MISSION FOUL: One Month Across the Middle East Searching for the Origins of Fava Beans

MISSION FOUL begins! 🫘🌍 من اخترع الفول؟ 🫘 رحلة شهر بين مصر والأردن ولبنان والإمارات لاكتشاف أصل أشهر فطور عربي One month. Several countries. Hundreds of plates. One of the oldest and most loved foods in the Middle East: FOUL. Together with my friend Abou Shady, we set off on a crazy food adventure through Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the UAE, traveling from Cairo to Alexandria, Amman, Beirut, Dubai and beyond to discover the history, culture and traditions surrounding the humble fava bean. Who made foul first? Where did it originate? How old is it? How is it grown? Why does every country prepare it differently? And most importantly… who makes the best foul? Fava beans have been part of the region’s food culture for thousands of years. What looks like a simple plate of beans actually tells the story of civilizations, agriculture, migration, traditions and generations of families. And every country has its own way of eating it. Whole or mashed. Green, brown or white. Foul mdammas, mixed with chickpeas, tahini, lemon, cumin, olive oil, tomatoes, herbs, chili or garlic. Served for breakfast, as street food, a snack, a side dish or even inside restaurants and hotels. Mission Foul is about discovering ALL of it. We enter restaurant kitchens to see how foul is prepared. We visit street-food stalls where locals have been eating breakfast for generations. We explore markets selling fresh and canned beans. We sit with cooks, restaurant owners, farmers, families and people who simply love their foul. But this journey became about much more than beans. For one month, Abou Shady and I traveled together, laughed together, ate together and experienced these countries through the eyes of the people who live there. We walked the streets of Cairo, discovered the incredible food culture of Alexandria, explored Jordan, returned to the traditions of Lebanon and experienced the UAE’s multicultural food scene. No luxury food tour. No staged experiences. We wanted the real thing. Busy markets. Tiny kitchens. Street carts. Neighborhood restaurants. Local breakfasts. Home cooking. Conversations with strangers. Places you might walk past without ever realizing that they have been serving incredible food for decades. Mission Foul is a journey back to the basics. Before complicated recipes and modern restaurants, people ate what the land gave them. Fava beans were affordable, nutritious, filling and accessible. Different civilizations took the same ingredient and developed completely different ways of preparing and enjoying it. That’s what makes this journey fascinating. One bean. Many countries. Countless recipes. And behind every plate is a story. This is not only about finding the “best” foul. It is about documenting a culinary heritage that deserves to be preserved: understanding how people cook, how they eat, what they add to their plates and why these traditions continue to be an essential part of everyday life. And, of course, doing all of it with Abou Shady made the journey unforgettable. 😂 Expect lots of eating, lots of laughs, unexpected discoveries, authentic street food, incredible people and a completely different Middle East seen through one of its simplest and greatest breakfast staples. Welcome to MISSION FOUL. The search for the origins of foul starts now! 🫘 Jordan 🇯🇴 | Egypt 🇪🇬 | Lebanon 🇱🇧 | UAE 🇦🇪 One month on the road. One legendary Middle Eastern breakfast. One unforgettable adventure.