I hope you’ve eaten. This episode had my stomach talking to me!

Today’s guest is a fellow Torontonian, a fellow podcast host, and we have a shared love of a local restaurant.

Alex Hajjar’s love of food and his culture is clear. He is so knowledgable on all delicious Arabic foods, his memories of his grandmother’s cooking are so lovely, his aunts’ bakery sounds wonderful, and he has traveled all over.

Alex and I initially connected online and we chat a bit about that and how the meta verse is slowly taking over everyday run ins and daily interactions. And chance would have it, we both grew up in Toronto. 

I often say Toronto is so small. And it really is. Toronto is a wonderful city made up of many tiny pockets of cultures and neighbourhoods, and made smaller by the people who were born and raised and still live here!

After our conversation we chatted a bit more and have less than a 2 degree of separation. Remember that game? 7 degrees of separation? It’s actually only 6 now as our world has gotten smaller. And I remember reading an article years ago in Vanity Fair (I think?!) that locals in Rome had the fewest average degrees of separation being only about 1.5.

I hope you enjoy this episode! There are lots of great links in the show notes to check out and if you’re local to North York in Toronto check out Jerusalem!

Keeskoon! (Cheers in Lebanese) 

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Food:

Labaneh - very thick yogurt dip

Shaabiyat - dessert treat similar to Baklava

Hummus - Alex's tip is to use the water from the chickpea can or water from boiling to use in the hummus when making from scratch. 

Want more dessert recommendations? check out this blog post I found on Traditional Lebanese Desserts

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Links:

Jerusalem Restaurant http://www.jerusalemrestaurant.ca

Marché Adonis - Mediterranean market with the pita maker https://www.groupeadonis.ca/fr/on

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To follow Alex Hajjar on Instagram @socialanimalspodcast 

Check out Social Animals podcast

To follow Food Is Culture | A Podcast along on Instagram @foodisculture.apodcast

To follow host Billy Buttery on Instagram @billybuttery

To check out the Food Is Culture blog on billybuttery.com

Intro & Outro Music and Editing Provided by @roninimperial from @bigsmokebounce

Podcast Artwork by @giftsfrombilly   giftsfrombilly.com

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