Mezze and the Lebanese Table

[This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies. Please check back later for the full article.] The study of mezze in Lebanon is based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in rural and urban contexts, in the mountains and along the littoral. It explored the foundations of this tradition and prompted the analysis of the Lebanese cuisine. One of the most appreciated culinary traditions for the Lebanese people is to partake in a restaurant-prepared meal that includes an assortment of appetisers, grilled meats or the day’s special, and dessert. Mezze is generally understood as the diversity of hot and cold vegetable and meat dishes served along with the main dish. In a particular type of meal, the gourmet meal, however, mezze is the prelude to the main dish, generally consisting of grilled meats followed by fruits and sweets, the three courses articulating in a continuous and fluid movement. Enjoyed in renowned establishments to celebrate festive events or simply to share an agreeable moment with family and friends, the gourmet meal is destined to seek a particular emotion, kaif. Mezze is composed of a large number of starters brought to the table in groups of dishes appearing one after the other in a precise order. Each group displays distinct ingredients, flavours, modes of cooking and temperatures. Guests indulge in the dishes as they come along. The wide range of starters shapes a specific time sequence and devises a pattern of eating, that of “tasting”, of “savouring”. The study of the sensorial complexity regarding its sequencing, scenography, and gustatory structure, reveals the representations of appetence in the culinary Lebanese culture. It provides insight into the visual requirements that a gourmet table must display and the flavour hierarchy aimed at kindling appetite and at preserving it throughout the meal. Further, it brings to awareness the categories of foods that necessitate the application of precise techniques to neutralise odours that cause inappetence. These elements offer the opportunity to examine the culinary sensibility expressed in the Lebanese culture. Notwithstanding the differences in organisation, time span, table manners, and purpose, the gourmet meal, in which mezze is embedded, possesses the same logic as the ordinary daily table: to stimulate and maintain the desire to eat. Both types of meals epitomise a sense-sustained culture of appetence designed at averting ill eating and sickness, a realm of research that merits investigation.