Cooking and food

Syrian cooking don't lack variety and the dishes are always appetizing, colorful and beautifully served. Innumerable hors-d’œuvres A special place must be served for the mazza, or hors-d’œuvres, which are served in little bowls and dishes - so many that they cover the whole table. There many be as many as forty of them.

You can take your pick of radishes, celeriac, baby turnips, beans, peppers, cucumber, olives, vine and yellow purées, bathed in golden oil, offer flavors unknown to western palates: hummus, a purée of chick peas with lemon juice and sesame oil (often served with chicken); baba ghanouge, a purée of egg plants with oil and lemon, mutabal, the same but with yogurt… All sorts of green things are served with these dishes-parsley, chives, herbs one has never heard of, and always fragrant mint. The popular national food is bulgar (bulgar); it is made of wheat that has been boiled, dried, and crushed (it is rather like semolina), and is used in many dishes. Most often it is rolled into little balls which are stuffed with minced meat, onions, nuts and pine kernels. Tabbouleh is another dish which is bugar is served with chopped parsley, tomato, onion, oil, mint and lemon. Chicken is one of the favorite meats.

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The farouje is a little roast chicken, cut in two and served flat. Poussins are grilled and served with onions and mushrooms. Shish Taouk is chicken on a skewer with truffles or mushrooms. More popular truffles are kibbe meshwiye, minced meat mixed with crushed wheat and grilled over charcoal, kafta antakiye, minced meat cooked on a skewer with parsley and lemon; shish kebab, lamb cooked on a skewer with tomato, onion and peppers. Shawarma consists of large pieces of meat (usually mutton) heaped one above another on a vertical spit and roasted in front of a coal fire. Fresh carrots, peas, broad beans French beans, courgettes, egg plants, and little gherkins called “ladies’ fingers” are served with sweetish or very spicy sauces.

Potatoes are not common whilst tomatoes are served with everything. Rice is being more and more widely eaten. Mint and many other herbs unknown to us are used to flavor the vegetables. Fish and shellfish are certainly worth trying, especially on the coast; they are succulent, served grilled or backed, with herbs and lemon. Bread is made large flat “loaves” using little yeast; it often tastes undercooked. It is better in the country - where it is baked in wood fired ovens - than it is in the towns. It is torn off in long strips which can then be used to scoop up purées, sauces and yogurt. Yogurt is served in the morning. Mixed with iced water it makes a refreshing drink in the heat. Dried and salted it becomes almost the only Syrian cheese.

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Preserved fruit & Sweets

“All kinds of fruit, just about all the year round”. This could be a Syrian slogan. Oranges, grapefruit, pears, apricots, figs, olives, plums, greengages, grapes, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, and fresh or dried almonds - they are offered for sale at the roadside, heaped up on the greengrocers’ carts, a feature of every table.

Melons are also eaten - big watermelons and the smaller yellow ones. Preserved fruit (particularly apricots) are a specialty of Damascus; Aleppo is noted for its almond paste. Great apricot cake, and others stuffed with pistachios and dripping with honey, beckon from the windows of the many cake shops in the capital. Each region has its specialty in cakes.

The shuebiat (flour, nuts and cream) comes from Homs and Hama, the kolchcor (flour and pistachios) and knafeh from Damascus and Aleppo…

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Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks

Since 1976 the pure spring waters of Bouquein (near Bludan) and Dreykish (near Safita) have been on sale in one and a half liter plastic bottles. They are light, contain few mineral salts and are a pleasant-tasting aid to digestion. Each province has at least one sulphurous spring.

The vine-growing areas (Aleppo Homs, Jabal al-Arab, Maaloula and others) produce white, rosé and red wines which are often full-bodied and fruity with a pleasant bouquet. Arak, an aniseed-flavored brandy, comes from the same districts. The national brand of beer is not without flavor, although it is non-alcoholic. It is pleasantly refreshing. Imported mineral waters, aperitifs, wines and beers are of course obtainable in the main hotels. Sparkling fruit juices are gaining in popularity at the expense of the “colas”. True fruit juices are drunk on the pavements, outside the little shops that specialized in preparing and mixing to order delicious cocktails of citrus fruits, cherries, carrots, bananas - all fresh and served ice-cold. Turkish coffee (sweetish) and tea (strong , served in small glasses) are served at the slightest excuse throughout the day. They are often accompanied by a glass of iced water, which is welcome as they are served boiling hot.