Levantine cuisine

Levantine cuisine is the traditional food from the Levant, a region that was once called Bilad al-Sham. This type of cooking shares some similarities with Egyptian cuisine, North African cuisine, and Ottoman cuisine.

A spread of classic Levantine meze dishes, including, from top, clockwise: hummus, fried haloumi, baba ganouj, makdous and salad

One of the most special parts of Levantine meals is called meze. Meze includes many small dishes, both hot and cold, that are enjoyed together. Some popular meze dishes are Manakish pies, kibbeh, ful medames, hummus, tabbouleh, and baba ghanoush. These dishes are usually served with bread, making every meal delicious and full of flavor.

History

The history of Levantine cuisine goes back to ancient times. People like the Arameans, Canaanites, Israelites, Phoenicians, Hittites, and Arabians lived in the area. They grew grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables that are still important today. Bread, olive oil, and wine have always been important in this cuisine.

Over time, different groups brought new cooking ideas. Today, the style of food from the Ottoman cuisine has a big influence. Old cookbooks show many recipes still used today. The way people in the Levant ate changed between the 1960s and the 1990s, with more processed foods and animal products being eaten. Traditional ways of keeping food included pickling, fermenting, and drying.

Levantine dishes

Classic

Mezes or small dishes

Baba ghanoush—a dip made from baked eggplant mixed with lemon, garlic, olive oil and seasonings
Chickpea salad or salatat hummus—an Arab salad with cooked chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, salt, olive oil, and cumin
Falafel—spiced mashed chickpeas formed into balls or fritters and fried, usually eaten with or in pita bread with hummus

Baba ghanoush

Fattoush—a salad of chopped cucumber, radish, tomato and other vegetables, with fried or toasted pita bread
Ful medames—ground fava beans and olive oil also prepared in Syria as a salad with fava beans, chopped tomatoes, onion, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, pepper and salt
Hummus—a thick paste or spread made from ground chickpeas and olive oil, lemon, and garlic; also common in Egypt
Kibbeh—a dumpling-like dish of ground lamb with bulgur wheat or rice and seasonings, eaten cooked or raw
Kibbeh nayyeh—a mezze of minced raw meat mixed with fine bulgur and various seasonings
Labneh—yogurt that has been strained to remove its whey; most popular as a breakfast food
Lentil soup—may be vegetarian or include meat, using brown, red, yellow or black lentils, with or without the husk
Makanek—Arabic sausage made from ground meat spiced with pine nuts, cumin, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg and served with pomegranate molasses.
Manakish—a pizza-like flatbread garnished with minced meat, thyme or za'atar, commonly eaten for breakfast or dinner
Mfarakeh—an Arab dish made of potato, egg, ghee, cumin powder, salt and pepper, with chopped coriander leaf as garnish
Muhammara—a hot pepper dip made from fresh or dried peppers, breadcrumbs, olive oil, spices and ground walnuts
Raheb—a salad with eggplants and tomatoes, popular in the Middle East.
Sambusac—a triangular savory pastry fried in ghee or oil with spiced vegetables or meat
Sfiha—open-faced meat pies made with ground mutton, lamb or beef
Shanklish—cow's or sheep's milk cheese formed into balls, rolled in Aleppo pepper and za'atar, then aged and dried
Shawarma—roasted meat, cooked on a revolving spit and shaved for serving in sandwiches
Tabbouleh—a salad of bulgur mixed with finely chopped parsley, minced onions and tomatoes

