On the sun-drenched streets of Tunis, a new kind of streetwear is turning heads. Sizzling hot peppers, grilled fish, and harissa cans are being reimagined as high-style prints. Emblazoned on socks, t-shirts, and swimming trunks, these edible icons point towards a wider shift in the fashion world. Across the region, designers are incorporating Lebanese fenjen coffee cups, North-African tea rituals, and Palestinian Jaffa oranges in their clothing pieces. It seems that the industry is embracing a bold new direction—one uses the region’s rich culinary heritage to champion identity, memory, and resistance.
MY-OYA is one of the brands leading the charge in Tunisia. The brand specialises in swimwear adorned with iconic Tunisian gastronomy - think prints featuring brik, grilled fish, and harissa cans. Their newest collection, “À Table, À La Plage”, is a love letter to seaside snacking. Another brand beloved for their incorporation of food into prints is Palestinian UAE-based label Reemami, where founder and designer Reema Al-Banna has managed to create colourful and playful prints that include olive oil tins, Yaffa oranges and even maqloubah pots, a beloved Palestinian dish.
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“We wanted to evoke the classic aspects of Tunisian beach life - the candy vendors, the oily beach fries, and the fig sellers calling ‘Haw l’hendi!’” founder Oumayma Kéfi explains. The pieces are not just playful, but also nostalgic. “They celebrate our culinary heritage while simultaneously bringing back precious memories of summers gone by,” Kéfi says proudly.
Similarly, the Tunisian brand Couscous Connection sells t-shirts celebrating North African tea rituals, while Banjer Lab specialises in socks and jackets embellished with harissa cans, Tunisian Baklouti peppers and traditional bread. The brand has also incorporated culinary focussed collectible packaging, with their socks sold in purpose made harissa style tins.
“I’ve always been inspired by daily life,” Sellmy says. “And in Tunisia, food isn’t just something we eat, it’s how we connect, how we celebrate, and how we remember.”
“People instantly responded to our food focussed motifs,” Sellmy says, recalling how customers said the pieces made them feel proud to be Tunisian. “It became more than fashion, but also a way of telling stories and preserving culture.”
In Lebanon, culinary couture is also on the rise. Tala Barbotin Khalidy’s namesake brand is well-known for preserving local culture through contemporary ready-to-wear collections; the designer works with Lebanese and Syrian artisans to revitalise endangered craft practises, including traditional crochet techniques and the production of Damascene silk. As part of their mission to champion regional identity, they occasionally incorporate aspects of traditional food in their design.
One of the pieces they offer is a hand-embroidered t-shirt featuring a fenjen, a traditional Lebanese coffee cup. “The fenjen has become a symbol for Lebanese hospitality and connection,” Tala tells me. “Through these t-shirts, we were able to celebrate aspects of our Middle Eastern culture.”
Tala Barbotin Khalidy recently released a dreamy, detail-rich “Booza” collection inspired by Lebanese ice cream. A white t-shirt hand-embroidered with an ice cream cone stands at the centre of the collection, though the "Booza” theme extends to tactile choices and colour palettes—think creamy ashta whites, soft pistachio greens, and fragrant rose hues translated onto crochet and silks.
For Khalidy, these fashion pieces help champion a shared regional identity. “When people see these pieces, they recall specific memories - a sobhiyye with friends, stacking rose and orange blossom ice cream on a hot day,” Khalidy elaborates. “The pieces help us capture the sweetness of these collective regional experiences while also claiming them as our own. At a time when Levantine culinary heritage is constantly being appropriated, it seems only right to wear it proudly across our bodies.”
The symbolism of food in fashion takes on even deeper significance in Palestine, where everyday ingredients have become powerful emblems of identity and resistance. One such icon is the Palestinian watermelon — its red flesh, green rind, black seeds, and white accents mirroring the colours of the Palestinian flag. Once used as a quiet form of protest during times when public display of the flag was banned, the watermelon has since evolved into a potent cultural and political symbol. As well as holding significant political weight, the watermelon also plays a role in Palestinian daily life and cuisine, with the fruit typically enjoyed in summer gatherings and sold by roadside vendors.
Brands like Native Threads are keeping that symbolism alive. The label offers t-shirts emblazoned with Palestinian watermelons and Jaffa oranges, blending fashion with activism. For every order placed, the team donates a meal to Palestine through Islamic Relief’s Hot Meals in Gaza program. They also run high-impact fundraising campaigns where 100% of profits go to urgent humanitarian needs, supporting causes in Palestine, Sudan, Lebanon, and beyond. Lamsa, an artisanal crochet enterprise based in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, also sells handmade watermelon charms in collaboration with For Your Viewing Pleasure, a social justice apparel brand. The collaboration raises funds for Heal Palestine, a leading NGO providing critical support for children with severe injuries and amputations who cannot receive adequate treatment in Gaza.
As the region’s designers continue to honour culinary culture through fashion, pieces like these serve as powerful reminders that food is never just food. It is memory, it is meaning—and in many cases, it is resistance stitched into every thread.
