CAPITAL: Beirut OFFICIAL LANGUAGE:Arabic LAND SIZE:North to South is 217 km East to West is 80 km POPULATION:3,925,502 (July 07)

Most traditional Lebanese dishes are simple preparations based on grains, pulses, vegetables and fruit. The same ingredients are used over and over, in different ways, in each dish. Yoghurt, cheese, cucumber, aubergines, chick peas, nuts, tomatoes, burghul and sesame (seeds, paste and oil) are blended into numerous assorted medleys. Parsley and mint are used in huge quantities as are lemons, onions and garlic.

Lebanese food is typically Mediterranean. The average meal is high in vegetables, low in meat and big in flavour. A meal usually starts with a mezze, a selection of small portions of dips, pickles, salads and nibblies eaten with the Arabic bread called "khibbiz".

Baklava: a dessert of layered pastry filled with nuts and steeped in honey-lemon syrup, usually cut in a triangular or diamond shape.

Koshary: cooked dish of pasta, rice and lentils to which onions, chillies and tomato paste are added.

Baba Ghanoush: char-grilled eggplant, tahina, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic puree -- served as a dip

Falafel: small deep-fried patties made of highly-spiced ground chick-peas.

Fattoush: salad of toasted croutons, cucumbers, tomatoes and mint.

Hommus: puree of chickpeas, tahina, lemon, and garlic served as a dip. Tahina is a thick paste made of sesame seeds.