If you were a student of wine, you would know that it all started in Lebanon. The oldest vineyards in the world were planted in the land of Canaan, the coastal strip of today's Lebanon. It was the Phoenicians who introduced the Mediterranean to wine and viticulture; it was the wines of Byblos that graced the tables of the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt in 2686 BC; and it was here in Lebanon that Jesus performed his first miracle, of turning water into wine.
Today there are 35 wineries in the hauntingly beautiful Bekaa Valley. My favourite winery from this region is Chateau Musar, 20km north of Beirut. The vineyards are high up on the slopes of Mount Lebanon, beyond the opium fields. During the 1989 civil war, the winery's underground wine cellar doubled-up as a bomb shelter. The owner, Serge Hochar, recalled staring at heavily armed Hezbollah fighters, and ducking bullets and rockets to harvest his Cabernet Sauvignon at optimum ripeness. Serge famously said: "Good wine should be dangerously attractive. What I want, is a wine that troubles me". Oz Clarke, top wine author, renowned for his wine tasting ability wrote: "Every time I taste Chateau Musar, one flavour consistently outweighs all the others put together. Courage."
I couldn't agree more.
Our friend Phil's fact for the night (see blog week 1 regarding Friday Night Out rules) - more of an insight than a fact, really - reflects our collective summary of Lebanon: It is a complicated place......
And at the heart of this complication, lies passion. Passion for life, for family, for food, wine and tradition. And this passion translates into the cuisine. This part of the world is known as The Levant, or Eastern Mediterranean. The Levantine cuisine was shaped by the Ottoman Empire, and all the countries between Turkey and Egypt share the distinctive culinary aspect of mezze. These include an array of small dishes of different colours, textures and aromas, like stuffed vine leaves, tabouleh, fattoush, humus, baba ghanoush and kebbeh (Lebanon's national dish). Lebanese flatbread is a staple, and often replaces the fork. Eating is considered a social event, and sharing food with family and friends is central to Lebanese culture, so last night we visited Rouj (red) for an authentic Lebanese experience.
You will find Rouj 3km west of the city in Brisbane's smallest suburb, Rosalie. In fact, Rosalie is so small, that Council decided it no longer qualifies as a suburb, and re-classified it as a locality. In 1864, this distinctive little village was known as Oxford Estate, but residents started to call it Rosalie, after a name painted on the side of a local bus that passed through daily. Who Rosalie was is a mystery, and her identity may be lost, but her name lives on in this boutique suburb.
Rosalie was one of the worst affected areas during Brisbane's devastating floods of January 2011. Newspaper headlines read: Rosalie going Under, and Inner City Suburb Rosalie fast disappearing. Rouj was one of the many restaurants in Rosalie that was completely wrecked by the floods. But owner Sodith Aoude, who moved to Australia in 1988, rebuilt Rouj, and today it is a vibrant establishment that celebrates classic Lebanese recipes. She cooks traditional dishes, staying true to the rich flavours of this Mediterranean cuisine, using lots of lemon juice, garlic and fresh herbs.
Without further ado: Sahtein!
We were treated to an assortment of mezze to start with, of which my favourite was the cooked green almonds with fresh coriander, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. The mains included a Shwarma Platter, Mansaf ( slow cooked lamb with rice, tabouleh, fragrant rice, nuts and caramelised onions), Moghrabieh ( lamb spiced with cumin, caraway and cinnamon, served with chickpeas and Lebanese couscous), lamb shish and haloumi kafta with tahini sauce and labneh, and a vegetarian dish of pumpkin kebbeh and ftayer served with mjadra, tzaziki and Lebanese bread. We ended the meal with Lebanese coffee accompanied by baklava and Turkish delight. Everything was delightful!
So, the trivia: Boetie, our flag-and-national-animal man, managed to give us a run-down on the flag, but came up short with the national animal......Google, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Ask.com.....no-one can tell us what the national animal of Lebanon is. If you have the answer, please let us know. Nielen, our resident uni-student, informed us that the first Law School in the world was built in Beirut and that Lebanon has no less than 42 universities. Martina had facts on the age of Lebanon (oldest nation in the world at 4000 yrs), and its biblical connections (mentioned 75 times in the Bible). Keith took us into a maze of caves to see the world's longest stalactite (8.2m). And Phil was still pondering on the complications of the place.......
There are roughly 200,000 Lebanese living in Australia. The majority are Maronite Christians, congregating in the western suburbs of Sydney, and engaging in their rich cultural heritage of lavish hospitality and fine food.
Next week we shall travel further east, and test the hospitality of Vietnam.
Mansaf
Vegetarian platter
Moghrabieh
shish and kafta
Lebanese Coffee
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