In North Africa salads of all kinds are a favorite dish, served as part of a meze table, called qimiyya in Algeria, or as an accompaniment to grilled meats. This recipe from Algeria is simply called salāṭat bisbas, fennel salad. Although I love raw fennel which makes both a great dipping implement and sliced thin for […]
Fūl Mudammas – A Levantine Arab Meze Par Excellence
This is a famous Lebanese breakfast dish and meze dish, although it is made throughout the Levantine Arab world. This version is very different than the Egyptian one, also famous, and called the Egyptian national dish, which is more like a soupy stew. Although most common for breakfast, Arabs will eat it at any time […]
Black-eyed Peas and Tomato Salad for Meze Table
Although this preparation of black-eyed peas and tomatoes is called a salad, in Lebanon it is usually an addition to the spread of various dishes found on a meze table. This salad is perfect for an end of the summer meal. Serve it with romaine lettuce leaves to be used as scoops. For ease of […]
Pumpkin Inspiration from Tunisian Jewish Cuisine
Tunisian Jews traditionally ate the same way as the Muslim population, that is, they ate little plates as part of a meze table, or what was called an ādū, a Tunisian Arabic expression for meze, an assortment of olives, relishes, pickles and prepared food served on small plates as an entire meal or to nibble. […]
Middle Eastern Meze Bring Many Cultures to the Table
In the Middle East food is shared and one place it is shared is on the meze table. Meze are small samplings of prepared dishes that make a meal. They are not appetizers, nor tapas, nor hors d’oeuvres but are actually more philosophically related to the Scandinavian smorgasbord. Food is shared in another way. The […]
Carrots and Dill
Summer eating begs for simplicity, seasonality, and coolness, that is, foods that explore the wide range of antipasto, salads, meze, and other foods served at room temperature. One of my favorite dishes is ridiculously simple, a meze I once had in Greece of carrots serve with a variety of other meze. In this case it’s […]
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