Store

Levantine Preservation

مونة

Specialised

⚠ MOUNEH IS THE WORD AND IT MEANS THE WHOLE PRACTICE: the household store laid down in season so that winter can be eaten. It is the organising fact of the year in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, and it is largely women’s work, done cooperatively. KISHK — bulgur fermented with milk or yogurt, dried and ground, a powder that keeps for years. JAMEED, the hard dried yogurt of the steppe. SHANKLISH, cheese balls aged with za’atar and chilli until they develop a rind. MAKDOUS, baby aubergine stuffed with walnut and pepper and kept under oil. Dried mulukhiyah, okra, bamia and aubergine threaded on strings. TOMATO PASTE spread on trays in the sun. Pomegranate and grape molasses (DIBS). Preserved lemons, olives in brine, pickled turnip and cucumber. Apricot and quince leather. ZA’ATAR mixed and stored. ⚠ AND IT IS NOT NOSTALGIA: mouneh is documented as having mattered acutely during the Syrian war, when supply chains failed and a household’s store was the difference.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

Languages: North Levantine Arabic, South Levantine Arabic

What is recorded

  • Mouneh denotes the household preserved store laid down in season, and is documented as largely women’s cooperative work. Recorded components include kishk (bulgur fermented with milk, dried and ground), jameed, shanklish, makdous, sun-dried vegetables, tomato paste, pomegranate and grape molasses, preserved lemons and za’atar. Mouneh is documented as having mattered acutely during the Syrian war when supply chains failed. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • related to Jameed documented

    The same family as Syrian and Lebanese kishk and the dried yogurts of Anatolia and Central Asia.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.