Ubiquity of Lebanese cuisine

[Stone]

Have you looked at a map of the Mediterannean recently? I don't see why people would need Egypt to get anywhere other then the Saudi Arabian peninsula or central Africa.

In the olden days, Cairo and the Nile Delta was a major hub of traffic -- coming across northern Africa which was heavily populated even before the many Roman outposts were established (even the early boats could not venture far into the Med. had to stay close to shore) and, of course, the huge amount of trade flowing up the Nile. Egypt has also been a major cultural center -- from the times of the Pharoh, through the Greeks and Romans, dwindling of course with Ottoman rule, but picking up again when the French then the British "administered" the region. Egypt itself was a destination, not merely a way station. Of course, Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad were as well.

The fact that it attracts more tourists today is not particularly relevant to the historical development of cuisine.

[Explorer]

Frankly, I think the last few posts have gone off-topic. I didn't start the post, so it's not up to me to be judgemental, but really- am not sure if discussing geo-political history is totally related to the original observation that gallois made at the beginning.

[Rifqa]

Since when has Beirut been the dominant cultural centre for the region? In the Levant, Damascus was always a more important centre culturally and politically. In the eastern Mediterranean, Beirut was of little significance beside great cities like Alexandria, Cairo etc. Even in Lebanon, the northern port of Tripoli has traditionally been just as important as Beirut. Beirut did not attain any particular significance until after the First World War. Beirut in the 1950s and 1960s was an important and lively cultural centre, and its re-development since the civil war has been impressive. This has no doubt been important in the spread of Lebanese restaurants.

The Suez Canal did not only involve passing maritime traffic. From the late 1860s, it hosted a large expatriate community employed in the administration and running of the operation. In the period before the First World War, most of the shipping passing through the Canal stopped at one of the major Egyptian ports (Alexandria, Port Said and Port Suez). Passengers on the ships would usually have the opportunity to go into Cairo while the ships were being re-provisioned and re-fuelled. A vast number of people from every part of the world, therefore, would have needed something to eat in all of these cities.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Gee did they change the map of the world? Because the one I have here shows the entire population of Europe residing north of the Mediteranean without the need to pass through Egypt to enter the sub region of Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Iran. The cities on route (at least according to my Atlas) would be Allepo, Beirut, Bagdhad, Jersusalem, Isfahan, Tehran. You can also reach the entire Saudi Arabian peninsula by foot using those routes. The only reason one would need to go to Egypt, is if you wanted to go to Africa. Or if you wanted to travel by boat though the canal. So I don't see what Egypt has to do with it? It is on the route to India and the far east, not to the sub-region. Anyway, trying to get back to the original point as to why the dominant food of the region appears to be Lebanese, since Beirut is also a port town, and it is likely that is was a shipping center for the sub region (meaning goods would move from say Damascus to Beirut for shipping) that would argue for it having more diversity then other cities in the region.

Edited March 2, 2003 by Steve Plotnicki (log)

[alacarte]

I have nothing to add on why Lebanese cuisine has become ubiquitous -- but I'm glad that it is, and that it's become available outside of the middle east.

I've never been to Lebanon, but had the pleasure of trying Lebanese food for the first time during a recent trip to the UK. I had a wonderful white fish served in a tahini-like sauce with diced red peppers and hot green peppers, like jalapenos. Never had anything like that before, and truly enjoyed it. What would that sauce be called?

[Explorer]

It sounds like a variation on the basic "taratoor" sauce which is typical for grilled or oven baked seafood dishes.

[caroline]

Well to make a belated entry to an old discussion, I'd plump for the out-migration and entrepreneurial theory.

In Argentina and Brazil middle eastern restaurants are Lebanese. Habib's, Brazil's massively successful Lebanese fast food chain, offers tiny esfijas (silver dollar sized pizzas), stuffed veg, and baklava-type things with hamburgers and pizzas, a Kit Habib's based on you-know-what, with a logo of a winking middle-easterner plus fez. Habib's is now in prime locations in Mexico City and has plans to open in a neighborhood near you (if you happen to be in the US).

Until Habib'scomes to provincial Mexico, Wal-Mart offers pita (tortillas arabe), drained yoghurt (yocoque seco), and hummus. Every market has a stand selling tacos al pastor aka tacos arabe (gyros plus local touches such as pineapple).

Seem odd? Well ponder Carlos Slim, reported as the richest man in Mexico, and Lebanese. And then there's always Salma Hayek . . .

So my collection of Lebanese-mexican cookbooks is not perhaps so odd,

Rachel

[FoodMan]

What a great thread. How did I miss this? I really have nothing much to add to what Steve P. and Explorer as well as others already mentioned concerning why this great cuisine is so popular. Speaking as a Lebanese American who was born and raised in Beirut and North Lebanon, I am tempted to say that Lebanese is simply the best cuisine the whole region has to offer but that would be too ethnocentric. Certainly the climate, location, entrepreneurial spirit, as well as openness of Lebanon to the outside world are the main factors. Lebanon has absolutely no desert compared to other countries in the region and that will definitely be a great help in the variety of cuisine, almost anything will grow there, from Avocadoes to apples to corn and wheat. Another reason for the wide spread of Lebanese cuisine is probably the amount of travel that the Lebanese do. Ever since I was in elementary school I learned that the Lebanese are known as travelers and merchants, and nowadays there are much more Lebanese people or of Lebanese origin living abroad than in Lebanon, and the first thing they take with them is their cuisine. Probably the civil war also had the effect mentioned earlier in that it drove even more Lebanese to look for work and safety elsewhere.

On Sept 26, 2003 I will be giving my “Introduction To Lebanese Cuisine” class as part of the eGCI (e-gullet culinary institute). Hope to see you all there asking questions.

I had a wonderful white fish served in a tahini-like sauce with diced red peppers and hot green peppers, like jalapenos. Never had anything like that before, and truly enjoyed it. What would that sauce be called?

This was more than likely "Samke Harra (Spicy Fish)" which is a fish baked in Tahini sauce with walnuts, cilantro and chillies and is one of the dishes I am featuring in my class.

FM