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Summer 2008 Vol. VI, No. 4
Alumni Profile
Their Niche in the Noshing Market
Whether they're FAFS, FEA or OSB, AUB
graduates are working the food industry worldwide. Maybe they're all in
cahoots-while some are trained at Le Cordon Bleu, make the most decadent
pastries in Lebanon and recommend the finest wines, a few good souls are
diligently providing some of the best nutritional and weight loss advice
in the Middle East. We'll introduce you to both. Bon appétit!
Cordon Bleu-trained Marlene Matar (BS '63) has been called Lebanon's
answer to Martha Stewart. In Beirut, her intimate cooking courses are
seen as a must for young socialites looking to hone their haute cuisine
homemaking skills. From 1975 until 1989 Marlene made her home in Paris,
the culinary capital of the world, where she enrolled in the prestigious
culinary school Le Cordon Bleu and graduated with a Grand Diplôme in cuisine
and pastry. In 1989 she took her love of cooking from Paris to Beirut,
started a cooking school, and for four years hosted a twice weekly TV
show on the NBN channel. These days she's divulging her cooking secrets
on Heya TV twice a week, giving cooking lessons at home, and teaching
pastry-making at the Lebanese American University. She also lectures occasionally
at AUB about cooking techniques, and recently published a book in Arabic
ãÇÆÏÉ ãÇÑáíä ãä ÇáÔÑÞ æÇáÛÑÈ which contains 400 recipes and some 600 photographs
which she took herself. New challenges? Responding to our calorie-conscious
and speed-obsessed environment by finding ways to reduce both the caloric
content and preparation time in her recipes.
www.marlenematar.com
When Hazem Arayssi (BBA '95) launched his pastry business out of
his mother's kitchen in 1999, he had already received his certificate
of pastry from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He started by making cakes for
his friends and family, working alone in a little kitchen, squeezing in
purchasing, cooking, deliveries, and client recruitment-all while doing
his military service. Early success enabled him to move to a small factory
in the suburbs of Beirut and begin catering for medium sized restaurants
and cafes . . . and then he landed the Starbucks account, which demanded
a bigger factory, and a different kind of company. Today Arayssi heads
up a team of 43 employees at a factory in the heart of Beirut. The name
of Arayssi's shop, Secrets, is a play on sucrée-sweet-in French,
and of course the finest recipes never reveal their hidden je ne sais
quoi. His shop is a treasure trove of unusual creations: you might discover
an apple crumble, in a delicate pot handcrafted by an 80 year old artisan
in the south; pistachio crème brûlées; banana split
macaroons; a bounty of éclairs; oreo ice cream suprèmes;
or roses réligieuse with lichees. Says Arayssi, "I wanted
Secrets to be unlike anything you've ever experienced. Everything I love,
you'll find it there."
www.hazemarayssi.com
After graduating with an agricultural engineering degree from AUB, wine
consultant and professional gourmand Paul Koder (BE '92) was introduced
to fine wine and cuisine by his mentor, Lucile Jambon, the head of the
culinary school at Ritz Escoffier Schools in Paris. Koder received culinary
arts degrees from Le Cordon Bleu and Ritz Escoffier. He continued his
training by earning a sommelier degree from the Wine and Spirit Education
Trust in London. Koder founded Wine Trend Inc. in 2004, an international
wine consulting business specialized in enhancing people's enjoyment of
wine through educating and creating wine storage solutions. The firm,
which has offices in France and the United Kingdom, tracks trends in wine
and custom designs and installs wine rooms for homes and the hospitality
industry. Koder's home base is Richmond, Virginia, where he is working
on a cookbook that is scheduled for release in late 2008. It will feature
all of his recipes along with recommended wines.
www.winetrend.com
With a worldwide shipping network and plans for expansion, Rafaat Hallab
& Sons of Tripoli, Lebanon-a family owned business since 1881-is making
"A Taste of Lebanon" available anywhere in the world. This bonanza
feast of nuts and honey is the finest the region has to offer. Rafaat
Hallab himself graduated with a pharmacy degree in 1977 and worked for
12 years before being lured into the family business. "In pharmacy,
you see sick people. This
is a nice business. Everyone is happy," says Rifaat.
It's true. Looking around at the packed tables at one of the Hallab shops
in Tripoli, you see lots of big smiles on faces staring at unusually large
plates of sweets, with a little pot of syrup on the side, just in case.
About eight members of the Hallab family are involved in the company that
now employs 150 people; several are AUB graduates. Abdul Hamid Hallab
(see "Reflections," this issue) is, in his words, the "unofficial
chairman" of the family business. Omar Monzer Hallab (BBA
'91), is the company's finance operator; Rami Fawaz Hallab (BS
'03) works in Omar Hallab's department. And since the New York Times recommended
Hallab's two-kilo basket of taj el malak (shredded phyllo stuffed with
pistachios and dripping honey), mamoul cocktail mix, and marzipan as a
great mail order gift for the winter holidays, business has been booming
outside Lebanon as never before.
www.hallab.com
Thuraya Baalbaki (BBA '84) has turned her own weight loss experience
into a stunning business, helping the residents of Dubai lose more than
7,000 kilos since she started her company Live'ly in 2005. Baalbaki is
the partner and managing director of Live'ly Health and Nutrition Center-Dubai.
