Saturday, February 21, 2009

Export averse

A couple of days ago a Western agricultural expert commented in front of me that the agricultural sector of Lebanon was "export averse". Apparently the Lebanese prefer to consume their products rather than export them. There are still good news in this world.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As you know Rami I "work" in a ma7al al khudra in the evenings in my neighborhood. I love that every single person shopping there asks where the vegetables and fruit come from, whether they are "baladeh" or not. I even chuckle when people say things like, "I would never buy potatoes from Saudi...maybe if they were from Iran". The whole concept of potatoes from Saudi generally starts a conversation of agricultural practice and theft of market, which is pretty amazing on a purely consumer-awareness level. One woman wanted mangoes, which are very expensive. She was told they were from Australia, hence the price. She asked: "Maa fii mango lubnaneh?" A man in the store interrupted and replied, basically chastising her: "At tifa7!" "The apple is the Lebanese mango!"