About Mediterranean Bread Company

In 1975, my parents were visiting family in Birmingham while on their honeymoon. Around that same time, my father’s first cousin and best friend, George Aboujaoude, known to everyone as “JouJou,” also arrived in Birmingham.

Shortly after, the civil war began, causing the Beirut airport to close indefinitely.

What was meant to be a visit became the beginning of an entirely new life. Far from home and facing an uncertain future, they did what so many people displaced by conflict have had to do: they gathered their courage, leaned on one another, and began again.

JouJou had always been remarkably resourceful. His travels had taken him across Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, and along the way he learned many trades, from hairdressing and carpentry to accounting. Whatever life placed before him, he found a way to meet it.

As he searched for his next opportunity in Birmingham, JouJou noticed something important was missing: the fresh, authentic pita bread that had always been a staple of life back home. To others, it may have seemed like a simple absence. To JouJou, it was a piece of home waiting to be restored.

So he taught himself to bake.

He studied time-honored Lebanese recipes and traditional methods passed down through generations. He researched equipment, imported state-of-the-art machinery from Lebanon, and devoted himself completely to mastering the process.

I was a small child then, but I still remember watching him work. He spent countless sleepless nights testing batch after batch. At times, he slept in the bakery without air conditioning, a shower, a television, or any of the comforts most of us take for granted. There were disagreements, especially between two first cousins who were also best friends, but beneath them was a shared determination to build something worthwhile.

Eventually, that persistence produced the bread they remembered: soft, fresh, and authentic, the taste of home made here in Birmingham.