Mezze

Mezze is a word of Persian origin who comes to mean "taste" and that is exactly what it is: a tasting of a large number of dishes that leads or replace meals. In a restaurant where you can order Mezze they serve lot of dishes similar to Spanish tapas and likely to cover the entire table. The Mezze are very popular in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Lebanon and generally can be found throughout the Middle East. In Greece and Cyprus when we order mezze waiters are serving dishes and filling the table until the guests feel enough and order to stop. The dishes that we will find in most of the cases are the eggplant, turkish sucuk (say shushuk) which is a kind of very spiced sausage fried sliced, dolmades (fig leaves to wrap rice or meat), labneh (a kind of not-cheese-not-yoghurt more typical of Lebanon), taramosalata (carp roe, very typical in Greece), kibbeh (a kind of meat dumplings and couscous), tabouleh (salad of couscous), and so a very long list. Traditionally mezze is served with an alcohol aniseed which is called Ouzo in Greece, Raki in Turkey and Arak in Lebanon (being all of them more or less the same). This liquor is mixed with water and occasionally with ice but because of its high alcohol content can be replaced by any other refreshing drink. The Mezze let know in few minutes the cuisine of an Eastern country since they are always based on the most popular traditional recipes. The image of a restaurant table covered with dishes that make up a mezze is truly fantastic and is one of the greatest pleasures of the kitchen of the Eastern Mediterranean.