"My weight loss experience inspired me to start a professional place
that can take care of people who want to lose weight but do not have the
skills and know-how," she says. Together with four friends from AUB
who are now her partners, she started a center that focuses on health
education, nutritional services including healthy food catering, and personalized
guidance and support. It is the only professional nutrition and diet center
in Dubai that also focuses on creating healthier environments by regularly
teaming up with schools, clubs, and businesses to promote healthy lifestyles.
The company has branches in Al Wasel and Diera, and in 2007 Baalbaki opened
the Live'ly Café at the Jannati Health Spa at the Dubai Women's
Association, which offers delicious-and, of course, diet-conscious-food
and beverages. There are plans to expand, so watch for Live'ly throughout
the UAE.
The Live'ly team includes 4 clinical dieticians, Tina Choueiri (BS '02,
MPH '05), Rima Itani (BS '02), Hala Barghout (BS '05), and Yasmine Haddad
(BS '03, MS '06).
www.lively.ae
Carla Habib-Mourad came to AUB in 1987 with her eyes on a medical
career, but fell in love with nutrition after her first class. Two degrees
later, she landed her first job with the Ministry of Social Affairs and
the Save the Children Fund as a community nutritionist. She also started
her own private clinic, but when the opportunity to present a special
TV segment on nutrition came her way, she jumped at the chance to launch
a full scale nutrition awareness campaign. She became the first nutrition
specialist in the Middle East to host a daily morning show dedicated to
nutrition attracting an audience that quickly expanded from housewives
to include men and women of all educational and social backgrounds. The
show is broadcast nationally and internationally on Future Television.
Mourad has written two bestsellers, Nutrition Secrets (Asrar el Taghziyah)
and Healthy Recipes with Carla (Atbak Carla al Sohiya), which offer healthy
versions of most traditional Lebanese and international recipes. Her advice?
"The number one advice I always give to my TV audience and to my
students at AUB is that moderation is the key to a healthy lifestyle!"
So back off the baklava...just a little bit.
www.carlamourad.com
Musa (BS '57) and Tony (BS '81) Freiji, both FAFS
graduates, know more than a thing or two about chicken. And organic olives
and olive oil, fresh organic vegetables . . . hence Wadi Food. Musa Freiji
got started in Lebanon's poultry industry in 1957 by offering baby chicks
and free technical services to famers. His business gradually expanded
to Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan, and to establishing
the 26 production companies that are currently in operation. After Tony
Freiji graduated from Iowa State University with a MSc degree, he joined
Musa in establishing Wadi Poultry Co. in Egypt, which he further diversified
into olive plantations and processing, feed production, and more. Tony
Freiji is also expanding the company into sorghum and sesame plantations
in Sudan. In Lebanon, Musa revitalized the Tanmia Company in 1997 to be
a fully integrated broiler production and poultry meat processor. Their
group of companies, Wadi Holdings, most of which are food related, employ
3,750 people, and the Freijis plan to add via new projects an additional
2,000 employees within the next three years. At work, upgrading product
quality and productivity is important, but so is employee training, improving
the skills of the local work force, and environmental responsibility.
Musa's wife Amal (MA '61) has been involved in writing and publishing
Arab curriculum and reading books since 1962; Tony's wife Lynn spearheaded
the Wadi Environment Science Center, an NGO in Egypt that introduces 15,000
elementary students to the environmental sciences every year.
www.wadigroup.com
"Every wedding needs a theme-something that captures your heart and
imagination," says Rosinne K. Chlala (BA '72). "My passion
is to see the event through my client's eyes and bring that vision into
reality. And besides, I'm Lebanese. Our sense of hospitality runs deep,
and that permeates our business. We're in hospitality, not just catering."
A former journalist and IC teacher turned professional events consultant,
Chlala has set her gregarious spirit and ingrained sense of Lebanese hospitality
to task building one of the most sophisticated and innovative catering
companies in the northeastern United States. In 1984, when her brother,
executive chef William Kaliff, proposed founding Festivities Catering,
Chlala became his business partner and the company's co-owner and event
consultant. Chef Kaliff has since been selected by Bon Appetit magazine
as one of the leading chefs of the nation. In 2007 and 2008, Festivities
was voted "best caterer in Connecticut" on theknot.com, a leading
wedding website. The company, which is based in Connecticut, works throughout
the New York City region, but increasingly organizes destination weddings
as well. Having planned many soirées for expat crowds in Lebanon
and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, where she lived for four years, Chlala says
her experience abroad comes in handy as she plans more and more events
with an international flair. "I love the international weddings.
We're seeing more and more cross cultural relationships, and have become
really adept at weaving various customs, cuisines, and cultures into our
events. And we learn to work with the in-laws as well. I've only heard
of one
divorce after all these years!"
www.festivitiesevents.com