libanese food

fab · libanese food

is it popular in your country ?

What is the most popular foreign food ?

Benjamin [inactive] · Re: libanese food

Joanne · Re: libanese food

Deborah

From San Francisco to the Mexican border, Mexican food is certainly one of the most popular. In fact, even back in the '50s, when I was a little kid and about all we had were Mexican, Chinese and Italian restaurants, I hardly even thought of Mexican food as foreign food. However, back then, the only Mexican food we knew was the lunchtime stuff -- enchiladas, tacos, etc., served as a dinner course with rice and beans. Now there are Mexican restaurants that served a greater variety of dishes.

Chinese food was and still is very popular, although, as Joanne pointed out, it has developed along its own path in the US, as it probably has in any other country where it's been around for a long time. I've noticed that San Francisco Chinese food tastes different from New York Chinese food or London Chinese Food (judging from when I was there in 1970).

My current favorite is Thai, with Cambodian and Vietnamese running a close second. Probably Indonesian would be also, but I'd have to leave the neighborhood to find it. Indian is also way up there. I still do enjoy Chinese food very much, but I'm so used to it that it's almost as un-foreign as Mexican food. I also love Italian cooking. French restaurants tend to be too expensive for me, and there are none in my neighborhood, but I loved the cooking when I was in France.

The little bit of Persian and Afghani cooking I've tasted were delicious, but I haven't eaten much of it because it's not geared toward non-carnivores.

As for Lebanese cooking, I love it. When I was bellydancing in Middle Eastern restaurants, I ate in those restaurants. But in those days, I was a vegetarian, so all I could order were the meza plates (with hummus, baba ghanouj and such). Now that I eat seafood, I should probably try the fish in one of those restaurants, but I'm too lazy to go to restaurants out of my neighborhood. I still get falafel, though, if I happen to be hungry when I pass a Middle Eastern take-out place.

However, my roommate is half Lebanese (or maybe Syrian, I'm not sure) and her sister is married to a Palestinian, so when I go to their holiday dinners, there are always a few Middle Eastern dishes. Recently her brother-in-law sent us a container of his homemade falafel mix, which we fried up. It was the tastiest falafel I've ever eaten. I had the same reaction to his hummus and his baklava.

I also like Ethiopian/Eritrean food, but, again, I'd have to go out of the neighborhood to find a restaurant.

Oh, and I like Japanese food in general, but I love sushi.

Shouga · Re: libanese food

Deborah

In my neighborhood in San Francisco, there are also a lot of Salvadoran restaurants, as well as some Nicaraguan and Honduran ones. I like them, but I prefer Mexican.

Joanne

greg in noord-frankrijk

Lebanese is very popular in Paris. I love Lebanese food. Particularly chawarma, taboulé, falafels & kaftas.

—> chawarma

—> taboulé

—> falafels

—> kaftas (keftas)

Deborah

fab

Deborah

Lazar

I think my favorite type of foreign food would be Indian - there's a Punjabi restaurant round here that I love to go to. I went to a Thai restaurant once, and I really liked that as well, but unfortunately they closed. I'd like to get to know Thai food better.

Deborah

Loic

I have had occasion to sample Lebanese deserts before and I must say that they didn't agree very well with my palate. They were too sweet and I had a sore throat the day after.

I'd like to point out that although Chinese food in america might have evolved in a slightly different path, the techniques and ingredients used would still be the same with any sort of chinese cooking found throughout the world. There is still rice, isn't it? There are also noodles, aren't there? There is also a spot of dog meat, isn't it? Opps...I am digressing.

Over here, we cannot consider Indian food to be foreign as they form 8% of the population, or so I was told by the most recent census. Just like the English with their penchant for curry, we also like curry here. In fact, I wonder if the word 'curry favour' was not invented in this region. The Chinese also have their own curry; the Malays also have their version. By far, I think the Bengalese curry is the spiciest while the Punjabi one smells too much of milk, in my opinion.

One foreign food that has made great inroads in recent years is the Turkish kebab. It is still not universally known here as the popularity of the dish has been mainly confined to the Muslims e.g. Malays, Indian Muslims, Arabs, Turks, etc, but I am rather fond of Muslim food so I have been eating quite a bit of kebab.

Lazar, Thai food is notoriously spicy. Even I cannot take it at times - my eyes would water and my nose becomes runny. It is a wonder that the Thais are still so placid after growing up on a diet of spice and more spice.

