I’ve eaten a lot of meals sitting by, or even floating on, the Mediterranean. Wonderful meals, kissed by salty sea breezes in France, in Spain, in Greece, in Croatia, in Turkey, in Italy, in Israel.

Today I added a country I was never quite sure I would get to. Lebanon.

In Beirut’s Babel Bay we sat outside, flanked by mini mobile fireplaces, and had a Lebanese seafood feast.

As we cuddled into our seats near the warmth of the fire, we nibbled pickled seaweed, salty nuts, roasted pumpkin seeds and bread with a sweet chili sauce and contemplated the menu.

Definitely not the Lebanese food of my childhood, but not completely unrelated either. The classic meze dishes I grew up with were there, I was happy to note.

But there was the sea, right in front of us, and on the menu seafood found its way into all kinds of…