Coffee Shops Dining Fast Food Pastries	Info Center: Restaurants L E B A N E S E ..F O O D Lebanese food combines the sophistication of European cuisine with the excitement of eastern spices, and it is Lebanon's culinary contributions that have been the greatest influence on modern Arabic cuisine. Dishes from the Lebanon provide the framework for the exotic cuisine recognized internationally. A typical Lebanese meal starts with mezze this can be an elaborate spread of forty or fifty hors d'oeuvres or simply a salad and a bowl of nuts. But it is always a social occasion when friends and family gather to enjoy appetizers and conversation before dinner. A meat, (lamb is the favourite meat) chicken or fish dish follows with salad and rice. There are two types of bread, the flat pitta pocket (pictured) found everywhere in the Middle East, and marcook -- a thin bread baked on a domed dish over a fire.