Solving the problem the Lebanese way...

Having previously blogged about the serious lack of real pepper in my life, I would like to give you all a little update. From time to time, things inexplicably vanish from the Lebanese market. This could be medications, computer equipment, car parts, you name it. Typically, this problem is solved by that most effective of Lebanese tools, the wasta network.

For all those of you outside the country, “wasta” is a delightful little word full of so many layers of meaning. We don’t really have a single English word that encompases all the many definitions of wasta, but a good general translations would be “connections”. In these sorts of cases, it involves finding some friend of a friend who is flying into Lebanon from a better supplied location and persuading them to play mule for you.

In my case, I didn’t actually have to formally activate my wasta network. The problem was solved by the timely arrival of my mother, who saw it in the goodness of her heart to arrive in Lebanon with a pocket full of this:



Pepper packets from Turkey.

Yipee!