Food
What to eat, where to find it, what it costs.
100 Food
Su boereg: the Armenian water borek of Aleppo
The sheets are boiled before they ever reach the oven, which is where the name comes from. In Aleppo it is feast food, baked at the neighbourhood oven.
Boiled pastry layers with white cheese and parsley through the middle · Variable — sold by the tray or the slice at the bakery; ask at the counter · Aleppo
Samoon, the sandwich loaf
A diamond-shaped loaf with a hard crust, baked on a stone oven floor and leavened with yoghurt. In Syria it is the bread of shawarma, falafel and kebab.
Diamond-shaped loaf with a hard crust, leavened with yoghurt · Variable — sold by the piece at the bakery; ask the price · Damascus
Sambousek, the Syrian half-moon pastry
Thin dough cut into discs, filled with meat or cheese, folded into a half-moon, crimped shut and fried. In Syria it is the first plate when the fast breaks.
Half-moon pastry filled with minced meat, onion and pine nuts, then fried · Variable — sold by the piece at the counter; ask the price · Damascus
Damascene Mulberry Syrup
Black mulberries boiled down with no water added, then let down with iced water. The season runs from early May to the end of June; the rest waits in jars.
Variable — the price of a bottle changes from shop to shop, ask · Damascus
Thursday of the Dead and the yellow ka’ak
The one day Christians and Muslims in the Levant keep together. Women go to the cemetery before sunrise and hand out yellow ka’ak and painted eggs to children.
Given away — not sold · Homs
Pomegranate Juice in Syria
A glass that starts in September and ends in November, when hand presses go up on the streets of Damascus, Aleppo and Latakia. Sweet fruit here, sour for molasses.
Variable — most stalls have no written list, ask before they press · Aleppo
Mint Lemonade (Limon bi Na’na)
Fresh lemon, a fistful of mint, sugar and ice through a blender give a pale green, foaming glass. It is the fixed point of a Syrian summer menu in any city.
Variable — ask the price of a glass at the restaurant · Aleppo
Mouneh, the Syrian winter pantry
Jars go up at the end of September: makdous, pickles, kishk, molasses. Mouneh is not a dish but a season, the way a Syrian house gets ready for winter.
It varies with the product and the season; ask while it is weighed at the spice shop · Damascus
Murashsham — the Stamped Bread of the Hauran
A disc of bread shaped by pressing the dough into a carved wooden mould. In Suwayda and Daraa it is the bread of feast days, scented with anise and mahlab.
A stamped disc scented with anise and mahlab · Variable — outside feast week, ask the price for an order · As-Suwayda
The musahharati, the man who wakes the street
The caller who wakes a Damascus quarter for the pre-dawn meal in Ramadan. Here the work was done with lutes rather than a drum, two hours before dawn.
Nothing is asked at night; payment is collected door to door on the first morning of Eid · Damascus
Mahleb
The seed inside the stone of the mahaleb cherry, smelling of bitter almond and cherry. It scents maamoul, maarouk and braided cheese, and Syria leads its export.
Sold by weight; a small amount is enough, so ask the price at the spice shop · Aleppo
Qurban Bread — the Prosphora of Syria’s Churches
Flour, water and a little salt; no oil and no sugar at all. The wooden seal pressed into the disc marks where the loaf is to be cut during the liturgy.
A pale gold disc pressed with a carved wooden seal · Not sold — handed out at the liturgy · Damascus
