🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Lebanese

Lebanese are the people of Lebanon, a small country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. The Lebanese are the nation of Lebanon, a mountainous country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon held no general census in the 1990–2020 census rounds, so its population can only be estimated: according to the UN, about 5.8 million inhabitants lived in the country in 2025.

Olives and grapes have long been part of rural life. According to FAO, olives covered 64,600 hectares in 2024, and in 2023 the country produced 17,300 tonnes of olive oil; the most common local cultivars are Souri and Baladi. A 2015 survey counted 2,637 hectares of vineyards and 54 wineries, with more than half of the area in West Bekaa.

Milk comes from cows, goats and sheep; by volume cow's milk leads, at about 212,000 tonnes in 2024. The most popular product is labneh: it is eaten at breakfast with olive oil, labneh balls are kept in oil, and in spring labneh anbaris is packed into clay jars for the winter. Shanklish is balls of yogurt cheese that are rolled in thyme, sumac or pepper, then dried and aged. Kishk is a mixture of yogurt and bulgur dried on rooftops. Akkawi and halloumi cheeses are also widespread, as is the cream ashta for desserts.

The dairy calendar follows the seasons: labneh anbaris in spring, halloumi and akkawi in late spring and early summer, shanklish in summer, kishk at the end of summer, and in winter the stores are eaten. Man'ouche — a breakfast flatbread with za'atar and olive oil, served with labneh and olives — has been on the UNESCO intangible heritage list since 2023; its dough is kneaded with a prayer so that it rises.

Why it matters to you. Today Lebanon covers about 80% of its demand for dairy raw materials with imports, and researchers see long-keeping traditional products — labneh in oil, shanklish, kishk — as a mainstay of local farms. And in the EU the name “Halloumi” has been protected for Cyprus since 2021.