Man2ousheh

A UNESCO intangible heritage

On Monday 4 December, 2023, man2usheh, a flat bread normally topped with za3tar and extra virgin olive oil, which is a quintessential Lebanese breakfast, has been recognised by UNESCO as an intangible heritage. A small consolation given what Lebanon is going through these days but an achievement all the same.

Of course, mana2ish (plural for man2usheh) are made with other toppings, including kishk which is my favourite and for which I will give a recipe in my new book, but it is the za3tar one that has been recognised.

Most of the time, the dough used is the same as that for pita but if you go south, you will be able to have mana2ish with a slightly textured spiced dough used to make mishtah, a typical southern flat bread. Both are delicious but those I loved and can sadly no longer enjoy were those made by Emile, the lovely baker near my mother’s home in Ballouneh — here he is below, sitting at his desk as he used to do when he wasn’t baking.

Sadly, Emile closed his bakery, because he had health problems but also because his lovely wife, Louisa (who missed being on Ugly Delicious even though she was filmed making man2ish), passed away after a battle with cancer; and from when he closed his bakery, I have yet to find a great man2usheh in Ballouneh. I did in Beirut, in an old fashioned bakery near the Beydun mosque (it has the same name) but it is too far for me to take my mother’s za3tar mix for them to make me mana2ish. This said, their za3tar was not bad, much better than in other commercial bakeries, and they didn’t mind using twice the amount when I asked them to.

Below are pictures of Emile garnishing mana2ish (he’s working with Reda, his faithful employee who is now back in Egypt, hopefully still making mana2ish) that he sold in his bakery; and further below, a picture of my mother’s man2usheh, made with Emile’s excellent dough but with her za3tar mix and evoo. Her garnish had no onions. Instead she added labneh to the fresh mint and tomatoes which were cherry instead of regular ones. She also pitted the green olives as she, or I for that matter, wouldn’t dream of using ready pitted ones — they taste like rubber.

I do miss Emile and his mana2ish, and I recently went to visit him in his beautiful old home on top of the now shuttered bakery but I have yet to send the many pictures I have of him that I promised his charming daughter!

ps. the numbers in the transliteration indicate Arabic letters that are either muted (2 for Q or ق in Arabic which we don’t pronounce); or letters that are difficult to pronounce for those not speaking the language (such as 3 for ع, a letter that has no equivalent in the western alphabet).