Syrian Street Corn (Boiled and Roasted Corn on the Cob)

All through summer and autumn, fresh corn is sold on the streets of Damascus. Most of it is boiled today: the seller husks the cobs each day, boils them, puts the pot on a handcart and works the neighbourhoods. The older form is roasted, over charcoal, fanned by hand, at a street corner. Both are eaten standing up, in the hand. It belongs to the same family as the roasted and boiled corn of Turkish streets, but in Damascus the trade has a written history.

Roasted: a trade on record for 120 years

Qamus al-Sinaat al-Shamiyya, a dictionary of Damascene trades compiled by Muhammad Said al-Qasimi in the early 20th century, gives corn roasting its own entry. It was temporary work for the corn season in summer, done by women and men alike. The seller cut only as many green cobs from the field as could be sold that day. He lit charcoal in a clay stove or an iron brazier, kept it alive with a hand fan, and roasted the corn at crossroads and in markets for passers-by. Some customers bought the cobs raw and roasted them at home.

Boiled: the cart that comes out in late afternoon

Today’s seller mostly boils. A Damascus vendor who spoke to Athr Press in 2023, after 20 years in the trade, husks the cobs every morning and boils them in clean water. At 17:00 he sets off with the cart and keeps walking until the corn runs out. Most of his customers are children and teenagers. The Consumer Protection Association counts these carts as part of Damascus folklore.

In a cup in Homs, after midnight in Tartus

Homs has settled on another form. The kernels are cut from the cob into a cup and topped with cheese, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce and chilli; people call it “mix”. One cart on the city’s Shari al-Ushaq street has sold it since 2002, and the cup has become part of the evening stroll and of students meeting up.

On the coast the hours shift. On the Tartus Corniche, carts selling boiled corn and beans open at 18:00 in summer and work until 03:00; one of them has stood in the same spot for 22 years.

Why there is no fixed price

The Damascus Governorate lists corn selling among the street trades it covers with a “folkloric seasonal licence”. Because the crop is seasonal, there is no official price; it changes from cart to cart and from week to week. Ask before you buy.