For anyone who doesn't know much about Syrian cuisine and interested to know more, I collected few Internet links. Unfortunately Syrian food is very poorly advertised and it is not the easiest of tasks to find proper resources about the subject. This is a collection of pages I visited in the past:
Paul' Travel Blog. Although I don't agree with few things he mentioned in the blog but it is a general look of what a tourist could eat in Syria
Wikipedia. Very poor page. It is my next task to improve this page.
Food Safari. nice page about Syrian food.
And a couple of books for you:
Modern Mezze by Anissa Helou
Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews by Poppa Dweck
Hi Kano, nice to meet you! I am hoping to see some yummy food on this blog. How is Syrian food for vegetarians?
ReplyDeleteHi Holler. Thanks for saying hello.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there is very few Syrian vegetarians, Syrian food is very good for that. There is so many vegetarian mezze dishes, salads, and pastries. Breakfast and dinner are almost always vegetarian (lunch is the main meal in Syria). And more, every vegetable based main dish is cooked two ways one with with meat and the other as we call it "with oil".
actually i can say with full trust , after trying many dishes from different arabic dishes, syrian cousin is the best.
ReplyDeletenice blog
Regards.
ps: did u try adding ur link here www.syplanet.com ?
Hi Omniah
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by and the nice words. I love your blog by the way. One of the few arabic blogs that I enjoy reading.
I tried Syplanet.com but still I didn't hear from them.
Hello Kano,
ReplyDeleteI like your site and effort to make the Syrian food more noticeable :)
About the books you linked, I'm not sure if you read them?
Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews by Poppa Dweck
or
Saha: A Chef's Journey Through Lebanon and Syria by Greg Malouf
I'm sorry to tell you that both of them were on my worst book list of mixing politics with food and stealing the Syrian Cuisine to label it as Jewish one or even a Lebanese one in Saha with the most ridiculous comments she wrote about her visit to Syria.
I don't mean to sound negative knowing very well that you are doing your best, unfortunately those two books are really a bad choice to market our Syrian cuisine.
Thank you
Hi there,
ReplyDeletethank you for the comment and I am glad you enjoy my blog. While it is mainly a reflection to what I enjoy the most: food, it is an attemp to raise the profile of Syrian cuisine.
Regarding your comments, I actually have both books. I agree with you especially about Saha. The whole idea of taking Syrian cuisine and calling it Lebanese make me so frustrated. I will be writing a post about that in the near future. And I know what you mean with the rediculous comments about Syria in that book.
This poor content or misrepresentation doesn't stop with the books. I am not happy with the links I put on either but I have no choice. There is very little about Syrian food out there and it is our fault that we don't promote our culture, cuisine or even our country as we should.
This post was not meant to me and you but those who don't have any idea what Syrian food is. It is just to give a flavour of what is our cuisine about.
I really wish there was better books and websites out there but till I have I will have to start somewhere. I hope this website will be a reference point one day.
Anyway, welcome on my website and please feel free to make comments any time you wish. And keep coming back!
Where do you live by the way?
Regards
Hi Kano,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your understanding and I'm really sorry that my comments sounded a bit rude. I honestly didn't mean them in any bad way, but those two books got me angry when i read them.
I have the same frustrating feeling like yours that we are letting others to take what belongs to us and claim it for themselves and their countries, the sad thing is that nobody challenge any of them with some original book about our divers and great Syrian cuisine that is in reality the origin pot for everything they claim.
The Damascene, the Aleppian, the Syrian Mediterranean coast cuisine all those are the Syrian soul and I sincerely wish if we could protect them as our treasures instead of letting people to take them form us, maybe tomorrow someone will claim that 6abbakh roho, kibbe sajiye and samake 7arra is their own creation and have the 'trademark' on them!!!! I would not be surprise if it happens, we already have no claim of Hummus or Za3tar now, they 'magically' are either Lebanese or Israeli (as if Israel not an occupation of Palestinians lands, air water and people!!!) what a weird world we live in!
I'm a very proud Syrian expat who happened to live in Vancouver, Canada
J.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog. I was really happy when I discover your site because we always see Lebanese recipes and never Syrian ones.
I totally agree with the comment above.
I have just created a blog of Syrian food (parisalep.wordpress.com). It's in French, i think it's the 1st site of Syrian cuisine in this language.
@Alepine
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog. I am so happy that more people are writing about our great cuisine to help raise its profile, and now it is happening in French!
I wish I could read French so I can follow your blog.
Best of luck with blog and keep the nice recipes coming. Those Fatayer Sbanekh looks great.
Thank you very much for your message ;-)
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