Mezze

So it is getting warmer and muggier, time to start thinking Mediterranean, where meals are not large dishes, but a collection of smaller and varied mostly vegetarian dishes.

Meze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Balkans as breakfast, lunch or even dinner, with or without drinks. In Levantine cuisines and in the Caucasus region, meze is served at the beginning of all large-scale meals.

Turkish meze often consist of white cheese, sliced ripe melon, a hot pepper paste with walnuts, thick strained yoghurt like the Levantine labne, cold aubergine salad, artichokes, yoghurt with cucumber and garlic, various foods cooked in a special sauce, rice-stuffed vine leaves or other stuffed vegetables, such as bell peppers, meatballs.

In Greece, Cyprus and Balkans, mezé, mezés, or mezédhes (plural) are small dishes, hot or cold, spicy or savory. Seafood dishes such as grilled octopus may be included, along with various salads, sliced hard-boiled eggs, garlic-bread, kalamata olives, fava beans, fried vegetables, melitzanosalata (eggplant salad), taramosalata, fried or grilled cheeses called saganaki, and various fresh Greek sheep, goat or cow cheeses.

Other offerings are fried sausages, usually pork and often flavored with orange peel, bekrí-mezé (the “drunkard’s mezé”, a diced pork stew), and meatballs like keftédes and soutzoukákia smyrnéika.

Leaning more into the Mediterranean Mid-East / Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Syria we find:

• Babaghanoush – eggplant mashed and mixed with various seasonings.
• Hummus – a dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas
• Falafel – a deep-fried ball made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both.
• Tzatziki – Dip made from yoghurt, cucumber with chopped garlic and mint leaf.
• Tashi – Dip made from tahini, garlic, salt and lemon juice
• Shish Taouk – Spicy lamb and beef grills
• Halloumi cheese, usually sliced and grilled or fried.
• Souvlakia – Bite sized meat cubes (lamb), grilled on a skewer over charcoal.
• Dolmades – Stuffed Grape leaves, with rice,mint, lemon juice, pepper, lamb.
• Yoghurt
• Tzatziki – Dip made from yoghurt, cucumber with chopped garlic and mint leaf.
• Labneh – strained yoghurt similar to cream or sour cream.
• Shanklish – Goat’s milk or sheep’s milk cheeses
• Olives and Oil
• Shepherd salad – Tomato, cucumber, pepper, parsley onion or scallion
• Kısır – Bulgur rice, tomatoes, scallions, parsley, olive oil, red pepper paste
• Harrisa or Zuhg – Fiery Pepper sauce
• And Breads, Pita / Lafah, pide, Stuffed, and Baked