I grew up with a half Lebanese mom and my grandfather only living a few hours away. I grew up with interesting foods often very different from European foods or what people would call normal culture. Lebanon was often controlled by other countries because they were a small place compared to many others. This formed their cuisine throughout their history. It started in the 1500s when ottoman turks had been in control of Lebanon, they introduced lots of staple ingredients in the Lebanese cuisine nowadays. Such as olive oil, laban and lots of nuts. The main focus in Lebanese food is spices and herbs. I grew up with a pizza-like food called manaqish, it had a dough with zaatar. This is a highly popular breakfast item that is served with laban, vegetables, and a cheese called halloumi. They focus on herbs and spices because only 30% or less of Lebanon is sustainable for crops. France also influenced Lebanese culture. They introduced more dessert-like foods such as flan and custards. Religion has a large part of their food culture as well there are two main religions in Lebanon these affect the food. The two main religions are christianity and islam. if you are muslim they don't eat pork so it is very rare to find a dish with pork in Lebanese culture because it is against the religion. These religions also dictate the holidays you celebrate. The islam culture is very food driven they fast for 24 hours and then have a food celebration the next day. They have a ceremony where a sheep is killed and most families donate their portion to the poor. In christianity they can eat pork but it is not a staple food in Lebanon. Christianity in Lebanon is different than it is here during Easter because they don't eat turkey or ham for dinner on Easter or do egg hunting. They eat lamb and date filled cake. And play a game called biis biis which is a game that has a hard boiled egg and they test whose is strongest. Also in most wealthier middle easter families houses they have a room reserved for high officials in Lebanese government that is solely reserved for them. They keep it spotless and their couches are wrapped in a plastic covering. This room is not touched or used in everyday life. It is cleaned everyday. My grandparents have a room like this and they live in Edmonton so it is very rare that they have anyone of that importance visiting their house but they still have the room because it is very important to have a room for special dining in their culture. Their culture is very different from ours and it is nice to be able to see two very different cultures in contrast. People often don't see the differences between middle eastern cuisines because they are often lumped together but when researched there are the same foods but they can be drastically different whether it is the way it is made or if it is different spices added. This can be controversial because it does add to cultural appropriation. This doesn't give credit to each country because they are often lumped into one. This is a problem because even in Lebanon I know that if you go south it can be drastically different than northern Lebanon. So when people give credit to middle eastern foods they often don't know where in the middle east and the difference between each place. Kibbeh nayyeh is also a popular food item. It is raw beef with lots of spices. Eating raw meat is a big part of their culture as well. I remember eating raw steak with hummus growing up and I remember telling people and they were always so concerned about it because they thought I would get sick. I never understood why people thought I would because it was a regular occurrence and it was just part of their culture. This video explains how food in Lebanon plays a huge role in their society. The video above explains more about how Lebanese food should be eaten. It also mentions more popular food in Lebanon.
References http://www.foodbycountry.com/Kazakhstan-to-South-Africa/Lebanon.html https://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/traditional-lebanese-tabbouleh-salad/
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