On Sunday July 12, 2015, the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit at the American University in Beirut and the Food Heritage Foundation brought their farmers’ market “Souk aal Souk” to Zalka – Amaret Shalhoub. The souk was organized in collaboration with the municipality of Zalka – Amaret Shalhoub that gave its full support in preparing the event.
Souk aal Souk farmers’ market which was established in 2013 with the support of the social responsibility initiative of Waterfront City, promotes local food production and healthy eating habits in academic institutions such as AUB and LAU where it is organized on a regular basis.
For the first time, Souk aal Souk came out of the academic framework and went to the city of Zalka – Amaret Shalhoub bringing food producers from different Lebanese regions to showcase traditional sweets, organic and conventional fruits and vegetables, fresh juices, flowers etc. In addition, a special kid’s corner was organized with drawing and coloring activities. Cirqu’enciel also performed an acrobatic street show which added more fun to the ambiance.
Visitors coming mainly from the Metn and Keserwan regions, welcomed the idea of the souk and what it has to offer from local and traditional foods, and demanded to have the farmers’ market organized periodically. On the other side, producers were also satisfied from this experience and showed their enthusiasm of finding new marketing opportunities for their products in urban settings other than Beirut.