Joanne

Icke

Julian

Benjamin [inactive]

We have Döner kebabs here as well, and although I've never actually tried it, I don't really think of it as 'foreign' either because it is so common. Likewise, pizza and pasta is not 'foreign' either, even though it is not 'traditional' British food (if such a thing actually exists).

patriccke

Lebanese / Syrian food is one of my favourite. I particularly like the shish taouk (marinated & grilled chicken dice).

And after the meal a narghile (shisha):

How do you call that again André? Hubbly bubbly???

Deborah

Does anyone else here like mujadara (pronounced "mjadra")? It's a simple dish of lentils, rice and onions, topped with caramelized onions. There's a take-out lunch place I used to go to (I'm too far away now) that had the best mujadara. At the recommendation of the owner (Palestinian), I'd add in some of his salad that accompanied it. The salad was a typical one of cucumbers, tomatos, red onions with an olive oil-lemon juice-garlic dressing, but the special touch was the diced lemons.

I've also had mujadara with currants added to the rice-lentil mix and pine nuts added to the caramelized onions. Mmm-mm!

patriccke

I've never tried but it sounds really good. I have to find a place where they make it!

Loic

Icke: The great thing about kebab is that it makes for such a fantastic complete meal - it is quite filling. It is a pity that kebab doesn't come in pork as mutton and beef are red meat and I am a little averse to too much of that.

Deborah: Is that Indian food? I have no idea as I am not a connoisseur of food from the Indian subcontinent. I am mostly familiar with the South Indian Tamil variety. North Indian food is a little exotic to me as the majority of the Indians here have forebears who hail principally from Tamil Nadu.

Benjamin: I am sure traditional Anglo-Saxon food does exist. What'd King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have eaten? Surely not pizza or curry. Probably lots of venison, though.

Dites-moi: C'est quoi, la pizza?

Benjamin [inactive]

Harrenys Targaryen

It's one of the world's finest, in my humble opinion.

In fact, I dined yesterday at what is quite possibly the most authentic "slice of Beirut" in the city.

The gracious chefs sculpt these:

Into these:

If you'd like to see more:
http://www.sptsb.com/Semiramis.htm

Icke

Deborah

Loic

Well, I believe that the gentleman friend of yours was just being generous with his compliments. Authentic Indian food can only be found in the native heartlands after all. Maybe what he meant is that Indian food in Singapore is not altered to suit the palates of the home market.

I read that curries in the West is very much a watered down version of their native selves with plenty of the zing that comes with the spice removed. In say Britain or America, Indian restaurants probably have to take into consideration the gastric juices of their consumers before whipping up something in the kitchen.

In contrast, the primary clientele of Indian restaurants here seems to be Indians. The chefs have no need to alter the recipes for the Indian market here is vast enough to keep their businesses afloat. As I mentioned earlier, the Indian community forms roughly 8% of the population here and this does not include the 200,000 odd Bangladeshi workers here who come here in droves to take up blue collar work which most locals shun. Considering that there are only 4 million people squeezed cheek to jowl on the island, that's a lot of people.

Porthos

I'm a big fan of middle eastern cuisine. So much in fact, that I've even entertained the idea of trying to marry a middle eastern woman. But then I thought of the possibiliy that she might expect me to beat her on occasion, and so I ruled that out. Lol.

In Las Vegas there was this incredible Afghan place. It was delicious. Out here, I haven't found any good middle eastern places, but the only middle eastern food I've had are Lebonese, Persian, and Afghan. I imagine Persian and Afghan are very similar, as the people are closely related, speak a similar language, etc. But I've never tried food specifically from Arab countries, but it's probably very similar, although I don't wish to speculate. I of course love Greek food as well.

This reminds me. Have any of you ever had Rose ice cream? It's a Persian dessert and it's out of this world.

Deborah

Daniel

I think pitta bread is Lebanese, isn't it?

I eat it all the time and I love it with houmous.

You can stuff any fillings inside the pitta and eat it.

Deborah

Daniel (and anyone else), have you ever mixed pomegranate kernels into your hummus or baba ghanouj? I had the latter made that way at a party at my Arabic teacher's home, and my roommate's brother-in-law makes hummus that way. Both of these people are Palestinian; I don't know how widespread this practice is. Anyway, it's delicious.

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