Article was initially published in the The Republic, March 2nd, 2012

by Marta Hepler Drahos, Traverse City Record-Eagle

SUTTONS BAY, Mich. — Stephanie Long and Amanda Sfeir may be from different continents, but when it comes to food, the Suttons Bay resident and her Lebanese exchange student have more in common than not.

"All four of my grandparents are Lebanese," said Long, who grew up eating and cooking traditional Lebanese cuisine in Flint. "Every year my mother and grandmother would buy a lamb and a side of beef. And then they would sit and hand-trim all the lamb and beef and package it in small packages."

Long and her family — husband Michael, daughter Katie, 16, and son Jake, 13 — are hosting Sfeir for a year through Youth Exchange and Study Programs, or YES, a government grant for high school students from countries with predominantly Muslim populations. In learning about each others' cultures, they discovered that Lebanese and Lebanese-American dishes are a lot alike.

"Most names are the same," said Sfeir, 15, who comes from Achkout, a mountainous region of central Lebanon, about 15 miles from the capital of Beirut. "Some of the ingredients are different, but it tastes pretty much the same."

Besides lamb and beef, main ingredients in Lebanese cooking include grains (orzo, cracked wheat, lentils), vegetables (squash, eggplant, garbanzo beans) and fruit (tomatoes, cucumber). Pine nuts, sesame, olives, garlic, onions, lemon and mint help give the cuisine its unique flavors.

"Salt, pepper and cinnamon are the main seasonings," said Long, as she sprinkled an eggplant casserole called sheik el mahsh with cinnamon from an 18-ounce jar.

Long learned to cook by watching her mother, who did everything from scratch — from grinding her own meat for the raw dish kibbe nayee, to making her own yogurt and chocolate.

Hors d'oeuvres were always on the counter when she cooked, and nothing was thrown away, Long said. For instance, labne, a Lebanese cream cheese, was made from what was left over after the liquid was drained from the yogurt.

Back then a meal could be as light as grape leaves, cabbage rolls, and a salad or coleslaw — made with vinegar instead of mayonnaise, said Long. But these days Long's menu usually includes more to satisfy her "meat and potatoes" husband.

Cooking is usually a weekend affair, using ingredients from local farms, grocery store ethnic food aisles and the family's one-acre garden.

Sfeir tells the Traverse City Record-Eagle "some of the ingredients are different, but it tastes pretty much the same."

"When I first moved up here in 1997 I couldn't get anything," recalled Long, who used to stock up at Detroit's Eastern Market whenever she went back home for a visit. "Now you can get things like tahini (a paste of ground sesame seeds and a main ingredient in hummus) from Hansen's and Meijer.

"We grow pretty much everything and freeze or can it, so I don't have to worry about what I'm getting."

Lebanese mint is one of a few foods that doesn't have an American equivalent, she said.

"Mint is an important ingredient, and American mint isn't the right thing. Most people grow spearmint," said Long, who grows and dries her own mint by hanging the herb or laying it on the counter for a few days until it flakes off the stalk. "The last time I dried mint, I had six two-quart jars and then I gave it away."

A certain small squash traditionally used in a stuffed squash dish also is hard to find, so Long uses baby zucchini instead. She hollows it out using a special tool — originally made by her uncle for her mother — called a manakra.

"That's the really big thing: If you can't find what you need, you improvise," she said.

So far Long has taught Sfeir how to make hummus — served with pepper sticks, carrots and zaatar bread, a kind of Lebanese sourdough bread seasoned with a spice mix of sumac, thyme and sesame seeds — and tabbouleh, a salad of parsley, mint, tomatoes, onions and orzo, using lettuce as a serving spoon.

"I watch, but I usually don't cook," said Sfeir, whose American food favorites include ketchup, chili, turkey sandwiches and sugary treats. "I made one tabbouleh dish three times."

This summer it will be Long's turn to watch. Her family plans to visit Sfeir in Lebanon.