Shopping in Syria is always an exciting aspect for visitors, in Damascus, the 18th century market with more than 250 boutiques is impressive, it is a paradise for any shopper looking for clothes, carpets, handicrafts, silk and leather goods, copper and other ­items made in Syria.

Syrian hospitality is unrivalled. Syria produces some of the world's most colourful and fresh fruit and vegetables and uses them in the delicious outstanding cuisine.

Syrian cuisine, considered by many to be the best of the Middle Eastern cooking. Its colourful, full of flavour, and beautifully presented.

Syrians generally love their meat, but vegetarian dishes equally popular and tasty.

In restaurants, they serve variety of mixed grill, mainly chicken and lamb, barbecued on charcoal, covered in flat Arabic bread (Khubs), garnished with chopped onion and parsley.

Khubs: Pita bread, which is round flat and thin.

Mixed spices, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, herbs and nuts, are widely used in the Syrian cuisine.

Mezze: selections of appetizers mainly vegetarian dishes, served before the main course as starter or as snacks.

Hummus: dip made of ground chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and cumin.

Babaghnouj: puréed aubergine with parsley, onion, olive oil and tomato as a garnish.

Falafel: deep fried small balls of mashed chickpeas, coriander, and sesame seeds.

Tabbouleh: salad of parsley, bulgur wheat, tomato olive oil, lemon juice, spring onion, sumaq, and mint.

 Main course dishes:

Mixed grill, Lamb, chicken, fish...

Kofta: minced lamb, onion, spices, parsley.

Mahshie: courgettes, Aubergines and green peppers, stuffed with rice, mince meat, spices and herbs.

Mahshi Yabrak: stuffed vine leaves, rolled with rice spiced mince lamb garlic and lemon juice.

Kibbeh: cracked wheat, ground lamb, onion and spices, shaped in to small balls stuffed with spicy minced lamb, pine nuts onion, shallow fried or grilled.

Kibbeh nayeh: raw kibbeh, served with chilli olive oil and walnuts.

Kibbeh labenneya: small balls of kibbeh, cooked in warm yogurt with rice.

Makloubeh: layers of lamb, rice and aubergine, turned over after cooking and toped with roasted mixed nuts.

Exotic Fruit  

White mulberry, prickly pear, figs, pomegranate, melon, Apricot.

The famous pistachios are used in many pastries, smothered in sugar syrup.

Baklawa: one of the many popular desserts, which you can sample in Syria, made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and cinnamon, soaked in rose water syrup.

Olives

Olive oil is one of the oldest culinary oils. The olive tree is native to Asia Minor and was first thought to be cultivated in Syria about 6,000 years ago. 

In 2008, production of olives in Syria reached a total of 750 thousand tons from 89 million mature trees.

Some varieties of Syrian olive oil are rated as one of the best in the world.

Syrian cuisine rely heavily on the use of olive oil and it has been the foundation of the Syrian diet for thousands of years.

Aleppo is famous for producing highly thought after soap made from laurel and olive oil.

Traditional green salad dressing: fresh lemon juice + olive oil + salt +(sprinkle of dried mint, Sumq and chilli powder).

Sumaq or Sumac is a spice used in Middle Eastern cooking especially in the Syrian cuisine.

It’s the skin of rounded seeds the size of lentil, the seeds are sun dried and skinned, the maroon coloured skin is collected and grinded to make Sumaq, it has a citric lemony taste and used with traditional Syrian dishes, can be sprinkled over green or other type of salad to enhance the Taste or used with BBQ.

Its available in any Syrian market, sold as a dried spice in a small box or jar (not many people know that Sumaq can be toxic if consumed in high amount).

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