On Friday December 4, 2020, Hochschule Geisenheim University’s International Office organized with the help of Lebanese food professional Ms. Zeina Abu Jneid the online cooking event for the first semester international students. They prepared a modern take on the traditional Lebanese Falafel, a vegan meal served in almost all the Mediterranean countries.

Before the event itself, our international students had the opportunity to register and pick up a bag filled with authentic Lebanese ingredients, which had been carefully prepared by our Lebanese student assistant Charbel Jreijiri. Some of the main ingredients were fava beans, chick peas, cumin, flat leaf parsley, coriander, garlic, tahini, Lebanese hummus, and Lebanese flat bread, also known as Lebanese pita bread. The preparation included a lot of chopping of the vegetables and mashing of the peas and beans, mixing into a sort of a paste then frying in oil or grilling on the pan with no oil and then wrapping it in the pita bread with the greens and the tahini after preparing it into "tarator", a tahini-lemon sauce.

The students cooked at home, Zeina Abu Jneid gave instructions live from Lebanon – it doesn't get any more authentic than that, does it?

Since the cooking event was a great success, the International Office plans to offer more such events. If you want to introduce local specialities from your country or region to other students, don’t hesitate to contact the International office: international(at)hs-gm.de.