on the next page. And also all you can't believe this exists in Lebanon. We're on the telephone with Sarah Trad, author of the about to be released book Uh The House of the Lebanese Mountains, with recipes from Right Triads and Stories.
SPEAKER_01It's so nice to be talking to you today, and I'm very excited because your book is so wonderful.
SPEAKER_03And I'm very excited to be talking to you. So I'm glad you like the book.
SPEAKER_01It is. I when I read the story, it just was so heartwarming. Would you tell us a little bit about what you experienced growing up in Saudi Arabia?
SPEAKER_03Oh, it was a beautiful childhood. It was Saudi Arabia of the 70s and 80s. Um so it was a very protective environment, a small society. I was in a French school and it was delightful.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Well, why don't you introduce us to your Lebanese mother and her yearning for the second home in Lebanon?
SPEAKER_03So my my my parent so my parents got married. My father was living in Saudi Asia and my mother moved to Saudi Arabia then, so it's the late 70s. And um and then she had to I mean they stayed there. My father's work was there, but the war started in Lebanon. And in the 80s, but but even though there was war in Lebanon, my mother would always go back for Christmas and summer, whatever the situation, um which was in hindsight a bit crazy, but that was, you know, her attachment to her homeland. And in the eighties she was in uh um an old Lebanese house in the mountains, and that's how we ended up buying um this property that then became Beta Trot.
SPEAKER_01Well, and how did your aunt and her friend help you to m make that dream happen?
SPEAKER_03So the story is the following. My mother was living in Saudi Arabia and she had two sisters and they were like the three fingers, I mean like the fingers of a hand of one hand, you know. And so her her younger sister, Mayla, was had the ri the responsibility of running around the mountains looking for a house for her. And uh her first cousin that I call my aunt also Colette uh was doing that, she was invited for tea at um a friend of hers and hadn't hadn't seen her house. And it it it it was this house that sh we ended up buying. Um she fell in love with it, called my aunt Mayla, said to her, You have to see this house. They both fell in love with it. Called my mother, peer pressured. My mother, I think, hardly saw the house and they got it. And then she admitted many years later that when she came, she got into the house for the first time as the owner, she was disappointed.
SPEAKER_01Well what a bit of a story. Well, why don't you tell us a little bit about the history of this special house?
SPEAKER_03So it's a house that was built over the years, I mean I would even say over the centuries. We think that the I mean, yeah, we think that the oldest part um goes back to the 1716 and was probably a nunnery because of the because that has mine doors, which is it looks like cells. Um and then it was built slowly, slowly. Um so the outside courtyard they you know, they put a ceiling to it and it became a room and then terraces, and then the anyway, so it it it evolved uh with time. So you have one one so you have dates on certain rooms, 1888 and another the last added ad addition to the house was uh 2017 when I added um the swimming pool.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow, okay. It sounds it sounds beautiful. How did you f okay, when you were living in New York, where did you return to Lebanon though?
SPEAKER_03Because when I was living in New York I had this project of opening um a restaurant and I was stuck not being able to find uh the right uh real estate and in the meantime my mom passed. And um so you know, it's a kind of life-changing moment where you just question all your choices and I decided to go back to Lebanon.
SPEAKER_01Oh, all right. How did you feel when you first saw the house, though when you walked in and it wasn't, you know, such disrepair or I felt guilt, uh full of guilt, pure guilt, and I I closed the I closed the door and I said to myself, this will have to wait.
SPEAKER_03Oh one came up and said to me, houses don't wait. Their energy goes. If you don't take care of a house, it becomes, you know, slowly, slowly um a ruin and ruins don't have they lose their vice, they lose their energy, they lose, you know. And that really, really scared me. So because I was up in the air and anyway, I decided, well, that might be my project. I had other I was seeing myself flying around the world and I ended up with a project in a in a remote village in the Lebanese mountains, which was not what I had in mind initially.
SPEAKER_01Well, it must have been very strange for you to think about your home though as being a guest house, right?
SPEAKER_03It wasn't it was actually very exciting because you know there's big houses in the countryside. You don't it's they're difficult to fill up. I at the time we had seven rooms and I wasn't going to go and live alone in the mountains and then you have to invite people all the time, which is exhausting, and then you know, you have to maintain these houses, which is a headache. I the the idea of doing a guest house was the best solution. It would it would self-maintain. I'd have an entire team to help me with you know the business and the maintenance. And guests, the houses like you know, the houses are like pets. They don't like to be left alone.
SPEAKER_01Well, why did you think it was so important to tell the story about the house and and the belonging?
