Preparation Authority tier 2

The Lebanese Emigrant Routes: Tacos al Pastor and West Africa

Lebanese emigration — primarily from Mount Lebanon during the late Ottoman period and through the 20th century — produced culinary transmission routes that are among the most surprising and least documented in world food history. Lebanese immigrants to Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought the shawarma vertical spit-roasting technique that became tacos al pastor. Lebanese immigrants to West Africa (Nigeria, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone) established the restaurant culture that introduced Middle Eastern culinary techniques to West African urban cooking.

The Lebanese emigrant culinary routes.

AFRICA TO AMERICA — SLAVE TRADE CULINARY ROUTES: DEEP CONTINUATION

Tacos al pastor and shawarma (direct ancestor-descendant), Lebanese in West Africa (Levantine food culture in African urban context), Greek diaspora cooking (same emigrant restaurant-culture transmiss