December 4, 2003

Lebanon is one of the smallest and most fascinating countries of the world. Measuring only 130 miles (210 kms) in length and 46 miles (75 kms) in width, it was, until 1942, a province of Syria.

Lebanon and Syria, neighbours on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, have very similar cuisines. The Lebanese are a migratory people; these days, largely because of the Lebanese diaspora, Lebanese food is more famous in the West.

Although both countries enjoy a favourable temperate climate, there are big geographical differences between them. Lebanon is small and mountainous with a long coastline while Syria has a relatively short coastline, but is vast, with huge areas of desert land.

Their cuisines have evolved through the culinary influences of successive invasions — the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders, the Ottomans, and finally the French. As Lebanon became a French Protectorate early in the twentieth century, the influence of France on the food of Lebanon is considerable; Syrian food remains highly seasoned.

The basic ingredients are the same in both Lebanese and Syrian cuisines: fresh herbs, vegetables and fruit, dried pulses, burghul (cracked wheat), rice, nuts, olives, yoghurt, tahini (sesame paste), spices, fish (often with tarator [walnut] sauce), and meat in the form of lamb or chicken (boiled, grilled, or stewed), plus rose and orange blossom waters.

Kibbeh is the most famous of the dishes which both Lebanon and Syria jointly prize. The most characteristic dish of the eastern Arab world, kibbeh is a versatile paste of very finely minced lamb with burghul, onion, and basil or mint. This mixture is traditionally pounded in a large mortar (jurn) carved into a block of stone several feet high with a correspondingly large pestle (mudaqqa) held vertically in both hands. Today a fine bladed electric mincer or food processor is used. The aim is to make a perfectly smooth mixture in which none of the ingredients may be detected.

Kibbeh is often made into aqras kibbeh, thick patties or torpedo shaped balls. These are always given a filling of meat and onions flavoured with nuts and raisins. The aqras may be deep fried (maqliyya) or grilled (mashqiyya); in kibbeh labaniyya the aqras kibbeh are cooked in yoghurt sauce. Especially notable are the geometrical designs incised on the kibbeh bil-saniyeh, a Lebanese kibbeh speciality baked in a round shallow pan; the surface may be divided into quarters, each displaying a different pattern.

Salads are an important part of the Lebanese menu and no meal is complete without a platter of crisp salad vegetables or a tossed salad. The king of Lebanese salads is the famous tabbouleh, made with burghul, chopped tomato, parsley, mint, and olive oil. The traditional dressing is a simple combination of lemon juice and olive oil, with garlic, salt and black pepper. Another very popular salad is fattoush, which includes chickweed (baquli), parsley, mint, tomatoes, spring onions, cucumber and toasted cubes of bread, all seasoned with sumac, salt and olive oil.

The custom of serving an assortment of hors d’oeuvres called mezze is a delightful feature of Middle Eastern life. These appetizers are a triumph of gastronomy; because they are meant to whet the appetite, they are usually strongly flavoured and aromatic, either highly spiced, garlicky or sharp with lemon.

These Lebanese and Syrian finger food appetizers are always accompanied by hummus bi tahina, a chickpea and sesame dip. Nothing in the Arab world, except perhaps kebab, is as well known abroad as hummus and tabbouleh which have conquered much of the world in recent decades — almost as thoroughly as pizza made its conquest earlier in the 20th century.

Stuffed vegetables are very popular throughout the Middle East and each country has developed its own variation. They are known as dolma in Turkey, domathes in Greece, dolmeh in Iran and mahshi in the Arab lands. In Lebanon and Syria vegetables such as zucchini, cabbage, grape leaves are stuffed with chopped nuts, pine nuts and rice. Mahshi Filfil or stuffed peppers are a Lebanese culinary feature; Mahshi Cousa Bil Laban, stuffed courgettes with yoghurt is a Syrian and Lebanese speciality. The hot yoghurt sauce gives it a delicious tart flavour.

Ground chickpeas are the foundation of falafel or ta’Amia, a popular fast food sold at sidewalk stands; inhabitants of these eastern Mediterranean countries love falafel in pita bread as much as Americans love hamburgers on buns. Tahini, a thick paste of ground raw white sesame seeds, is a popular Lebanese-Syrian condiment.

Also popular all over the Arab world is moutabel, an aubergine puree often called baba ghanoush. Savoury pastries are a popular feature of Lebanese-Syrian cuisine. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and the fillings are almost limitless.

Both countries have a strong tradition of preserving seasonal fruits and vegetables. Meat — mutton or lamb — too is cut into small pieces and preserved in the form of a confit called Qawarma. Cracked wheat or burghul is fermented in yoghurt then dried and ground by hand to produce kishk. A national institution, kishk is used with qawarma to make a thick soup, or is mixed with tomato paste and onions to make a filling for savoury pastries or a topping for bread.

Although most of the mainstream dishes have the same names, their preparation may be distinctly different from one country to another. The Lebanese, unlike the Syrians, use fat sparingly. They have a greater variety of vegetarian dishes. They also use a great deal of artistry in garnishing dishes.

Lebanese food is universally accepted to be more refined, more Frenchified and more varied. While conceding that Syria displays an emphatic passion for hot pepper, it should not be thought that Syrian food is inferior. On the contrary Aleppo is considered the Near Eastern capital of haute cuisine.

One of the categories where the Syrians surpass the Lebanese is in their sweets. These are significantly superior and oddly, much lighter. Their baklavas are renowned throughout the Middle East. Filled with a mixture of nuts (pine nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios can all be used) sugar, and rose or orange blossom water, baked, and then coated with sugar syrup, their pastries — qata’if, knafeh, and borma — are all mouth watering. Candied green walnuts and fruits as well as qamar el deen (dried sheets of apricot puree) are other Syrian specialities.

The Lebanese on the other hand can boast of hindbeh bil -zeyt, burghul bi feeneh (a kind of risotto) and, of course, their national dish — the quintessentially Lebanese kibbeh al-saniyeh.

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