Syria

A Syrian roasted red pepper and walnut paste from Aleppo, bound with breadcrumbs and balanced by Aleppo pepper's fruity heat and pomegranate molasses's sweet-sour depth, served as a meze dip or condiment.

A Levantine preserve of salted minced or diced lamb slow-cooked and packed in its own rendered tail fat, kept as a year-round pantry staple.

A Damascene confection of many ultra-thin filo sheets layered with clarified butter and finely chopped pistachios, cut into diamonds before baking and drenched in a fragrant cold sugar syrup scented with orange blossom and rose water.

Fattet Hummus is a layered breakfast dish of toasted pita bread, chickpeas, thick yogurt sauce, and pine nuts, seasoned with lemon, garlic, and often sumac.

A Levantine chopped salad of raw seasonal vegetables and crisped pita bread, unified by a sumac-forward lemon-and-olive-oil dressing that delivers bright, tangy acidity.

Freekeh with chicken is a Levantine one‑pot feast dish consisting of roasted green wheat (freekeh) slow‑cooked with braised chicken and warm spices, served communally.

Dried fava beans slow-cooked until completely tender in their own starchy liquid, then dressed at service with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and cumin — the foundational breakfast of Egypt and a staple across the Levant, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa.

A silky-smooth purée of slow-cooked chickpeas emulsified with tahini, fresh lemon juice, and garlic, finished with extra-virgin olive oil and served as a communal spread across the Levant.

An Aleppine dish of spiced grilled or pan-cooked lamb meatballs simmered in a tart-sweet dried sour-cherry sauce, served over flatbread.

A Levantine preparation of very finely ground lean lamb blended with extra-fine bulgur and warm spices, formed into a thin-walled oval shell encasing a filling of spiced sautéed minced lamb, caramelized onion, and toasted pine nuts — eaten fried, baked, or raw.

A Levantine dish of very fresh raw lamb leg meat pounded smooth with fine bulgur, grated onion, and warm spices — served cold, dressed with olive oil, and eaten with flatbread.

A thick, tangy Levantine soft cheese made by straining yoghurt until creamy and spreadable, served drizzled with olive oil and dried herbs or spices.

A semolina-and-flour shortbread enriched with butter or ghee and rosewater, filled with dates, walnuts or pistachios, and pressed in a carved wooden mould.

A festive Levantine one-pot dish of spiced long-grain rice layered over fried vegetables and braised meat or chicken, cooked together in a single pot then dramatically inverted onto a platter to reveal a structured tower of rice, vegetables, and meat.

A Levantine staple of whole lentils and rice or bulgur cooked together until tender, crowned with a generous quantity of onions caramelized to deep mahogany sweetness — sometimes crisped to a frizzle.

An eggless, oil-based Levantine cake of semolina and flour coloured and flavoured with turmeric, studded with pine nuts and cut into diamonds.

A Levantine street food of spiced marinated meat stacked on a vertical rotisserie, slow-roasted and shaved thin into flatbread with sauce and pickles.

Tabbouleh is a fresh herb‑centric Levantine salad whose primary ingredient is finely chopped parsley, complemented by diced tomatoes, minimal soaked bulgur wheat, and dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Syrian grape leaves rolled around a rice, minced-meat, and herb filling and simmered, in either a meat-broth or an olive-oil version.