Food Trends

Chickpeas blended silky-smooth with tahini, lemon and garlic, pooled with olive oil and eaten warm with pillowy bread. In Beirut it is breakfast, mezze and comfort all at once — and the subject of fierce regional pride.

A vivid salad that is mostly finely chopped parsley and mint, flecked with bulgur, tomato and onion and dressed with lemon and olive oil. Fresh, sharp and green, it is the bright centre of the Lebanese mezze.

Flatbread spread with za'atar and olive oil and baked until crisp at the edges, then folded around tomato, cucumber and mint. Beirut's breakfast on the go, hot from the neighbourhood furn.

Marinated chicken or beef stacked on a spit, roasted and shaved into warm bread with garlic toum or tahini, pickles and fries. The king of Beirut street food, wrapped tight and eaten on the move.

Torpedoes of a bulgur-and-minced-meat shell stuffed with spiced lamb and pine nuts, then fried until deep brown and crisp. A painstaking, prized dish that signals a serious Lebanese kitchen.

Ground chickpeas and herbs shaped into fritters and fried emerald-green inside, tucked into bread with tahini, tomato and pickled turnip. Crisp, fragrant and Beirut's favourite meat-free street bite.

A crunchy salad of tomato, cucumber, radish and greens tossed with toasted pita shards and a tangy sumac dressing. Sour, herby and refreshing, it earns its place on every mezze spread.

Charred aubergine whipped with tahini, lemon and garlic into a smoky, creamy dip crowned with olive oil and pomegranate. The mellow, mysterious cousin of hummus and a mezze staple.

Skewers of marinated lamb or spiced kafta grilled over charcoal until smoky and juicy, served with grilled tomato, onion and warm bread. The centrepiece of a Beirut mixed grill.

Molten sweet cheese under a crown of golden semolina pastry, soaked in orange-blossom syrup and often eaten in a sesame bun for breakfast. Warm, gooey and gloriously indulgent — Beirut's beloved sweet.