Cypriot vs Syrian food & cuisine

Cyprus shares many flavors with its neighbors, but its cuisine has a character of its own. Meals often revolve around meze, small dishes served all at once, fresh local ingredients, plenty of mint and olive oil, and a fondness for slow-cooked food. Bread, sausages, and halloumi cheese show up everywhere, from breakfast to dinner.

Syrian cuisine is very much tied with its agricultural heritage: grains (bulgur, rice), legumes (lentils, chickpeas), meats (lamb, chicken), and vegetables in one dish. Sweet, sour, salty, and savory are balanced through the use of lemon, pomegranate molasses, yogurt, garlic, and warm spices. Meals are often slow-cooked, hearty, rich, and at the same time loaded with seasonal produce, mint, parsley, nuts, and dried fruits.

Wheat dominates, as it does across the Mediterranean, but Cyprus uses a wider mix of grains, including barley, corn, and rice. Wheat remains essential for pita, a thick, oval, oven-baked bread eaten daily.

Wheat is by far the dominant grain –  bread and bulgur are core products feeding people every day. Bread in Syria is referred to as khubz in Arabic and very commonly comes in the flat and oval form. A piece of bread is taken with hands to scoop stews, sauces, and yogurt; it can be split into pockets for various fillings.

Cypriot cooking leans heavily on vegetables, but meat, dairy, and grains often balance or even outweigh them. Vegetables show up in salads, stews, and alongside grilled foods, usually dressed with lemon and olive oil. A typical summer salad mixes celery leaves and stalks, parsley, coriander, tomatoes, and cucumber. Purslane and wild dandelion greens are also popular.

Vegetables are the second most important food group in Syrian cuisine; many dishes are vegetarian. Eggplants, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, garlic, leafy greens, cabbage, okra, and turnips are commonly consumed. Like most of the Levant, Syrians like their vegetables stuffed. The term maharshi translates to stuffed in Arabic, either eggplant, zucchini, or cabbage, as well as leaves. A particular term, yabrak, refers to stuffed grapevine leaves, a dish shared within many Levantine cuisines, though it usually comes as a main hot dish in Syria.

Livestock farming has long shaped Cypriot agriculture and diet. Many villages lie inland, sometimes far from the coast, and this distance from the sea historically tied people to animal husbandry. Pork became the dominant meat, prepared through charcoal grilling, sausages, and preservation with smoke and wine. Red wine, in fact, defines much of the island’s charcuterie.

Lamb and mutton are by far the preferred meats in Syria; they have been essential to the whole Levant for ages. Pork is avoided due to Islamic prohibition; cattle are present, though it is less suited for grazing in arid climates, and smaller ruminants like sheep and goats require fewer resources to grow. Chicken goes alongside sheep and goat meats, though, out of practical reasons, not the tradition.

As for the island on the Mediterranean Sea, the traditional cuisine must include seafood – and it does. Locals grill octopus, squid, sea bream, and red mullet, then finish them with lemon and sea salt. Grilling is common, though locals also prepare seafood soups and stews. Cypriot meze is often ocean-focused, offering fish roe salad, squid, and small fried fish.

Though it has access to the Mediterranean Sea, Syria is not a fish-eating nation, except for coastal areas. There, fish is frequently fried, contrary to the Southern Mediterranean tradition, which limits spices and emphasizes fish flavor. In Syria, fish recipes highlight spices, like in sayadieh – fish cooked with spiced rice, deep fried onions, and tahini sauce, or samkeh harra – a spicy fish dish.

Milk and dairy play an important role in Cypriot cooking. It’s striking that such a small island produced a cheese as widely known as halloumi. This semi-hard, unripened, brined cheese, from goat’s and sheep’s milk, has been part of local life for centuries.  Anari is another key cheese. Soft and similar to ricotta, it works in both savory and sweet dishes and is often served with honey. Yogurt is a staple, used in cooking and served alongside rich meats.

In Syria, as in much of the Middle East, fermented and cultured dairy takes center stage. Yogurt is especially important – not just as a side, but as a key cooking ingredient. At the everyday table, you’re far more likely to see yogurt, labneh, or ayran than a glass of plain milk. Labneh is a true staple — thick, spreadable, and sitting somewhere between yogurt and cheese.

Olive oil is a primary source of fat for salads, grilled veggies, meats, and bread dippings. Some seed oils are also used, like sunflower oil, but to a lesser extent.

Many Cypriot desserts rely on semolina or flour, sugar or honey, almonds, walnuts, sometimes fruit, rose-water, or mastic. These give sweets a warm, aromatic,  nutty or floral flavour — not overly rich, but comforting. You’ll find desserts that are crunchy outside and soft inside, flaky and nutty, dense and chewy, or silky and light.

Like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, olives are a favorite in Syria, and olive oil is important flavoring oil. Sunflower oil and ghee are also used, but olive oil leads the way.