Why are Middle Eastern restaurants in the West always advertised as Lebanese? Literally all of Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli/Palestinian and Iraqi cuisine is the same. They all have stuff like falafel, ful medames, baba ghanoush, hummus and dolma as staple dishes. Why Lebanese in particular?
>>7389759
Because they are a more industrious people
Because you've never left your village, that apparently has a Lebanese population?
Theres a turk, lebanese, greek and kosher restaurant all within 2 miles from me.
Even the greek restaurant has humus, babaganoush and falafel
>>7389759
>>7389759
The long answer is pretty complicated, but in essence the US had a large number of Lebanese immigrants to the eastern US in the fifties and sixties as the desire for "exotic" food was picking up, so they sort of set the bar for middle eastern cuisine here. Similar to how "Indian" food in most of the US is Pakistani/Kashmiri food with a few dishes from other regions.
>>7389759
>Literally all of Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Israeli/Palestinian and Iraqi cuisine is the same.
Only it isn't.
>Literally
>>7389759
Lebanese Christians were among the first groups of people pushed out of the Middle East during the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and they established the first wave of Middle eastern restaurants. The next waves saw Lebanese= successful so they copied it whether they were Lebanese or not.
you then saw successive waves of North African, Arabic, and other middle eastern people, who all all brought variations on the theme, and that's why I can get halal cart for $7 in Mid-town or eat a Lebanese sit down place for $24
>>7389794
>the US had a large number of Lebanese immigrants to the eastern US in the fifties and sixties
I doubt that. The law up until 1965 was that the number of people of non-European origin permitted entry each year would be no more than 1/10 of 1% of the already present population, or something along those lines. Even then, the new law didn't really come into effect until around 1970.
>>7389957
Sensible laws from more sensible times.
>>7389794
Indian food is definitely not mostly Pakistani or Kashmiri. It's mostly Punjabi. Yes a significant portion of Punjab in Pakistan but most popular Indian dishes are from Delhi which is the capital of India. Rogan Josh is the only popular kashmiri dish. Awadhi cuisine is much better represented in the west. Finally while north Indian cuisine is the most popular in the west most cooks are actually Bangladeshi. The most popular south Indian cuisine is Hyderabadi followed by Tamil. Both more popular than even the most popular exclusively Pakistani or Kashmiri dishes.
>>7389791
Greeks have a dish similar to Baba Ghanoush called Melitzanosalata.
Except it's not all the same
Maybe if you just said Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, would have maybe forgiven you for being a retard but Iraqi is a shitload different
>>7389799
>rise of Islamic fundamentalism
Not really
More like militant Palestinians went into Lebanon, started launching rockets at Israel, Lebanese Christians decided to remove them and then the Lebanese Christians started the civil war, entire country splits into small factions, Israel decides to come in and remove the Palestinians, ends up carpet bombing the entire country, Syrians come in to "peace keep" (read: take over the country), Christians were more likely to get rich aka afford rides out of the country
Lebanon is a different situation compared to the rest of the middle east; It's not the muslims fault, its everyones fault, specifically the militant palestinians and christians
>>7389957
>>7390397
The first known Lebanese immigrant to the United States was Antonios Bishallany, a Maronite Christian, who arrived in Boston Harbor in 1854. He died in Brooklyn, New York in 1856 on his 29th birthday. Large scale Lebanese immigration began in the late 19th century. They settled mainly in Brooklyn and Boston, Massachusetts. While they were marked as Syrians, the vast majority of them were Christians from Mount Lebanon. This wave continued through the 1920s. During the first wave, an estimated 100,000 Lebanese had immigrated to America. Many immigrants settled in Northern New Jersey, in towns such as Bloomfield, Paterson, Newark, and Orange. Some immigrants set out west, with Detroit, Michigan and Peoria, Illinois, gaining a large number of all Lebanese immigrants. Others bought farms in states such as Texas, South Dakota and Iowa.
The second wave of Lebanese immigration began in the late 1940s and continued through the early 1990s, when Lebanese immigrants had been fleeing the Lebanese Civil War. Between 1948 and 1985, over 60,000 Lebanese entered the United States. Since then, immigration has slowed down to an estimated 5,000 immigrants a year.
>>7389759
maybe because the owners are lebanese you dipshit
>>7391779
This is the absolute truth. Stop the thread.
>>7391786
This
I don't think OP understands how many Lebanese people exist outside of their tiny country
>>7391794
this tbqh
egyptian place near my house used to say "lebanese" on the sign, they scratched it out and stuck a huge egyptian flag inside
their food sucks though, egyptians cant cook levantine food for shit
>>7391779
>>7391794
Exactly. The fact that they just happen to also be owned and run by Lebs has nothing to do with it.
Not where I live, bro.
We have every sort of middle eastern food here. Persian, Moroccan, Lebanese, Jordanian, Afghani, Paki, etc. etc. etc..............and they're all fucking good in their own ways.
>>7391464
>appropriatomg stuff from decent hard working people
Sounds greek
>>7391750
Fascinating!
