The guide that makes sense of the Lebanese grocery store before you even walk in.
The Lebanese pantry is not complicated. It just needs someone to walk you through it.
What's Inside
The Lebanese kitchen runs on a core set of pantry ingredients. Most recipes either skip them or suggest substitutes that miss the point entirely. This guide gives you the real thing.
Inside you'll find 30+ shelf-stable ingredients organized into seven sections:
- Grains and Starches
- Dried Legumes
- Oils, Fats and Pantry Liquids
- Spices and Herbs
- Nuts and Seeds
- Specialty Ingredients
- Baking Staples
For each ingredient: what it is, how it's used in Lebanese cooking, where to buy it, storage tips, and when a substitute is acceptable and when it is not.
Arabic names with transliterations included, so you can find what you need in any Lebanese or Middle Eastern grocery store with confidence.
This is not a generic Middle Eastern pantry overview. It is specific to the Lebanese kitchen, written by someone who grew up in one.
Who This Is For
You follow Lebanese recipes but keep hitting unfamiliar ingredients and have no idea where to find them.
You have rose water or pomegranate molasses sitting in your pantry but aren't sure what else to do with them beyond the one recipe you bought them for.
You grew up with Lebanese food and want to recreate it at home, but stocking the pantry feels like the hard part.
You're building a plant-based kitchen and want it grounded in a real food culture, not just trend ingredients.
A Note From Janelle
I'm a Lebanese Australian cook. I grew up at a table where the pantry was already stocked before you even thought about a recipe. Tahini, pomegranate molasses, orange blossom water, bulgur, freekeh, za'atar. These weren't specialty ingredients. They were just what was there.
When I started Plant Based Folk, the same question kept coming up: where do I find this? What does this actually taste like? Can I substitute it?
This guide is the answer I kept wishing existed. Written from inside the culture, not from a recipe index.