SPEAKER_03That's a good question. Um I actually well the our guests were always asking for recipe.
SPEAKER_02Oh you know.
SPEAKER_03Um so that was a first motivation. And then um the people that knew the story of the house were getting older, and I said to myself, you know, I want them to tell me the story so that my children have that story. And the idea of doing a book for my kids was also a motivation.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and finally we're as Lebanese we're always immigrating, we're always having to leave our homelands for one reason or another, and usually because of war and you know, pe the Trinity. And having this handbook where you can have the flavors of home in your kitchen wherever you are in uh wherever you are around the world is also a big motivation for me.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Now, what do we really want people to understand about Lebanon itself? Since a lot of people think of it with conflict, what do you want them to believe?
SPEAKER_03Yes, this is this is it. Today and you know, and yesterday and probably tomorrow, Lebanon is in the news for, you know, war and problematic neighbors and all that, and violence and uh sadness. But it's also filled with joy, hospitality, warmth, happiness. And somehow this book is the reflection of that other side um that continues going on. So a lot of people get, you know, angry, like your your country is at war, it's suffering. How can you want to talk about the joy or how are you thinking of joy? Well, we've been at war in you know, more or less on and off for the past fifty years since I was born. I'm fifty-two, and I was born with the war, and all my life there's been this, you know, this continuous conflict going on. But there's also a lot of joy, life, happiness going on at the same time. So I wanted to talk about that.
SPEAKER_01And how long did it take you to write the book?
SPEAKER_03It took me more than it should because of the wars. Um it took me it took us three years because we had the Gaza War and then we had two wars in Lebanon again. And um it was all dragging getting a photographer with complicated um J Hul that was writing the book with like Sarah were in the midst of war. Do you really think this is important now? And I'm like, Yes, it's more important than ever. We really need to tell this story. We really need to talk about this joy. I mean, and look with our traditions, because you know, when your culture and your traditions and your flavors go, that's even worse death than single work and well I know the book has so Yeah, your book has beautiful stories, okay, but it also has recipes, right, and beautiful pictures in it.
SPEAKER_01But could you tell me a little about the chef who made all these meals?
SPEAKER_03The chef was horrified because he was my friend Lynn had been him who opened a beautiful restaurant in Dubai called Middle Child, in the meantime. Uh she was responsible for taking all the recipes from the chef and having them tested and then writing them. So the chef was drowned into her beautiful blue eyes and giving all his secrets. And then he said to me that, Sarah, I gave everything. I gave how why will anybody come to make a child now? They have it in the book. I said, Chef, that's not how it works. And I'm glad you gave everything. So the chef gave his recipes, and what we did, and I'm very proud of that, is that we had over 300 people around the world testing the recipes.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_03Testing that they could Yes, it was crazy. I I posted on Instagram a story. I said, Who wants to test the recipes? And 325 people applied, and at the end, 300 did them. And so that they were checking that they could find the ingredients, and if they couldn't, we would suggest replacement. They were checking everything from the cooking time, the relevance, the taste, you know, all that. And it's only after we collected all their remarks that Ian wrote the recipes. So they are gummy-proof.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_03Well now it's there's the and they're gummy-proof and they're and they're translatable to cultures, let's put it that way.
SPEAKER_01Now, if I came uh to the guest house, okay, and I shared a meal there, what would it look like?
SPEAKER_03It would look like um so I think in the US you say family style, we we say boucher. So it would have you would have this uh nice, very generous boucher, family style with about five parters and three to four name um names that you could choose from with always um uh vegetarian options because Lebanon food is very um vegetarian friendly and it's very easy to be a vegetarian in Lebanon, it's full of vegetables and you know, and rice etc. So that's what you would have for lunch and you would have a different one for dinner, and you would also have a family style for breakfast. Delta Chad loves family style.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03And what kind of food food is the same table, sorry, you would have then you would have the same table filled with desserts.
SPEAKER_01Now i now if I have your book and I have these authentic recipes, would I ac actually be able to recreate a Lebanese dinner at home in my home?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. And in the middle of our book, we have tinker pages with many suggestions. So a kind of how-to, I mean, where we we suggest mix mixes that you could do uh with the different recipes that we've had that you, you know, that you could host a coherence dinner. And we even have one um suggestion where you would have a big that's big at the beta chart buffet, so you could host 20 to 30 people easily with that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, well, tell me what breakfast is like in the guest house, though.
