Syrian Coastal Foodways

Coastal

Latakia and Tartus: a narrow Mediterranean strip behind the coastal mountains, and the one part of Syria that eats fish as a matter of course. SAYADIEH, fish with rice browned in fish stock and cumin; SAMKE HARRA, fish in a hot tahini, walnut and pepper sauce, strongly associated with this coast and with Tripoli across the Lebanese border; grilled sardine and sea bass; and the mezze eaten with them. The agriculture is CITRUS — the orange and lemon groves of the coastal plain — OLIVES and olive oil, tobacco, tomato, and the mountain fruit above. ⚠ AND THE COASTAL MOUNTAINS ARE A DISTINCT FOOD REGION from the shore: villages there are an ALAWITE heartland with their own dairy, preserved food and mountain crops, recorded as a place and a population rather than as a religious claim about diet.