Vine leaves, the Eid’s first traditional dish for the Lebanese in general and Tripolitanias in particular. Many modifications have been implemented on this delicious dish, due to the dire economic conditions, as many families have abandoned stuffing the leaves with meat and rice to be satisfied with rice alone. Vine leaves are placed between bones only, and also without meat.
A salesman told “Sawt Beirut International” correspondent Ghassan Farran, that one kilogram of plain vine leaves costs between 30 and 35 thousand pounds, and in order to cook it, it needs meat, rice and ribs, meaning that the recipe will cost a million pounds after it used to cost a hundred thousand pounds.” He added, “People are cooking it without meat,” a saleswoman said, “Vine leaves is a very important dish, as about 5 kilos are cooked so that the family gathers at the dining table,” pointing out that “the sale has decreased significantly because its price has risen.”
The vine leaves dish, a dish that has had its prestige and importance over the decades, but this prestige has been lost in a country, where nothing has prestige anymore.