B for Bacchus

B for Bacchus

By Farrah BerrouSociety & Culture
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B for Bacchus episodes

  • 20. JUST A DROP - The Lost Glass and Cigarette

    JUST A DROP: Less than 10 minutes about a wine topic, some news, and updates.

    Once again, Farrah went a little over the 10-minute mark for this one. After stumbling upon 1924's lost silent film "WINE," Farrah investigated if there are any wine films from this side of the world and she visited Abboudi Abou Jaoude for some help. This is what she discovered.

    Most of America's Silent Films Are Lost Forever

    Who was the original It girl?
    ABBOUDI ABOU JAOUDÉ AND THE FORGOTTEN ERA OF ARAB CINEMA
    1955's "A Glass and a Cigarette" - dubbed in Russian
    Blogpost on Smash-Up & A Glass and a Cigarette
    ‘Made in Egypt?’ Egyptian films seen as knock-offs of Western productions

    Translation of the clip of Azza's dialogue:
    "You made her go back to alcohol. Don't forget that Hoda was an artist. Don't forget that she was the light of the stage. The day she married you, she was the most famous woman in Egypt. Why would she give all that up to live between 4 walls? Because she loves you."

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    14 min
  • 19. JUST A DROP - The Middle Yeast

    JUST A DROP: Less than 10 minutes about a wine topic, some news, and updates.


    This one's about the microbe that gives us so many of our favorite foods & drinks: Yeast. Farrah talks about the fermentation process and the significance of yeast in winemaking. 

    Yeast Fermentation and the Making of Beer

    Synthetic Yeast & Designer Yeast
    Jancis Robinson's Take on Yeast
    Forbes: Secret Life of Yeast
    The Science of Winemaking Yeasts

    Watch COOKED on NETFLIX


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    11 min
  • 18. JUST A DROP - Wine of the Bean

    JUST A DROP: Less than 10 minutes about a wine topic, some news, and updates.

    Disclaimer - this one’s a little over 10 minutes but it’s worth it! In this short episode, Farrah goes over the origins of coffee and why it was called “the wine of the Arabs.”

    Support B for Bacchus on Patreon

    References:

    • Hammam Radio
    • Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1991, Harlan Walker
    • Paradise Dictionary - Dictionary of English words of Arabic etymology part II- Mohannad Al Fallouji, PhD
    • Coffee and Qahwa: How a drink for Arab mystics went global
    • Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East, Ralph S. Hattox
    • Port of Mokha coffee + Serious Jolt on Kerning Cultures
    • Coffee's Mysterious Origins
    • How Coffee Went from a Mystical Sacrament to an Everyday Drink
    • The Etymology of "Coffee": The Dark Brew, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Alan S. Kaye
    • All about Coffee, William Harrison Ukers
    • Coffee as a Social Drug, Steven Topik
      • 13 min
    • 17. JUST A DROP - Corona Borealis

      JUST A DROP: Less than 10 minutes about a wine topic, some news, and updates.

      Back with another short episode this week on the story of Bacchus' wife, Ariadne, and the Corona Borealis.

      Support B for Bacchus on Patreon

      9 min
    • 16. LEBANON - For people to try your product, you have to give them a reason

      RECORDED BEFORE CORONAVIRUS.


      Farrah speaks to Joe Saade of Terre Joie, the home of vineyards that sit on the vertex of 3 tectonic plates in the Bekaa Valley. From Saddam Hussein to Amal Clooney, this episode is jam-packed with info on what makes the wines of Lebanon so special and what needs to be done so people all around the world know that.

      Joe's blog

      Michel Basbous

      1 hr 1 min
    • 15. JUST A DROP - The Levant Fault System

      JUST A DROP: Less than 10 minutes about a wine topic, some news, and updates.

      The Levant Fault System, or the Dead Sea Transform, is a network of fault lines that lie under and through Lebanon. The 3 main ones have caused catastrophic earthquakes in the past but they also gave Lebanon rich topography and soils great for grape-growing. Farrah talks about it all in under 8 minutes so make sure to listen to last week's episode to know the background on Lebanon's seismology studies. 

      Sources:

      • "The historical earthquakes of Syria: an analysis of large and moderate earthquakes from 1365 B.C. to 1900 A.D.," Sbeinati, Darawcheh, and Mouty
      • "Short notice on earthquake hazard in Lebanon," Ata Elias (many of his publications were helpful in this research)
      • "Active thrusting offshore Mount Lebanon: Source of the tsunamigenic A.D. 551 Beirut-Tripoli earthquake," multiple authors
      • The Geology of Lebanon, C.D. Walley
      • Lebanon's National Center for Geophysics
        • 8 min
      • 14. LEBANON - Competition pushes you to pay attention to what you’re producing

        RECORDED BEFORE CORONAVIRUS.

        Elie Maamari, export manager of Chateau Ksara, Lebanon’s oldest and largest winery, talks to Farrah about his 40-year career in wine. From winemaker to pushing Ksara wines abroad, they discuss making wine during the war, opportunities in the market, and memories of the Ksara Observatory.


        WSJ: A Winery Survives in Lebanon
        Ksara Observatory Records
        Nikula Shahin Weather Station

        Books
        - Jesuit Contribution to Science: A History by Augustin Udias
        - Searching the Heavens and the Earth: the History of Jesuit Observatories by Augustin Udias
        - Mapping Empires: Colonial Cartographies of Land and Sea: 7th International Symposium of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography, 2018

        53 min
      • 13. JUST A DROP - Obeidy vs. Merwah

        JUST A DROP: Less than 10 minutes about a wine topic, some news, and updates.

        Obeidy (also spelled Obaideh, Obeideh, Obeidi - you get the point) and Merwah are two indigenous white grapes of Lebanon but how do they differ? Farrah breaks it down in a short clip. Phylloxera makes a cameo too.


        7 min
      • 12. LEBANON - People flooded to Baalbeck because of water

        Farrah talks to Alia Fares, a German-Lebanese archaeologist & tour guide who’s very, very familiar with the ancient UNESCO World Heritage Site of Baalbeck, home to the Temple of Bacchus. Alia breaks down the architecture and historical significance of the temple complex and the city itself.

        German Archeological Institute

        The Myth of the Megalith - The New Yorker
        Kerning Cultures: Collateral Damage
        A Better Beirut with Alia Fares

        1 hr 4 min

      About B for Bacchus

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      Wine stories from the Fertile Crescent.