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Since many of the names are just not translatable, I decided it was simpler to keep all the names in Lebanese.

Tfaddalo! is an invitation to come to the table, as the food is ready.

Ahweh turkeh: Turkish coffee, served in tiny cups at the end of the meal (tiny because that's all a normal stomach can handle).

Ashta: A delicious scaly fruit that tastes something like a cross between honey and an orange.

Coktél ma3 ashta: Despite the spelling, the word is "cocktail", but in the populous neighborhoods it designates our equivalent of the (non-alcoholic) smoothie -- served with an abundance of pieces of fruit, almonds, raisins, and in this case topped with ashta, a kind of cream. I spelled it this way because if it was pronounced correctly it would designate the acual alcoholic cocktail...

Fatayer: Most often stuffed with a spinach mix.

Festo' 7alabe: fresh unopened pistacchios, a summer treat!

Hommos: Chick pea purée, now very popular in the Western world although we make it with much more lemon.

Kebbeh: Ground meat and wheat shaped into these lemon-shaped balls that can be stuffed with rice.

Khebz 3arabe: "Arabic bread", as opposed to French bread which we consume a lot. Contrary to popular belief, this is not pita. It is less chewy and good enough to eat alone.

La7me b3ajeen: "Meat on dough", served with laban (a thinner yogurt).

Labneh: a thicker yogurt that has been a staple of the local diet for longer than the Arabic language existed, since its name comes from a very old root.

Labneh bil-zeit: Labneh made with goat milk and strained until it's dry enough to be dough-like: it's rolled into balls and stored in jars filled with olive oil, in which it can keep for years.

Loz akhdar: "Green almonds" gathered when the white at the center, which is usually salted and eaten, is still an unformed transparent jelly. The green velvety shell is still tender and a little sour. We make a little pile of salt and dip the almonds into it before eating them.

Ma'ane': Little hard sausages eaten with lemon and bread.

Man'oushe: A thyme mix on dough.

Me'te: Lebanese cucumber.

Meghle: A dessert usually made when there's a birth and offered to guests that come to congratulate the mother.

Mhallabye: A milk-based dessert, a bit like custard cream.

Saj: A metallic dome heated from within on which a specific kind of bread is made -- bread so thin it is transparent.

Shawarma: Another one that's popular in the whole world now.

Tabbouleh: Our national salad.