**photo above: Great Grandparents Farah, Grandmother Jeanette as a young girl, her brother Fred (1931)
In our last visit to Minnesota, I was able to reconnect with my family. It FELT SO GOOD!! I’ve mentioned a few times now on the blog and my IG account how much I love a good Lebanese feast. I’m very proud of my Lebanese heritage as it’s a very large part of my story, who I am. Quite simply put, Lebanese food is my absolute favorite. The dishes are full of warm lamb and vegetables, but more importantly they serve as a way for my family to preserve culture across generations. It’s almost impossible to make these recipes with my mother without conjuring up a story of a long lost relative or uncle who ate too much. The food, varied in texture and flavor, mirrors the genetic makeup of my ancestors…
The feast itself is as much about the recipes and foods as it is about the family and people who are part of my story. My mother would describe our family lineage as those who “came from a long line of long lines” which is the polite way to describe a lot of inbreeding over the course of several generations in Lebanon. We are part of the Ghassanid tribe, the royal line of the original Christian Kings. Our tribe is fully recognized through the United Nations as the Royal House of Ghassan under economic and social counsel. My Lebanese great grandparents immigrated from Furzal and Zuhle, Lebanon which are both mountain and farming towns respectively. It is through these recipes from these regions that I first learned how to cook. I learned that veggies can be grown in your own garden and that meat was primarily eaten in the winter. I learned that our cultural identity was celebrated through food, cooking & eating. Cooking slow and low was the way to go…unless you have a pressure cooker.
Ingredients & flavors usually found in Lebanese cooking:
- Onion
- pine nuts
- pomegranate
- cinnamon
- cardamom
- pistachio
- mint
- lamb
- tomato
- eggplant
- zucchini squash
- olive oil
- lentils
- chickpeas
In most of my recipes (both Lebanese & American cooking) you will find at least 1 of these ingredients, if not several. I would encourage anyone who enjoys experimenting with cooking to try these ingredients throughout their recipes. Over the coming weeks and months, I will share a series of Lebanese recipes that are very close to my heart. My hope in sharing these with others would be to inspire you to try new flavors and to connect with those foods closest to your personal story. Bon Appetit!
