“I know that a difference can be made by doing small gestures rather than preaching,” Kamal Mouzawak says while sipping on a glass of arak, the anise-flavored spirit from the Levant.

Though I would argue his gestures are not so small, they are certainly making a difference. Over the past 15 years, Mouzawak has built bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants, and Beirut’s first farmers’ market with one goal: to create places that unite and give voice to Lebanese people from different faiths and political backgrounds, especially women.

Mouzawak restored Beit Douma with his partner of 20 years, fashion designer Rabih Kayrouz. Photo by Alex Lau The inn’s personal decor makes it feel as though you’re in someone’s (very stylish) home. Photo by Alex Lau

At the farmers’ market, Souk el Tayeb, I met a woman named Mona al-Dorr selling her man’oushe, a puffed flatbread speckled with za’atar that she had made at home for years before finding an outlet at the souk. I saw Nada Saber, who was selling jars of hot-pink pickled turnips, known as mouneh, or Lebanese preserves. There were Muslim women alongside Christian women, working together to highlight the culinary traditions of Lebanon.

The souk spawned Mouzawak’s first restaurant, Tawlet, where each day one woman sets the menu with dishes from her respective region, like kibbeh basaliyehl from Kfardlekous in northern Lebanon, made with bulgur, caramelized onions, and pine nuts. Since Tawlet Beirut opened in 2009, Mouzawak launched four more restaurants, providing jobs and a platform for women all over the country. “I want people to know that this lady—and all the ladies of the Souk el Tayeb and Tawlet—now have a role outside of being a wife or mother,” says Zeinab Harb Kashmar, one of the cooks at Tawlet, through a translator.

BA’s Andy Baraghani with Mouzawak. Photo by Alex Lau

One of Mouzawak’s latest projects is more dream house than do-good venture, but it serves an important goal just the same. It’s Beit Douma, a five-room 19th-century bed-and-breakfast that Mouzawak restored in the town of Douma, one of Lebanon’s best-preserved historic villages. Situated on a hillside 90 minutes from Beirut, Beit Douma prizes local items on its menu as well as in its decor. “Beit Douma gives you a sense of place. The cover on your bed is from the village of Douma. The wine you’re drinking is from the area. The dessert is made by [the manager] Sarah’s mom,” he says. “It should serve as an embassy of pride for the region.”

The lunch rush at Tawlet Beirut. Photo by Alex Lau Upstairs at Beit Douma. The textiles, prints, pillows, and dishes are sourced from the region. Photo by Alex Lau

When I visited, I cooked alongside Tawlet’s executive chef, Andrea Bouez. Many of the dishes we made—cinnamon-dusted lamb chops; a crunchy cabbage tabbouleh with piles of mint and parsley; marinated chicken skewers served atop flatbread—originated from the women who work at the restaurant and Souk el Tayeb. (Get all the recipes here.) Each dish did more than feed us. It honored the unique backgrounds of the individual women who developed them, while celebrating the larger cultural heritage of the country as a whole.