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Nouchka Boustany

How To Live The Lebanese Life In Paris

To all the Lebanese expats who lived or are currently living in Paris, this one’s for you! Here are a few steps you can take to live like a true Lebanese in Paris.


Discover the Lebanese community



You definitely won’t get lost: they all live in “le 15ème arrondissement” and they all go to Notre-Dame du Liban!


Start doing all kinds of clichéd things



You’ve arrived in the land of Champs Élysées, Avenue Montaigne, Tour Eiffel, Angelina Café, Pizza Pino, Léon de Bruxelles, L’Avenue, Georges V, Pain Quotidien, Pierre Hermé: you wouldn’t be a true Lebanese expat if you didn’t check in at all those places!


Refuse to eat Lebanese dishes sold in supermarkets



Whether it is “purée de pois chiches” or “caviar d’aubergine” (hummus and mtabbal the French way), or Tabboulé without parsley – you know you won’t be eating it and you’ll certainly take every chance to critique it out loud. This is a matter of principle, aren’t you patriotic?


Shop at Délices d’Orient



You may have tried every other grocery; but this is the only one that really tastes like home. After a few months away from home, you’ll be willing to pay a lot of euros for the sake of a single Unica!


Drink Nescafé while everyone else drinks regular coffee



Those French, they don’t even have coffeemate!! Unless you’re sticking to Lebanese coffee and brought your own “rakwé” from Lebanon, honor your Lebbo roots by chugging down creme-filled coffees.


Treat yourself to a meal at a Lebanese restaurant



It becomes a matter of survival: you might not even wait for Sundays to go eat a whole table of mezzé at “Rimal” or “Noura”.


Have a Tupperware collection



Some of your friends might collect coins, while you my friend have your trusted “Tupperware” collection. How else would your mom send you her special mehché malfouf and warak enab?!


Surprise yourself by listening to Fairuz or Sabah



All of a sudden you’ll start listening to music you would have ignored back home. I’m talking about all the Fairuz, Sabah, and Wadih your heart can handle!


Try and fail to explain cultural differences



Your French friends will look skeptical when you’ll even try telling them there is a difference between “un grec”, “un kebab” and a “shawarma”.


Try to make homemade mankouché



Your mom sent you the zaatar baladi and you bought the Saj machine: you are on your way to becoming the manouché maker for all of your 20 friends in you 15m2 studio!