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.

Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.