A FOOD TRADITION
Damascene Cuisine
Damascene cuisine is the cooking tradition of Damascus and its surrounding Ghouta, shaped by urban households, market foodways, and the city’s long Ottoman and Levantine connections. It emphasizes rice, bulgur, lamb, chicken, yogurt, eggplant, vine leaves, apricots, sour cherries, and abundant herbs and spices. Techniques include stuffing vegetables, layering rice and meat, slow braising, grilling, and preparing fruit-based sauces for savory dishes. Recognizable examples include shish barak, mahshi, and fattah, alongside dishes such as yabrak and harak osbao. It shares many forms with neighboring Levantine cuisines while retaining a strongly established Damascene repertoire and serving tradition.
Dishes linked to this cuisine
1–5 of 5
Ful Medames
Ful medames is a warm dish of slowly cooked fava beans seasoned with oil, lemon, garlic, cumin, and salt.
Harraq Esbao
A Syrian lentil stew combining tamarind and pomegranate molasses with handmade wheat-dough pieces, fried onions, garlic, and cilantro.
Kibbeh Labaniyeh
A preparation of bulgur-based kibbeh pieces containing seasoned minced meat and served simmered in a yogurt sauce, often with garlic and mint.
Mujaddara
A savory dish of lentils and rice cooked with cumin and topped or mixed with deeply caramelized onions.
Shish Barak
Shish Barak is a Levantine dish of lamb-filled wheat dumplings simmered in a garlicky yogurt sauce, often finished with herbs.
Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.