Lebanese Food: A Family Tradition & Personal Passion

Lebanese Photo Collage

I love Lebanese food. Always have. Growing up, my mom and dad, two brothers and I always had Lebanese food on Sunday nights. We went to our local (and only) Lebanese restaurant nearly every Sunday for dinner. Many families went to Sunday Chinese dinner. We loved Lebanese! The restaurant was called The Beirut. We called it Jimmy’s after the name of the owner. It was at Jimmy’s that I fell in love with Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Shish Taouk, and my absolute favorite, Kibbeh Nayeh! (Kibbe Nayeh is raw ground lamb mixed with bulgur wheat and mint and other spices). Many years later, my brother and I would return to The Beirut (aka Jimmy’s) with our extended family and once again enjoy our favorite Lebanese dishes to continue our family tradition and share memories.

More recently as an adult, I learned the universality of Lebanese food. Hummus, a staple in Lebanese households, is one of the most common foods across the globe and really unites the world’s palate (I remember the first time I made Hummus from scratch). Virtually anywhere you go, Hummus is offered on the menu.

To celebrate Lebanese food, we are sharing some of our favorite recipes we hope you will create and share in your homes:

Also, I travel extensively, often looking forward to my favorite Lebanese Restaurants. Here are some of my recommendations:

NYC: Ilili
London: Ishbilia (best Kibbeh Nayeh in London!)
Dubai: Al Safadi
Abu Dhabi: Diwan L’Auberge at Emirates Palace
Tel Aviv / Jaffa: Abu Hassan on dolphin street  (best Hummus in Israel!)
Kuwait City: Assaha

Related Posts

Bar/Bat Mitzvah Parties — Remembering What Matters... How can you plan a fun AND meaningful bar/bat mitzvah celebration? Far too many people plan “over-the-top” bar and bat mitzvah parties. For a hilario...
Living Life on the Ladder. How Planning for “... The dream of Jacob’s Ladder provides a great metaphor for living. In this week’s torah reading, Genesis Chapter 28 Verse 10-19, Jacob dreamed of angel...
Candles, Kiddush, & Wine: Beginning & En... How do we begin and end sacred experiences? How do we carry a sense of the holy into everyday life? Among the core religious practices of Judaism is ...
Saved by A Stranger at Coachella When was the last time you received help from a stranger? How were you saved by the stranger? I recently attended Coachella and chaperoned my daughte...
How Do You Keep Your Seder Traditions Alive? This article was written by Andy’s mother, Myra Yellin Outwater (of blessed memory) and published in The Morning Call, April 21, 1997. Passover’s T...