DAHR, LEBANON — CRIST 415 



hair cloth used by the Bedouins for their famous black tents. The 

 horned cattle kept by the villagers are used primarily as draft animals, 

 but the cows, when they have calved, are milked. From cow's milk, 

 as well as from goat's milk, which is rarely drunk fresh, is made 

 leban, the cream-cheeselike preparation made from fermented milk, 

 known to the West by the Turkish name yogurt. This is a dish that 

 is made practically every day and is relished by everyone. In the 

 making of lehan most of the pathogenic germs are destroyed by the 

 heating process, a kind of mild pasteurization, while the harmless 

 bacteria and those which might be beneficial when taken into the 

 system are not destroyed. The bacteria that turn milk sour by form- 

 ing lactic acid are preserved practically intact, so that they can mul- 

 tiply rapidly in the intestinal tract, put to rout undesirable and 

 possibly deleterious organisms, and produce what the physician calls 

 a "desirable bacterial flora." 



A white cream cheese (arish) is made by putting the lehan in a 

 cloth bag and allowing the whey to drip out. Some of the residue is 

 eaten when fresh, but the rest is rolled into balls about 2 inches in 

 diameter, thoroughly dried in the sun, and then aged for 3 or 4 weeks 

 in sealed containers. Afterward the mold is washed off, the balls 

 are rolled in the dried leaves of a pungent herb, and the result is a 

 delicious cheese {shanhlish) , somewhat similar in flavor to Roquefort. 



The diet of the villagers is monotonous, especially in winter, but 

 when ample it is fairly well balanced. One of the main dishes, along 

 with bread and tourghol^ is mujaddara, a mixture of lentils, onions, 

 and olive oil. All winter long the women may be seen in the fields 

 and on the grazing lands gathering various "greens." These are 

 brought back to the house and carefully sorted. The edible ones- 

 there are 23 varieties— are cooked up for family consumption, with 

 lentils, or hourghol, and oil, and the others are fed to the cow or to the 

 goats. Meat is expensive and therefore is eaten only occasionally. 

 One villager complained that they do not eat meat day in and day out 

 as foreigners do, but on occasions when meat is at hand they overeat. 

 All meat is eaten the day it is killed, or the following day. Refrigera- 

 tion is unknown except in the large cities, for the means are lacking. 

 The preserving of meat for future use, by drying, salting, smoking, or 

 canning, is likewise not practiced. Most of the villagers keep a few 

 chickens, but both the eggs and the meat are delicacies. Unfortu- 

 nately, many of the chickens died last year of Newcastle disease. 

 Bourghol is a staple dish, either as a hot cereal, or pounded into meat 

 to make the famous Jcibleh^ which could almost be considered the na- 

 tional dish. Good sets of teeth among the people of the village are 

 the rule, which indicates that the diet in general is wholesome, nu- 

 tritious, and well balanced. 



