Lebanese food has spread throughout the world, and especially in the Middle East and the Mediterranean with the help of Phoenician sailors and merchants. A meal is an important ritual and symbol of peace in the Lebanese lifestyle. In Lebanon, sharing “bread and salt” together means a true act of friendship and peace. From this, rituals, traditions, and a Lebanese hospitality tradition have arisen: the table is immediately set aside and guests must stay and eat.
Lebanese food is quick and easy to cook. You use a lot and variety of nature’s raw materials, according to season. Meat and vegetables are often used as a base. Olive oil, garlic, and lemon form a sacred compound and occur in all meals in one way or another.
As an appetizer, you come up with meza, which can mean more than 20 small dishes with beans, vegetables, meat, fish and more. Everything is garnished and laid out beautifully, as food is also eye-pleasing in Lebanon. It is enough to take a small taste of each dish because many main dishes can be served after that. For dessert, fruits, sweets and always coffee are enjoyed.
A Lebanese meal includes bread or pita bread on which you put what you happen to find. Sometimes you roll the bread into a long, full, delicate roll and eat as a snack.
Meals can often stretch out in time for food is part of the joys of life for Lebanese. These include lengthy and factual discussions, but also jokes and often speeches, serious or funny.
Meal Drinks in Lebanese food culture
The coffee is very important in Lebanon. Lebanese coffee is plentiful and strong. Sometimes it can be flavored with an ounce of cardamom. It is served and drank many times a day, at home or in cafes. When a guest comes in, the coffee pan is always hot. The guest is only asked if there should be sugar in the coffee or not? Guests must not be in a hurry, one must always drink a cup of coffee. The coffee is poured directly from the pan into a small coffee mug in front of the guest’s eyes.
They rarely serve alcohol without food in Lebanon. With the food, it is served, and with meza always drinks Arak, the Lebanese national drink. It is a strong anise liqueur whose color changes to white if mixed with water. Therefore, it is also called lion milk.
Lebanon is a well-known wine region. In Beka Valley you can make the world’s oldest and best wine. Phoenician traders brought the wine into the world in their day. It was also their merit that the Athenians, Carthaginians, and Romans through the ages have made Lebanese wine a drink.
The special thing about the Lebanese wine depends on the nature and the location of the valley: cold and snowy winter, hot and dry summer, cool nights and humid mornings and a brick red soil. These factors create the best conceivable conditions for producing delicious wine.