Make food, not war. How Lebanese food and wine carry a nation.

Food as a common language

Peter meets Barbara Massaad, a Lebanese food writer and photographer, at Aaliya's Books, a bookstore and wine bar near Beirut's port. She describes life in Lebanon as a rollercoaster: you never take tomorrow for granted. She also tells the story of how a cookbook calmed a tense encounter with a militiaman, a lesson that food is a common denominator for the Lebanese and a way to disarm.

Over stuffed vine leaves, she explains that Lebanese food is the country's best ambassador. Mezze, the array of small plates, is meant for long hours at the table with a glass of Araq. Barbara adds that the food is very healthy, and that if you know how to make tabbouleh, a part of you has become Lebanese. Peter is keen to learn.

How to make tabbouleh

Later, outdoors because of Lebanon's frequent power cuts, Barbara teaches Peter her tabbouleh. The tips are worth remembering: use dry flat-leaf parsley, never soak the fine bulgur in water but in the juice from the chopped tomatoes, and salt the green onion first so it softens and loses its bite. Then mix by hand and be generous with salt, lemon and olive oil.

As she puts it, "our food screams, it's not bland." Tabbouleh traditionally opens a mezze, and its fresh, zingy flavors explain why Lebanese food pairs so naturally with crisp whites, rosés and Araq.

Coteaux du Liban: a wine in memory of Nicolas

In the Bekaa Valley, Peter visits Coteaux du Liban, founded by Nicolas, who died in a car accident in 2009 after only a few years of making wine. His wife Roula, a pianist and music teacher, decided on the spot to carry on. Their son Roland, just 13 at the time, told her he knew the winery and could help.

Nicolas had not written down what was in his tanks, so friends and winemakers tasted them to work out what he had left. Those wines were aged further and bottled in magnums, with a tribute to Nicolas printed on every cork. Peter shares one of the last of these bottles with the family in a deeply moving scene.

Domaine des Tourelles, cheese and Cinsault

Domaine des Tourelles, founded in 1868, is one of Lebanon's oldest modern wineries. After new owners arrived in 2000, Faouzi Issa refocused it on old vines and a more Lebanese identity. First, he takes Peter to taste Ambarees, a rare goat cheese made over six months in small clay jars from raw goat milk and sea salt. Faouzi pairs it with old-vine Cinsault, whose roundness balances the salty, sour cheese.

From a hilltop at around 1,000 meters, Faouzi explains why the Bekaa is a winemaker's dream: some 300 days of sunshine, snow on the mountains bringing freshness, limestone and clay soils and dry weather. He calls Cinsault Lebanon's adopted grape and argues it gives fuller, more structured wine here than in the south of France. He is also working near Baalbek to help farmers switch from cannabis to grapes and aniseed.

Araq, the taste of Lebanon

Araq is Lebanon's national drink: wine is distilled into grape spirit and then distilled again with aniseed. At Domaine des Tourelles it rests in hundreds of clay jars for up to five years to soften. Peter helps load the aniseed into the still, then learns to drink Araq the proper way, with water that turns it milky.

The trip ends with friends on a Mediterranean beach, celebrating Lebanese hospitality. Watch to find out what Peter takes home from a country that gets under your skin.