Go Eat Give had the pleasure of welcoming a new group of attendees to Destination Lebanon at Nicola’s Restaurant last week! The Greening Youth Foundation, a non-profit that works with underserved and underrepresented children to create overall healthy communities, attended the event bringing 15 students from Grady High School in Atlanta. And, this will not be the only time that Go Eat Give will host the Greening Youth Foundation. We are excited to announce that Go Eat Give has decided to partner with the Greening Youth Foundation to create a new program entitled “Culturally Fresh”. The aim of the program is to help raise awareness of international cultural and environment issues among the youth in the southern United States.
The night started off with appetizers – hummus and baba ganoush, and a Q&A session with Lebanese born Nicola, who was an educator himself before he opened his restaurant about 31 years ago. The students were full of enthusiasm and asked him lots of questions about his life growing up in Lebanon and immigrating to the United States. In addition, they had to complete a treasure hunt assignment on Lebanon. The assignment included questions about the typical Lebanese diet, interesting facts, and history of Lebanon.
The second course included stuffed grape leaves, fried artichoke hearts, traditional fattoush salad, tabbouleh, and kibbee, which were all delicious. Later, the main dishes served were kafta with Lebanese rice, chicken a la beef, and chicken with artichoke hearts. Dinner was especially exciting since most of the students from Grady High had never tried Lebanese food before!
The bunch also had a unique opportunity to hear from Mr. Hrair Balian, Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center and adjunct professor at Emory Law. He is also Lebanese born, specializes in Middle East conflicts, and speaks English, French, and Armenian. Hrair discussed the culture of Lebanon, including how it evolved through time due to the influence of other countries and how this evolution has created the rich diversity of Lebanon’s population.
After the speaker and discussion, we were able to taste baklava for dessert (my personal favorite!). Baklava is a rich and sweet pasty made of thin layers of filo dough and filled with nuts and honey.
Lastly, the students got a lesson in Dabke dancing from Nicola. Typically there is a dabke leader, and the group joins hands together and stomps to the beat. We had a blast, and theentire crowd at the restaurant got together for a line dance around the room.
We are very excited about the future of Culturally Fresh and truly enjoyed the students joining in on the food, friends, and fun.
