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Samara Cuisine is dedicated to sharing the delights of Lebanon.
The Lebanese have always expressed their identity through the intertwining
of religion, food, music and dance. Lebanese culture and traditions are
honoured at haflis (parties), mahrajans (feasts), and by musicians playing
the traditional five-stringed instrument, the Oud. Religious events
--whether big Islamic feasts, like Eid Al Adha or Christian festivals such
as Easter Sunday or the feast day of Saint Maron -- each have their own
special food to celebrate the day.
An ubiquitous item on Lebanese menus is the famous mezze, a fabulous spread
of all kinds of Lebanese specialities. These dishes, offered mostly cold or
at room temperature, are delightful on a warm summer's day.
There's tabbouleh, made with cracked wheat (bulgur), mint, fresh herbs,
onions, tomatoes, lemon juice and olive oil -see our recipe page for
details. Also hommous, and baba ghanouj- eggplant puree with the smoky
taste, mixed with tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Tahini is a
delicious sesame seed paste, and baba ghanouj is a firm favourite in
restaurants.
There are vegetables stuffed with meat, pine nuts, or almonds; stuffed grape
leaves; fattoush, a salad made with Lebanese pitta bread, lettuce, cucumber,
green pepper and tomatoes, to which we add our own special dressing. There
are marinated chicken kebabs, kofta and Lebanese pastries filled with
spinach.
Another favourite is raw kibbeh, made with extra-fine lean beef or lamb, to
which are added cumin, onion, mint and olive oil. This dish needs to be
specially ordered.
A mezze is a great way to enjoy all the different tastes of Lebanon. The
idea of mezze comes from a very Mediterranean ideal of sharing food and
conversation with others.
Desserts are delicious too. Baklava is a tiny diamond-shaped morsel of
pastry made with honey and ground walnuts. There are also butter biscuits
(mamool), made with pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts, dates or almonds.
The Lebanese like to drink mint tea and home-made lemonade and black coffee.
Arak, an alcohol made with grapes flavoured with anise, is strong and
milky. Lebanon also produces the best wine in the Arabic region -- try
Chateau Musar or Wardi.
And if you would like to experience another timeless pleasure of Lebanese
life try the narguileh - or Hubbly-Bubbly - a water pipe full of aromatic
fruit-spiced smoke.
If you would like more information about Lebanon and the Lebanese please visit the BBC website.
The following, written by Suzanne Azar (1st January 2006 - Seasonal Cards), provides an insight into how the Lebanese celebrate a Festive season be it Christmas, Eid Adha or New Year or Easter.
Seasonal cards are a relative newcomer to the Lebanese culture scene... and they are not really accepted as a polite way of wishing someone a Merry Christmas (Eid Majeed), Blessed Eid (Eid Mubarak), etc unless it is in a professional capacity or you live abroad and are sending wishes.
The traditional way the Lebanese wish each other well is by visiting. If a visit is not possible, then a phone call is acceptable as a substitute but only if accompanied by a very good excuse and an abject protracted apology.
Beginning in December for six weeks until Epiphany on January 6th, the Christmas visiting season is in full swing. The younger you are, the more people you have to visit as the elders of the family generally only visit each other.
To visit properly, you have to get dressed up, put the children in their Sunday best, admonish them with broken bones if they misbehave or have second helpings and generally traumatise them for life.
You never go to a visit without carrying a gift. This can be anything for the home but is most often something homemade or grown in your garden or cooked in your kitchen. Those are the most valued gifts as they show you care, you planned and you took time over your offering. Gifts we received this year included home-pickled chilli and thyme- flavoured olives, home-grown beetroot, homep-ressed raw (unpasteurised) goat cheese, goat yoghourt, a marble cake, a kings and queens cake (with little rings in it for the kids - a French tradition), a gallon of palate-evaporating home-distilled arak, homemade mulberry cordial, stunning sweets made from BouSfeir orange rind and a selection of store-bought yummies...
When you arrive at the home of your intended visitee, you all kiss three times on the cheeks and then you are escorted "en masse" to the formal lounge of the home. All homes have a winter sitting room usually. This is the warm cosy den of the home - often with a wood burning or diesel stove.
Not all homes have central heating in Lebanon, especially not the old homes in the villages. These stoves are dismantled in spring and the room becomes the TV room in summer. The formal lounge of a home is rarely used and normally resides in dust covers which only come off for special occasions.
The furniture is usually fancy and excruciatingly uncomfortable.
The words spoken are like an elaborate dance around complicated blessings and ancient appellations involving God and ancestors, children and further progeny. Interruptions in this context are seen as a compliment and, to the barely comprehending outsider, the words seem to flow and clamber over each other in their desperate efforts to be the most powerful incantation.
The first things said are usually Christmas-related and go something like this:
(3 is the guttural 3ain, a throat consonant, 7 is the pure h from the throat, kh is the throat clearing sound and ' is the glottal stop like the first sound in "ahh" - this is part of our internet alphabet, by the way)
Visitor: InshaAllah Yin3ad 3alaeykon - may this moment (of joy) return to visit you and yours
Visitee: 3alaynah w3aleykon (us and ours and you and yours)
Visitor: Khalleelna yekon w khalle hal dar - God keep you for us and keep this home safe
Visitee: Khalleelkon hal 3ayleh w hal 'mar - God keep this family of yours safe and protect these moons (beautiful children)
Visitor: Khallekon fo' rasna 7erseenna - God keep you above our heads, protecting us..
This can go on for several minutes and is truly a miracle to behold with much chest touching and head inclining.
When you offer your gifts, you will say something to the effect of: "please accept this gift which is not of a standard to reflect your worth to us"..
The response is usually "3aybeshshoom 3al 3azeb" which means: shame on you for troubling yourself.
In between the wishes for happy marriages, healthy children, long lives, God's benevolence and other good things, the food parade begins. In the past, cigarettes were offered on a tray but this tradition has become less acceptable thanks to people like me (diaspora emigrants) who are horrified by it. First comes the homemade flavoured liqueur in tiny glasses on a silver tray with a fancy bowl full of sugared almonds. Then will come a wide assortment of cakes, fruit, sweets, chocolates, you name it - all in procession. At the end comes coffee in gorgeous tiny cups. It is forbidden to turn anything down unless it is a second helping. Stuff goes into pockets and handbags but it is taken. The art of saying no to food is not one I have mastered so I can't be of any help in this regard...
The children sit there in Victorian silence dangling their feet and crossing their eyes at each other speaking only when spoken to and looking up into fiercely threatening maternal eyes when they dare.
The visit usually ends with the wife making a tiny gesture to the husband (if they are husband's relatives) or husband making a grand gesture to all and sundry (if wife's relatives). More kisses and fancy words all round until the children explode back out of the front door and race to the car...And that's it, one duty out of many accomplished for the holiday season. Normality when it returns seems like a holiday after all this hard work offering and receiving hospitality...
Please call us on 07740 869 849 or email us for further details.
Coffee
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Hubbly Bubbly
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Fruit
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Wine
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