Zahlé

1 · POSITION

Zahlé gives Lebanese hospitality a riverbank setting. Its restaurants along the Berdawni helped make the city a destination for food and sociability, with mezze, music and the pleasure of an extended visit closely connected. UNESCO admitted Zahlé to its Creative Cities Network in the gastronomy category in 2013, recognising a culinary culture larger than any single establishment. [1, 2]

2 · RESTAURANTS BESIDE THE BERDAWNI

A 2013 account in L'Orient-Le Jour, drawing on food writer Chérine Yazbeck, describes tourists arriving from the 1940s and more permanent restaurant buildings developing from the 1960s. Mehanna and Arabi appear among the riverside names. The account connects meals with singing, dabke, storytelling and zajal, showing how dining could occupy an entire social occasion rather than a short interval between other activities. [2]

3 · GRAPES AND CONVERSATION

UNESCO identifies grapes, wine and arak as longstanding elements of Zahlé's culture. It also describes the September Festival of the Vine, bringing together concerts, theatre, poetry and exhibitions. The combination helps explain the city's hospitality identity: agricultural products, performance and the shared table reinforce one another. The reputation of the riverside restaurants belongs within that broader civic life. [1]

4 · A CULINARY CITY RECORDS ITSELF

Zahlé's reporting to UNESCO continues beyond the original designation. Its 2024 monitoring report presents the city through gastronomy alongside poetry and wine. Such reporting makes the restaurant tradition part of an ongoing cultural project, rather than only a nostalgic image of an earlier summer season. For this library, the relevant scale is the city: a collection of places, producers and customs that makes eating a reason to travel. [3]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ The evidence supports Zahlé's importance as a centre of riverside dining. It does not establish that mezze was invented or formally codified there. Creative City status is also distinct from inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [1–3]