The nouveau Levant: Redefining cuisines and cultures from Montreal's Arab diaspora

How Montreal's Levantine Arabs—Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian—are opening concepts that bridge adapting to a Western palate with staying true to who they are.

Yasmine Dalloul

April 9, 2024- Read time: 7 min

Lulu Epicerie, the place "producing what is considered by many members of the local Arab community as the city’s most perfect shawarma to date." | Photograph: Courtesy Lulu Epicerie

The Arab diaspora experience comes down to one word: Ghorbeh. Its literal translation is “being in the West”, but it embodies the reality of being without your family and your community, and adjusting to what is around you.

It also means you have to make do with finding the comforts of home in an unfamiliar setting, looking to people, communities, ingredients, and even restaurants to get that feeling.

Having lived in Montreal for over fifteen years as a picky Palestinian/Lebanese immigrant, a big part of ghorbeh I’ve witnessed is fellow Levantine Arabs—Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian—opening food concepts that boast our cultural background.