Hi, I'm Aris Roussinos.
I'm a journalist for
VICE News.
Live gunfire.
Get out.
The crowd has scattered.
I'm good.
You put your
sunglasses on.
Earlier this year, we
went to Beirut in Lebanon
at a time of increased
border tension with
Israel I was expecting
a new outbreak of war
between Israel and
Lebanon.
But that didn't happen.
But in the meantime,
we got to enjoy some
of the culinary
delights of Beirut,
one of the food capitals
of the Middle East.
Incredible food there.
Everyone in Beirut knows
the Ichkhanian bakery,
it's famous across
the city for decades.
They made lahmadjuns,
a kind of mincemeat,
flatbread snack.
And it is strongly
influenced with all
the flavors that
Garzaians have and Leppa.
Both cities back in
the headlines because of
the Syrian Civil war.
Hey man.
How are you?
Good to meet you.
How are you?
Hey sister.
The background was the
Armenian genocide 1915.
My grandpa came first,
1920s and then my grandma
came from Antoch and they
establish this business.
During the war the
business was much better
than now.
Almost double or triple.
Why is that?
I guess during that
time was an easy food,
and cheap I guess.
Half Syrians,
maybe 50% of Syrians.
I have five or six
Syrian ladies, Armenian.
Daily or weekly a few
Armenians come and
they wanna work.
Cuz they need money.
But unfortunately, no, I
cannot take all of them.
As much as we can,
we have to help anyone,
not just Armenians.
But in this work because
it's Armenian food so
I prefer to be Armenians.
Of course.
We open the shop
at 7 AM but
we start working at 9.
We're from 7 AM till 9 we
do the preparation and
at 9 o'clock we
start taking orders
The process of first
we make the dough.
And then we
make the balls.
And then, when the order
comes, we took the balls,
we open it by hand.
Everything by hand.
We have no machines.
And then, after we open
it goes to another guy.
He puts the meat
on it and
then from that
section to the oven,
from the oven to the wood
for the packaging area.
How many do you make?
It depends.
Saturdays, Friday,
Saturday's the busiest
day.
We make maybe 1000.
Really.
Yes.
Sometimes,
some days make few
thousand, 2 and
3000 a day.
How much is each one?
Each one maybe
$0.80 cents.
Yeah.
So this is
the main kitchen?
This is where you-
This is the main kitchen,
the preparation area.
So we're gonna start
with the meat.
We're gonna mix
the meat now.
So, this is for
the half kilo of meat.
We're taking
the tomatoes,
it's fresh tomatoes,
pepper, and wash it.
The ingredients,
we use fresh meat daily.
We go to the butcher.
6 AM, 6:30 AM.
Not me, my mom.
Half a kilometer, almost
one kilo of tomatoes.
We put in the mixer.
The vegetables
are all fresh.
As much as we can
we bring organic.
Is that your decision
to use organic produce?
Yeah, it's much better.
All the quality and
the taste,
it's much better
to use organic.
We put garlic in it,
tomato, parsley and
the peppers.
So, we put half
a kilo meat in it.
And then now he's gonna
trim the parsley.
We always trim
it by hand.
I love that smell of
pasta in the morning.
Fresh.
Fresh.
And then we mix it.
You mix dough by hand?
All by hand.
It's always,
old fashioned way is
much better than the new
technology and
everything.
So he's drained some
of the water out.
Yes.
Puts it back in,
keeps mixing it
back together.
Mix it again and
then again,
then drain the water.
So we only do two kilos
so it stays fresh.
We don't make like ten
kilos and wait for
the customer to come.
So we make it by orders.
It's hot.
Oh, wow.
This is the special
today.
Okay.
Very simple.
Pretty basic,
very tasty, very fresh.
Mm, that's good.
That's really good.
