Homs and Hama Foodways

Regional

The central plain on the Orontes, and Syria’s grain and dairy country. HOMS and HAMA sit where the irrigated valley meets the steppe: WHEAT and barley, chickpea and lentil, sugar beet, and the market gardens along the river. The food is plainer than either great city’s and is not the poorer for it: KIBBEH of many village forms; BULGUR in everything; MAKDOUS, the oil-cured stuffed baby aubergine, which is a Homs and Hama speciality and a household autumn ritual; JEW’S MALLOW and the green stews; SFEEHA, the open meat pie, strongly associated with Baalbek across the border and with Homs; and the dairy of the steppe edge. ⚠ HAMA’S NORIAS — the wooden waterwheels on the Orontes — are the irrigation that made this agriculture, and they are a food monument.