Couscous: Seeds of Dignity

Couscous, with its various recipes, constitutes the staple food of all of the populations of the Maghreb, including Tunisia. It is for this region what rice is for most of Asia. This documentary focuses on the political, social, economic and ecological conditions of cereal and couscous production, demonstrate how the food question is in fact at the heart of the issue of individual and collective human dignity as well as local and national food independence and sovereignty. Almost self-sufficient in cereals until the beginning of the 20th century, Tunisia now imports more than half of its food needs as dependency increases from one tear to the next. The people want food dignity was one of the slogans of the Tunisian upraise in 2010. 

About the Director
PhD in geography, Doctorate Honoris Causa from Gent/Gand university, Belgium, researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Paris 8 in Saint Denis, France, Habib Ayeb is a specialist in social geography. His research is mainly focused on Tunisia and the whole of North Africa areas and cover issues related to food sovereignty, environment, peasant issues, climate change, marginality and poverty, social change, and the role of the environment in the development of food security. His latest major publication is the book with Professor Ray Bush of the University of Leeds (UK): Habib Ayeb & Ray Bush (2019) Food Insecurity and Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. Agrarian Questions in Egypt and Tunisia. Anthem Press, London. He is also a committed documentary filmmaker. Among his films: Om-Layoun (2021 - on water issues), Fellahin (2014 - on small farmers' resistance), Gabes Labess (2014 - on the environment) and Green Mirages (2012 - on development models and impoverishment). Ayeb is also founder member (2017) of the Observatory of Food Sovereignty and Environment (OSAE) in Tunis.

Contact
habib.ayeb1@gmail.com