BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 90
FOOD & DRINK
LEVANTINE
DELIGHTS
By Michael Karam
Michael Karam, who began
his career as a journalist in
Beirut, is an award-winning
authority on the food and
drink of Lebanon. His books
include Wines of Lebanon,
Arak and Mezze: The Taste
of Lebanon, and Tears of
Bacchus: A History of Wine
in the Arab World. Here, he
offers a tantalising glimpse
into Levantine cuisine.
I
t is eight o’clock on a November
morning in Mount Lebanon.
A crisp chill rushes into the
butcher’s shop whenever a
customer opens the door. The butcher,
who has been at work since 5am, is
taking a break at his counter, 昀椀nishing
a breakfast of kibbeh nayeh, raw
puréed mincemeat, blended with
herbs, covered with olive oil and
garnished with fresh mint leaves. He
makes a scoop with the pitta bread and
rounds up the last bit of meat, washing
it down with a glass of a pungent
white liquid. He wipes his hands on
his apron and resumes work.
The white liquid is arak, the anisebased eau de vie that is Lebanon’s
national drink. To understand
Lebanese food, you must 昀椀rst
understand arak.
A Lebanese breakfast: labneh, olives, and
manakeesh with cheese and zaatar
is very good; made from a grape
basis and 昀氀avoured with aniseed, it is
vaguely reminiscent of Pernod, and
has, further, the advantage of being
something of a speci昀椀c against the
intestinal troubles which so commonly
beset the traveller in the Middle East.”
Arak (or araq) is Arabic for sweat,
literally that which is “sweated” from
the alembic during the distillation
process. The people of the mountains
and of the Bekaa Valley call haleeb il
assad, the lion’s milk. It can be drunk
at breakfast, lunch or dinner. My
grandfather shaved with a glass next
to him.
The Lion’s Milk
When travelling in the region at the
end of the Second World War, the
travel writer Robin Fedden wrote in
Lebanon and Syria: an Historical
Perspective, “arak, the local aperitif,
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ISSUE 24
But Arak’s primary, and greatest
role, is as a bonding agent, the social
glue that unites the family around the
dining table. Its trick is to cleanse the
palate after each of the wondrously
multi-昀氀avoured mezze dishes.