SPEAKER_03So the book doesn't uh the book talks about breakfast, but doesn't really give recipes about break uh of breakfast. Breakfast and beta chat, um so you have uh the buffet, so the so you come in and you have um uh cheeses and lata and olives and um food which is fava beans done in a certain way and chip keys done in a certain way that we have for breakfast. And then homemade brioche and um our neighbor does the jams and and fruits, etcetera. And then uh molasses with tahini and a kind of Lebanese cottage cheese with honey. That's everything you see in front of you, and then you can ask for the eggs done in in the Lebanese way. I mean, like sunny side up or or scramble but with uh meat or with um sumat, you know, with this is Lebanese um toppings, if I may say. And you also can have manushe, which is a black uh flatbread with butter or cheese or um vegetables. And so that's more or less your breakfast. And all kinds of coffees and teas, obviously. And juices, fresh orange juice.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Well, now your book offers you know uh chapters on vegetables, stews, meat dishes and fish, and even desserts. Tell me just a couple of your favorites.
SPEAKER_03So, um uh of the desserts or of the dishes?
SPEAKER_01Uh of any of the dishes, what do you love?
SPEAKER_03So I love because I was brought up in the Lebanese family, there's always every day a rice and a stew. And uh for me that's uh the most comforting. I mean, I could I could have rice at all my meals, and the stews are healthy and delicious and comforting, and you know, you can have them with meat, you can have them without meat, so it's a kind of complete meal. Um so I love all our stews. There's an artichoke uh stew, there's um okra stew, I love them. Um and our spices are very mild. Lebanon does not have strong spices, they're very, very mild. Um, as desserts, I I uh there is a milk dessert called in Halabiya that I really love and it's very easy to make. Um but I also like art, I mean uh I I'm a sweet tooth, so I like I like all the desserts, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01I loved your dessert section. I thought that that the the pictures were beautiful, and I could actually the recipe I picked to try is the vanilla pudding or the pudding that you have there.
SPEAKER_03Yes, the malavier, exactly. Right. Let me tell you a bit about the pictures, because uh we have one of the greatest photographers in the world today um shooting that book, and he usually does interiors and architecture. Um, Mathieu Salvin, he's a French photographer. I don't know how he accepted to do my book because he doesn't do uh cookbooks at all. And I said to him that Mathieu uh once he was there, not before, obviously I was too busy trying to convince him. I said, But why did you accept? He said, My mother was an amazing cook. So he kind of did it for the nostalgia of it. Oh yes, and when you look, when I when you would see him shooting the photos, his mother was in the dishes. His his camera was in them, you know. I it's as if he was looking at them like buildings from the inside, you know. It was it was very beautiful just to watch him shooting.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow. Well, you know, I was also attracted to your recipe for green peas and carrots, because peas and carrots are kind of plain. But I noticed that you had put and mixed the vermicelli with the rice, the crispy rice. How did that come about? Who thought of that?
SPEAKER_03So we uh it's a it's actually it's a traditional way of doing rice in Lebanon. The the the particul the particularity of the way we do it is usually the vermicelli is soft and not crispy. So we fry it and it gives a crunch to the rice. Traditionally in Lebanon it's um we put vernicelli, then it's it's soft. So it's like it is noodle in the rice. Um and here it's crispy and it it gives it a another like a little kick.
SPEAKER_01Well, I know that's the second recipe that I'm gonna be making.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna and I was also going to add that the green peas that, as you said, usually sounds extremely boring, are very flavorful. They have we we put a lot of coriander and onion in it and tomato and it it really gives it um a a depth that's delicious.
SPEAKER_01I I I love coriander, I think that's wonderful. Well, I know I would that you were fascinated with how easily your mother could arrange a big dinner party. All right. And uh do you have that same ability to be able to do it like her?
SPEAKER_03So it's a very good question because my mother would arrange her um her dinner party without knowing how to cook because she had a cook. If I'm outside Betitra, I will do a big dinner party and I don't really know how to cook. I will find my way through the kitchen. I will use the city, any city I'm in, I will use their, you know, um, how can I say their gifts of food that are ready-made as well as having to cook myself. But I have anxiety when I cook because I'm not a I'm I it's not it's something I I can do, but I do it with anxiety. I have to have very good recipes and follow them. This is why I was also wanted to make sure that the the book had really good recipes. You know, you know those people that take five recipes and they cross the information between each recipe and fix their own? I can't do that.
SPEAKER_01I think following your recipe.
SPEAKER_03I can host, I host very easily. It's just the food is is always a bit of a stress if I'm not in beta trat.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Well, uh what do you want people to remember about reading your book?
SPEAKER_03I want them to remember uh the pleasure of hosting, the joy, and the you know, the the joy is the pleasure of hosting, but also that hosting is about um wanting to you know wanting to to have your friends to make people happy. It's about wanting to make people happy and it's about generosity. And the rest is a detail.
