Lebanese chef puts French twist on childhood flavors

"My mum doesn't agree with what I do here: at home, we don't eat like this," laughs Alan Geaam, the first Lebanese chef to earn a Michelin star in Paris.

The self-taught chef believes that promoting Lebanon's culinary riches means combining them with some of "the elegance and refinement" of French cuisine.

At his self-titled restaurant in the well-heeled 16th district of Paris, the tabbouleh comes in three different textures, there are trompe-l'oeil peanuts made from foie gras, and super-light baklava with seasonal fruits.

"You don't get a Michelin star with traditional Lebanese cuisine," said Geaam, who earned his in 2018.

"Tabbouleh has been made for a thousand years, no one has touched it. Today, this cuisine needs rejuvenating," he told AFP.

The traditionally closed and snobbish world of French gourmet food has been slowly prized open to foreign influences in recent decades.

But cooks like Geaam show how the influences cut both ways in fine-dining establishments, with foreigners putting French twists on their native recipes.