{"id":35325,"date":"2014-08-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon"},"modified":"2023-05-08T08:47:58","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T08:47:58","slug":"six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.\u201d Back in the day, fast food joints like McDonald\u2019s and Burger King hadn\u2019t yet taken the country by storm, and eating out was at best a home-style burger from Winner\u2019s. But we managed to make do on rubbish like Bonjus juice and Fantasia chips.

Let\u2019s take a ride down memory lane and explore some foods from our precious childhoods. Lucky for us, most of these treasures are still around for days we crave reliving the memories.

1. Bonjus<\/big><\/big><\/b>

(Image via One Room in Beirut<\/a>)

I recall being enamored with the novel shape of Bonjus pineapple \u201cjuice,\u201d or shall I call it \u201cflavored sugary drink.\u201d It wasn\u2019t so much the contents\u2014though that cloyingly sweet and highly acidic potion was addictive\u2014as much as it was the pyramid structure of the carton holding it all. Bonjus juice boxes were permanent fixtures of every kid\u2019s birthday party.


2. Glass Soda Bottles<\/big><\/big><\/b>

(Image via Zaatar w Lebneh<\/a>)

For times when we wanted a more mature drink, Pepsi, 7UP and Mirinda did the trick. I\u2019m talking those old school glass bottles filled to the brim with fizzy soda that you could secure for 250LL a pop as long as you returned the emptied bottle to the vendor. Something special about the taste and feel of that soda that simply cannot be replicated in an aluminum can.


3. Fantasia Chips<\/big><\/big><\/b>

(Image via Pinterest<\/a>)

Remember buying bags of Fantasia chips simply for the surprise gift enclosed inside? Sure, the chips were passable\u2014I always enjoyed the peanut-flavored variety mostly because we didn\u2019t have it in the US. But the cheap little trinkets had such value to us youngsters: it could be a plastic necklace or even a hip tattoo. We used to swap them at recess.


4. SPAM <\/big><\/big><\/b>

(Image via Tasty Island Hawaii<\/a>)

Today, it may be dismissed as a high-sodium, high-cholesterol convenience food chockfull of preservatives, but back then, nothing tasted more savory than corned beef or SPAM in the tin cans with the tin keys. Spread it on thin Arabic pita, jazz it up with a few slivers of cucumber, and you had yourself a feast for a king. Far fancier than Picon, that\u2019s for sure.


5. Vienna Sausages<\/big><\/big><\/b>

(Image via Prove Edora Jiron<\/a>)

Try serving a kid a canned wiener today, and he\u2019ll scrunch up his face in disgust. Vienna sausages (I have in mind Libby\u2019s) were what dream meals were made of: short, salty, and derived from meat like beef, turkey and chicken (or blends thereof). Stuff them in those sweetened faux buns, dress them up with mustard and ketchup, and you\u2019ve got yourself one helluva delightful dog.


6. Pain au Lait<\/big><\/big><\/b>

(Image via Paper Blog<\/a>)

Who can forget the soft, fluffy texture of pain au lait, that fragrant bread perfumed with milk and sugar? For many of us, it was a reward breakfast or an afternoon treat. Sometimes studded with \u201cpepites de chocolat,\u201d other times stuffed with a core of fondant chocolate. But plain tasted just fine, and dunked in Nido powdered milk, it was heaven on earth.
\"\"<\/figure>
\"\"<\/figure>
\"\"<\/figure>
\"\"<\/figure>
\"\"<\/figure>
\"\"<\/figure>
\"\"<\/figure><\/figure> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":422039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ai_generated_summary":"","_preview_accessed":0,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"media-embed-type":[],"class_list":["post-35325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crave"],"authorship":[174],"yoast_head":"\nSix Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beirut.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-08T08:47:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/35325-7.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@beirutcityguide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-08T08:47:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":555,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/35325-7.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Crave\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/\",\"name\":\"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/35325-7.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-08T08:47:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/35325-7.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/35325-7.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":853},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/en\\\/35325\\\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/\",\"name\":\"Beirut.com\",\"description\":\"Beirut.com is your insider guide to Lebanon, with the best in food, culture, neighborhoods, and everything new. Discover where to go and fall in love with our country.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beirut.com, SA\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1044,\"caption\":\"Beirut.com, SA\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.beirut.com\\\/ar\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/beirutcityguide\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/beirutcityguide\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon","description":"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon","og_description":"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/","og_site_name":"Beirut.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide","article_published_time":"2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-08T08:47:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/35325-7.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@beirutcityguide","twitter_site":"@beirutcityguide","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon","datePublished":"2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-08T08:47:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/"},"wordCount":555,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/35325-7.png","articleSection":["Crave"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/","name":"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/35325-7.png","datePublished":"2014-08-26T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-08T08:47:58+00:00","description":"Growing up in the 90s in Lebanon, we had our fair share of \u201ccomfort\u201d food (read: junk food) to get us through those miserably long school days and rides home on the \u201cautocar.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/35325-7.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/35325-7.png","width":640,"height":853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/35325\/six-foods-you-remember-from-your-childhood-in-lebanon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Six Foods You Remember from Your Childhood in Lebanon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/","name":"Beirut.com","description":"Beirut.com is your insider guide to Lebanon, with the best in food, culture, neighborhoods, and everything new. Discover where to go and fall in love with our country.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#organization","name":"Beirut.com, SA","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Beirut.com-Logo-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1044,"caption":"Beirut.com, SA"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/ar\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beirutcityguide","https:\/\/x.com\/beirutcityguide"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":580162,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35325\/revisions\/580162"}],"wp:authorship":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35325"},{"taxonomy":"media-embed-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beirut.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-embed-type?post=35325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}