Mark Wiens, world’s favorite food Youtuber, touring Lebanon with Feryal

Mark with Feryal & Kamel under the Jezzine Pine trees (South Lebanon)

What, did Mark Wiens upload a series of videos about food adventures in Lebanon?

Let us tell you our story with Mark.

Who is Mark Wiens?

Mark Wiens excited for a 6am breakfast, part of the Beirut street food Tour (Beirut)

For most, the best food YouTuber in the world. At times when it’s easy for everyone to upload videos about food travel, Mark’s food travel channel is next level. He travels to places unknown to most of us. What is food like locally in Penang Malaysia? Kerala India? Nepal? Iran? Jamaica? Mark arrives to these destinations, makes friends with the locals, and captures the most delicious videos. He possesses a deep knowledge of food around the world and is always hungry to learn more.

To people who need to quantify his success, go check how many people follow his YouTube channel eagerly waiting for his video drops. Hint: >6.3 Mn followers (as of June 2020).

How is Mark like?

Mark Wiens and his family enjoying local hospitality in Baalbek (Bekaa)

Mark loves his food and enjoys every bite to the fullest. He is fit, so you think he takes a bite for the footage only. Wrong. He eats and thoroughly enjoys everything served. He has a need to understand everything about food served: the story, ingredients, technique, and the local name.

He is a family man and very rarely travels without them. Food-wise he loves everything, well almost everything. We will leave it to him to disclose those 1-2 exceptions. His motto is “if it’s not spicy, I’m not eating” and when facing a choice, he always goes for extra spicy.

Some people might perceive his lifestyle as relaxed and stress-free. This is far from reality. It takes tremendous effort and focus to maintain the high level of energy that people see in the videos, and to produce those videos. For example, after a long 14-hour street food adventure in Beirut we were all dragging our feet towards the end of day while Mark looked as fresh as in the morning. He is very disciplined: long hours of editing lie behind every video he releases. He committed to his viewers to releasing two video per week and he almost never missed those deadlines.

How did the Lebanon trip happen?

Mark Wiens and Fadi Abu Jaber cruising around Beirut with Kamel on their first day (Beirut)

Every time we watched Mark eat in a country, we developed an urge to pack our bags and head to that country. He has a gift in making his viewers live authentic experiences at destinations. He should come to Lebanon we thought. Lebanon has fantastic culinary diversity despite its small geography. We know hidden (and known) spots that are waiting for someone like Mark to capture their authenticity on video, and share that with the world.

At Feryal we are obsessed in preserving Lebanon’s culinary heritage and putting it forward to the entire world. A collaboration with Mark seemed inevitable. With a bit of effort we established contact with him, only to learn that this has woken-up an old desire to visit our small country. Fast-forward a couple of months following some logistical preparations, we engineered the final itinerary and Mark was in Lebanon for two whole weeks. He came with his beautiful family, and his (now our) Jordanian friend Fadi Abou Jaber. Fadi walked into every place with bells on, made friends with locals, and made sure everyone was thoroughly enjoying their time. We laughed. Mark’s trip was also supported by the USAID Lebanon Enterprise Development Project. Maya Bou Nassar and the rest of the team did a fantastic job making sure the adventure went smoothly.

Where did we go, what did we eat?

We gave every day a different theme, to keep it true to Mark’s style. We made sure to cover most parts of Lebanon, and as many culinary experiences as possible. Street food tour in Beirut, bites at Tripoli’s ancient souks, whole lamb grilled on the spit in Bekaa, pieds-dans-l’eau meal in Batroun, the schedule was deliciously packed.

Over the next few months, we will be releasing blog entries about each of those experiences. Explaining why we decided to include them in Mark’s adventure, telling the background story making-up the charm of the place, and of course sharing some never seen before behind-the-scene footage of our adventures.

Sit tight, and enjoy the ride.

Next blog: Al Halabi restaurant, a true Lebanese establishment

Mark Wiens and Kamel Taha getting ready to try a whole lamb cooked underground for an overnight at Karam Winery, Jezzine (South Lebanon)

Mark Wiens documenting a traditional breakfast at Saida’s ancient souks, while Fadi Abu Jabr is making friends with locals (South Lebanon)

Mark Wiens & Kamel Taha (from Feryal) enjoying Armenian delicacies at Mano, Burj Hammoud (Beirut)

Mark Wiens leaving Feryal the mouneh boutique with his treasured products, with Faleh Taha one of the boutique partners (Beirut)