Bahyah Shehab and Kamal Muzawak from Lebanon win the Prince Klaus award for 2016

In its issue of September 12th, L’Orient le Jour interviewed Lebanese Chef and food awareness activist, Kamal Muzawak as well as artist, academic and Egyptian-Lebanese historian, Bahyah Shehab, both selected from the Prince Klaus award for 2016.  A reminder that there awards have been issued over the past 20 years to honor individuals and institutions for pioneer work in culture and development. Muzawak, the founder of Souk el Tayeb, noted that his slogan is “make food not war”.  He added that the idea for Souk el Tayeb came in 2004 in order to send a message to find bridges among various community based on food as a common denominator.  He further noted that the second aim of his work is to preserve traditional food.  Muzawak earned his award because he focused on building bridges away from sectarian divides in Lebanon. Muzawak concluded that he is now working on the Souk el Tayeb book in collaboration with the Klaus Institute so as to introduce Lebanon through history, land, agriculture and cuisine.  For her part, art historian Bahyah Shehab spoke of her fascination with Arabic manuscripts especially the word “No”.  After the revolution in Egypt in 2011, she started posting pictures on the streets saying No to dictators, No to the military and No to violence.  On winning the Klaus award, Shehab says that she got it because she was able to merge history and Islamic art in order to deal with current politics with a feminist perspective.  Shehab concluded by saying that she wishes to work with the Klaus Institute in focusing on education in the Arab world as she perceives that problems come from education and there is a need to clean mindsets.  She assured that the road ahead is long but that she will persevere. (L’Orient le Jour, September 12, 2016)