Lebanon/Patrimony: the Taboulé, a typical Lebanese dish

The taboo could be in first place in the series of best-of Lebanese tables. It is indeed a dish that does not fail to appear frequently enough.

This recipe is unique to the Eastern Mediterranean, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. We also had to deplore, like the Houmous, a kind of table war with Israel, records appearing in the Guiness to support it.

Some variations also exist elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean. In Palestine, cucumbers will be added to the thinly diced.

However, it would also be a fairly recent recipe, some of its ingredients such as tomatoes having been introduced to the region only from the beginning of the 19th century. Previously, instead of tomatoes, we just added the fresh vegetables available.

It was only then that he moved with other parts of the Mediterranean with an adaptation of his recipe to local ingredients. While parsley is the essential ingredient in the Eastern Mediterranean with little borghol, it is quite the opposite in North Africa where Borghol constitutes the essence of this dish. However, this is not the original taboo as we will describe it here.

The ingredients needed for Taboulé’s Levantine recipe

For 4 people, count:
2 bunches of parsley,
an onion,
a tomato (if possible baladi i.e. local as they say here, this tomato roughly corresponds to the tomato Beef Heart in France),
several fresh mint leaves,
2 lemons to squeeze,
olive oil,
100 grams of fine Borghol
and obviously salt and pepper

Preparing the Taboo

Taste the taboo

Often, we eat a mouthful of hand-pinched taboo with a salad leaf. Less frequently, it is with an Arabic bread that it can be served.

Often, the taboo is served with a glass of arak, considered the local aniseed brandy made from grape grains.

There are local variants. In Armenia, in addition to parsley, salad (if possible lettuce) or in Palestine, finely chopped cucumbers are added,

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