SPEAKER_01Well, I want to thank you for bringing forth the power of gathering, of slowing down, and really welcoming others and sharing it with all our listeners. Out here. That was very generous of you to do. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Sarah.
SPEAKER_00Wow, you can hear the love in her voice, can't you?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. That sense of place, of continuity, it makes me want to just pack my bag and head straight for the Lebanese Mountains. But since most of us really can't do that today, let's just cook our way there and said, hmm? Well, first up to Sarah's kitchen, let's give a try to green peas and carrots.
SPEAKER_00A simple but flavorsome vegetarian stew served with rice and crisp vermicelli. I love that it leans on everyday pantry ingredients. No fancy shopping required.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. While many Lebanese stews really feature meat, in Bait Trad's version, they really keep it vegetarian. And here's the charming twist. Normally, vermicelli gets cooked right in with the rice. And so that it softens just like the pasta. But inspired by Sarah's uh actual Sarah's chef, Maroon Saloon, they toast the vermicelli separately and then scatter it over the top of the finished dish as a garnish. So guess what? It stays nice and crisp and crunchy.
SPEAKER_00Genius! Texture, contrast for the wind, stew underneath, fluffy Balsmati on the side, and that little golden crunch on the top. I'm already sold on it.
SPEAKER_01Spot on. Well, it's comfort without the heaviness. Great weekend comfort food that still feels elevated.
SPEAKER_00Moving on to something heartier. Hearty beef and white bean stew. Tender beef, creamy white beans, rich tomato sauce. This one really means business.
SPEAKER_01Oh yes. Well, whether you use butter beans or another kind of large white bean, the magic is in the seasoning and slow cooking. Well, Sarah knows that it tastes better even a day or two later. You know that's really like classic stew wisdom.
SPEAKER_00Make a head go! I already picture it bubbling away on a cool evening. The filling is robust, the kind of dish that satisfies a real appetite. Any particular tip you could give us, listeners, Gloria?
SPEAKER_01Well, don't rush the browning of the beef. That deep flavor foundation, well, it is everything. And trust the thing that says slow simmer. Because you know what? Patience pays off in the most delicious way.
SPEAKER_00Next we have bulgur and tomato pilaf. Sarah says this is one of her mom's favorites. That already makes it very intriguing.
SPEAKER_01There are lots of variations. Some cooks add zucchini or eggplant, but at the trail version, it includes chickpeas sauteed with onions and spices. We sure like those chickpeas, don't we?
SPEAKER_00I love chickpeas.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I like the adding of that to this recipe. And they like to serve it with fresh tomato, onion, and parsley salsa. And they add a dollop of thick yogurt. Well, I approve of both of those because I like them.
SPEAKER_00I like both too. Honestly. A little salsa for brightness, a spoonful of yogurt for creaminess. This could be a light main or a lovely side. Versatile and flagrant. What's not to love?
SPEAKER_01And it's so easy to scale up for a table full of people. That's kind of like hospitality in a pop.
SPEAKER_00Last but never least, lemon and lentil soup. Sarah says if you ask any Lebanese person for their favorite soup, this is the one. Lentils, Swish charb, and plenty of lemon. At Baitrad, they make it super lemony.
SPEAKER_01We were so excited to try this one. It's lemon flavor in what I say is the best way. It's kind of citrus things against the earthy lentils, and they have tender chard with subtle notes of garlic and onion and coriander. It's bright, it's hearty, and even better the next day, of course.
SPEAKER_00Ideal for when you need a little sunshine in a bowl. I can already feel it lifting the spirits.
SPEAKER_01Well, these four dishes together paint a beautiful picture of baked trad. Simple, generous, rooted in memory, and made for sharing. And whether you're stirring a pot of stew or toasting that vermicelli for crunch, you're going to keep the traditions alive.
SPEAKER_00And it isn't that at the heart of the food, food that lives on because we make it keeping it tasting and passing it around the table.
SPEAKER_01Beautifully said, Tom. Thank you to Sarah Trad for inviting us into her mountain home through her recipes and stories. This book is Bait Trad Recipes, Stories, and the Art of Lebanese Hospitality. We highly, highly recommend adding it to your shelf and your kitchen.
SPEAKER_00Listeners, we love to hear from you which recipe we'll be trying first. Just drop us a note, share a photo, tell us of your food traditions that you live on.
SPEAKER_01Now, until next time, keep nourishing body, mind, and spirit.
SPEAKER_00And always put a little good taste in your life.