Main dishes

Falafel

Bamia—a stew prepared with chunks of lamb meat with okra in a tomato-based sauce, served over rice
Dolma—vegetables, typically eggplants, zucchinis, onions, peppers or tomatoes, stuffed with minced meat and rice
Fasoulia—a stew prepared with white beans and meat served over rice
Fatteh—chicken over rice, topped with yogurt and pita bread
Freekeh—a cereal food made from green durum wheat that is roasted and rubbed to create its flavour, then served with cumin, cinnamon, and fresh lamb-tail fat
[Harees]–Cracked wheat and meat porridge or gruel with seasoning
Kabsa—a rice-based dish commonly eaten with meat, lamb or chicken, cooked in a variety of spices and topped with nuts over rice and prepared in Syria and Gaza
Kebab—a dish of ground beef or lamb, grilled or roasted on a skewer
Kebab karaz—a type of kebab made of lamb meatballs in a cherry-based broth with pine nuts and sour cherries over pita bread
Kousa mahshi—zucchinis baked and stuffed with minced meat and rice in a tomato-based sauce
Malfouf–rolled cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, meat and spices
Mansaf—lamb or chicken cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served over rice
Maqluba—a rice-based casserole with meat, rice, and fried vegetables in a pot, which is flipped upside down when served, hence the name, which literally translates as "upside-down"
Mujaddara—cooked lentils with groats, generally rice, garnished with sautéed onions
Mulukhiyah—a stew cooked with mallow leaves, mucillagenous like okra, eaten with chicken in a thick broth
Musakhan—a classic Palestinian dish, a whole roasted chicken baked with onions, sumac, allspice, saffron, and fried pine nuts served over taboon bread
Qarymutah, a simple way to prepare bulgur in rural areas of Homs, Hama and Salamiyah. Bulgur is cooked with vegetables and wrapped in grape leaves
Qidreh—a lamb stew with chickpeas, garlic and spices, commonly served over rice
Quzi—a hearty dish of roasted lamb with raisins, nuts and spices over rice or wrapped in taboon bread
Shish kebab—grilled or roasted chunks of meat on a skewer, commonly served over flatbread or rice
Sumaghiyyeh—ground sumac is soaked in water then mixed with tahina (sesame-seed paste), water and flour, added to sautéed chopped chard, pieces of slow-stewed beef, and garbanzo beans
Zibdieh—a clay-pot dish of shrimp baked in a stew of olive oil, garlic, hot peppers, and peeled tomatoes

Fattoush is a Levantine pita bread salad that includes mixed greens and other vegetables.

Breads

Ka'ak—a type of biscuit/cookie shaped into a ring, occasionally sprinkled with sesame seeds
Markook—a thin, unleavened flatbread baked on an iron griddle known as saj
Pita—a soft, slightly leavened flatbread baked from wheat flour

Condiments

Tahini—condiment made of ground and hulled sesame seeds, primary ingredient baba ghanoush and hummus
Toum—a paste containing garlic, olive oil and salt, typically used as a dip
Za'atar—a condiment of dried herbs mixed with sesame seeds, dried sumac, and often salt, as well as other spices

Sweets

Awameh—a fried-dough Levantine pastry similar to doughnut holes, made of deep-fried dough soaked in sugar syrup or honey and cinnamon, sometimes sprinkled with sesame seeds
Basbousa—a Middle-Eastern small, sweet cake of cooked semolina soaked in rose water syrup, topped with almonds or walnuts
Halawet el Jibn—is a Levantine dessert made of a semolina and cheese dough, filled with qishta. Its origins are somewhere from central Syria.

Manakish

Knafeh—a dessert made with shredded filo and melted cheese soaked in a sugary syrup
Ma'amoul—semolina shortbread cookies filled with dates or walnuts, commonly sprinkled with sugar
Meghli–a floured rice pudding spiced with anise, caraway and cinnamon and garnished with coconut flakes and nuts
Qatayef—a dessert commonly served during the month of Ramadan, a sweet dumpling filled with cream or nuts
Warbat—a sweet pastry with thin layers of phyllo pastry filled with custard, popularly eaten during Ramadan
Zalabia—a fried dough pastry shaped as balls or discs, often dipped in a sweet syrup

Drinks

Limonana—lemonade made from freshly-squeezed lemon juice and mint leaves
Qamar al-Din—a thick, cold apricot drink typically served during the month of Ramadan

Preserved foods

In Levantine countries, mouneh (Arabic: مونة) is the practice of preserving seasonal foods for times of scarcity, these includes syrups, jams, dried foods, pickles, among others. Brining in salt is traditionally one of the primary preservation methods, meats were traditionally preserved in fat. The Oxford Companion to Food described Syria and Lebanon as having "a strong culture of preserving seasonal foods".^: 460

Such foods were traditionally made to ensure food security, but the practice declined with the availability of modern food preservation means, however, the tradition is still practiced by food cooperatives. Spaces exposed to the sun like balconies are used for drying food.