Lebanese forager Rianna Tassabehji is not what one would call a typical spokesperson. Rather than forcefully disseminate her ancestral knowledge of the plant world, she simply wants to “pass it along to whoever is interested in listening”. But while her approach is laissez faire, her philosophy is anything but. The same can be said for her practice which is fiercely anti-consumerist and anti-colonial. Making her own laundry detergent or tincture, for instance, is not only cost-effective. It’s a protest against a system that has made us debilitatingly dependent.
When she’s not sharing her findings on social media or facilitating workshops, she’s cocooning in her multi-generational family home in Bhamdoun in the grace of wild things, which is where I met her.