Saturday, April 15, 2006

From Lebanon 9

Bonjus

Also known as Banjees, Banjous, Bonjiseye, among other similar variations.

A Bonjus is a pyramid shaped juice box with a straw hole. A Bonjus is chugged as fast as possible to get to the real reason people buy Bonjus; which is to inflate the box and pop it. So simple yet so much fun, especially for schoolboys trying to win over cute girls' hearts by making them skip a few beats.

While the Bonjus producing company insists on labeling different boxes with different flavours, Ananas and Orange Bonjus are exactly the same thing, a cheap sugary liquid. A cheap sugary liquid that along with cheap newspaper wrapped mana'eesh made me what I am today, a "young" and "healthy" man that cries of pain on a simple hiking trip.

Polluting the body is not the only thing Bonjus does well. Bonjus drinkers are also dirty bastards, as they are the top litterers in Lebanon. You will find popped Bonjus boxes all over the country; in the streets, at historic sites, and even in churches and mosques.

Bonjus. A staple of the Lebanese diet that you will never find at Fakhreddine in London.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fakhreddine? Please! It's all about getting down with the shabab in Edgware Road! Nothing like the rudeness of the staff at al-Dar, Ranoush, Maroush etc..

Eve said...

hahaha! so true! I'm marking this banjeeseh post as one of my favorites.

JoseyWales said...

the real reason people buy Bonjus

ROFLMAO. Sure as there is a hell, it can't be the taste.

Ecce Libanus said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ecce Libanus said...

Jamal, are you old enough to remember the corny Bonjus TV commercials of my generation??

One that particularly sticks out has this teenager in a two-piece bathing suit, in the sweltering mediterranean summer heat, strutting towards a swimming pool to the rythm of "bon bo-bon bo-bon bonjus bonjus", wantonly jiggling her assets for all to see, before making a big splash.
Yeah, that really made me thirst for a Bonjus!
btw, this boobage parade was long before Lebanon acceded to the latter-day honor of the plastic-surgery capital of the eastern mediterranean.

Zanzounito said...

we have bonjus in texas, it's crazy

Hilal CHOUMAN said...

bonjus w ras el3abed: fakhr essena3a ellebneiniyyeh!! :D
na2es ba3ed batata "sanekis je7a", dakhlak ba3don 3am ya3m=imlo minna??

Laila K said...

i have to admit, there's a small place that sells bonjus near my apartment building in montreal, and every time i'm there and i spot a bonjuseyeh i cant help but buy one! I love it! (I only pop the pyramid when I'm with someone so it doesnt look like i have psychological issues to the non-lebanese passer-by's)

AbdulKarim said...

Actually Jamal, I found a Lebanese supermaket that sells Bonjus here in London just across Rannoush in Edgware Road. The supermarket's name is Green Valley.

BTW, I would really like to meet Lebanese bloggers here in London.Are there any?

Zanzounito said...

hahahahahah...that's hilarious! jamal is trying to be poetic and the bonjous is everywhere

Jamal said...

ecce-i might be old enough but where i lived i was only able to get, El Telfision El arabi el Souri, and the 24 hour 700 club and WWF channel (Middle East TV whatever happened to that??) oh yeah the 700 local stations that popped up later that used to just air random feeds off satellites mostly porn.


I'm not surprised Bonjus have made it far, after i read that the Lebanese community in West africa imports Big Macs from Beirut everything is possible.

linalone said...

"sanekis je7a", it's the first time i heard about it.Bas i'm very familiar with bonjus, pampa, rass el 3abed. Kamen ken fi sucette lawna rose b2alba shewinggum, nesye shou esma, the pediatrist used to give it to me whenever my parents took me to his clinic.
El television el 3arabe el soure, eh during the first 15 years of my life, i've only known this channel, we used to call it, ize3it ghassb el 3annak.
You haven't mentionned Barradat Al Hafez!

Amal Ziad Kaawash أمل زياد كعوش said...

Lebanon Evolves;
from Bonjus to X-tra!

Great name for a documentary .. alaysa kathalik ?