In the Levant, meals are not divided into starter-main-dessert: the low table (sofra) is covered with a mosaic of small shared dishes, the mezze. Flatbread, olive oil, herbs, pickled vegetables, meats, and sweets arrive together or follow one another as conversation flows. The meal is a space for speech — exactly the terrain of a poet: you break bread, you discuss, you recite. Coffee closes and relaunches the hours.

Green olive oil pressed in the villages of the Syrian mountain and za'atar (a blend of wild thyme, sumac, sesame, salt) are the soul of this cuisine. Adonis comes from a village of olive trees, Al-Qassabin: the olive tree runs through his childhood like a thread. Pouring the oil, sprinkling the za'atar — this is the primal gesture of the Levant.