Greek vs Syrian food & cuisine

Every day eating revolves around wheat breads, vegetables like tomato and eggplant, legumes, greens, and cheeses, feta and graviera, with yogurt as sauce or base. Coastal fish and island seafood sit alongside lamb, goat, pork, and charcoal-grilled souvlaki.  Honey, nuts, and phyllo dough desserts provide a sweet finish. In short: elemental ingredients, careful seasoning, and communal joy. 

Textures matter – smooth dips are paired with crunchy breads or fresh salads. Stews are often served with fluffy rice or cracked wheat pilafs. Seasoning is very pronounced, especially with deep and warm spice blends.

Another use of wheat is as a comfort food, hilopites, Greek pasta, resembling flat, square-shaped pieces, often homemade and cooked in rich tomato sauce with chicken or lamb.

In Greek cuisine, rice isn’t as essential as in some other cuisines, but it does bring diversity in flavors and textures. It’s used as a filling for tomatoes, bell peppers, and grape leaves, in soups, and in pilafs (though bulgur is also used in pilafs), often seasoned with fresh herbs, olive oil, and lemon. The use of other cereals is minimal.

Cracked wheat bulgur, partially boiled and then dried again, adds a unique texture and nutty flavor to pilafs, salads, soups, stews, and kibbeh (spiced meat and bulgur dish). Bulgur has a very ancient origin, dating back around 4,000 years to the Mediterranean region, and is closely associated with Levantine cuisine.

Another popular wheat variation is freekeh, a durum wheat grain that is harvested still green, roasted, and rubbed to have a distinctive nutty taste and chewy texture. It features soups, pilafs, sides, kibbeh, or salad.

Rice is important, but a complementary staple, served as a light, fluffy texture side with a nutty flavor, or combined with beans, vegetables, or ground meat. The ongoing conflict has severely impacted agriculture and food security, resulting in lower rice availability.

The most frequently used are tomatoes; they are the base of many sauces and are the star of gemista and Greek salad. Eggplants are often grilled, baked, or fried, mashed into a popular smoky eggplant dip, melitzanosalata. Zucchinis you may find stuffed with rice and herb mixture or transformed into fritters. Roasted peppers might be used in salads, spreads, or served as accompaniments. Spinach, dandelion, and amaranth greens are of widespread use. While okra is more commonly associated with cuisines of the American South, the Middle East, and Africa, it also finds its place in Greek kitchens; here, it is known as bamies.

Greek cuisine stands out for its minimalist approach to pulse preparation. They cook them in olive oil to bring out the natural flavors and season mainly with garlic, onions, tomatoes, oregano, and lemons, while neighboring cuisines incorporate more spices.

Greek cuisine is rich in potato recipes. Lemon is a key ingredient in almost everything – it adds the iconic flavor this cuisine is known for.

Pickles – turnips, cucumbers, cauliflower, and especially makdous (oil-preserved stuffed eggplants) – are staples of mezze, giving salty, sour, garlicky contrasts to meat and grain dishes.

Fruits add another distinctive layer: cherries, apricots, quince, and pomegranate are folded into meat dishes and kebabs. Pomegranate molasses is essential for dressings and marinades. Qamar al-din, an apricot leather drink, is a Ramadan tradition, and dried figs, dates, raisins, and apricots enrich pilafs and stews. Murabba, whole fruits preserved in syrup, is offered with coffee as a gesture of hospitality.

Lamb is the most iconic meat locally, especially during the Orthodox Easter, when whole lambs are roasted on spits. Dishes like kfeftiko rustic slow-cooked lamb, paidakia lamb chops, and lamb fricassee, braised with greens, are popular.

In the same rocky terrains, goats roam alongside sheep. They are loved and prepared similarly; the meat is flavorful and pairs well with Greek herbs.

With the advent of Christianity in Greece, pork became more prominent as it wasn’t associated with ancient pagan rituals like lamb or beef; the relative ease of pig farming also contributed to its popularity.

Grilled meats are widespread, kebabs and shawarma lead the way. Syrians also love their ground and minced meat dishes. Kibbeh is the national dish – a mix of meat and bulgur blended into a paste with spices and pine nuts. It can be fried, grilled, or even eaten raw. Aleppo in particular has mastered it, with more than 17 varieties, including the city’s famous kibbeh halabiyeh.

Among the Greek islands, seafood specialties feature sun-dried octopus, which you’ll often see hanging outside to dry. This method tenderizes the meat and imparts a unique dried flavor. Once dried, the octopus is grilled, becoming tender and smoky.

Grilled sardines can be found in various cuisines, but the simple Greek preparation typically involves olive oil, lemon, and oregano.

Mountainous terrain favored sheep and goats, so sheep cheeses became dominant; feta is a white, brined, tangy cheese primarily from sheep’s milk, with up to 30% goat’s milk allowed under PDO rules.

Feta is among the oldest recorded cheese styles, linked to descriptions in Homer’s era, and still hugely popular – often cited as about 70% of Greek cheese consumption.

Syrians have also developed clever ways to preserve milk. One of the best examples is jameed (also called kashk), where yogurt is fermented, strained, salted, and dried into hard, salty ‘stones.’ Traditionally made from sheep’s milk, it can later be rehydrated and used in stews and sauces.

Cheese isn’t as central, but there are still beloved local varieties. Jibbneh mashallale, a string cheese stored in brine, is one example.

With over 120 million olive trees in Greece, that’s roughly 11 trees for every resident in the country. The majority of the olive oil produced is of extra virgin quality, making it one of the highest percentages in the world. It’s mind-blowing to think about the impact of olives and olive oil on Greek cuisine. One of the most characteristic aspects of Greek food is ladera dishes. These are vegetables cooked slowly in olive oil with tomatoes and herbs, creating a rich, comforting meal.

Nuts grow abundantly throughout Greece; they are enjoyed raw and roasted as a snack, a crunchy addition to salads or pilafs, and in sweets. Nuts, especially almonds, hold religious significance in Greece.

Many of Greece’s desserts, such as baklava, galaktoboureko, and kataifi, rely on phyllo dough soaked in honey or sugar syrup. The combination of crunchy layers with sticky syrup creates a signature texture central to Greek sweets.

Nuts are hugely popular — pistachios, walnuts, almonds, and especially pine nuts. In fact, pine nuts were once so prized that Levantine pine forests were cultivated just for them. Harvesting is slow and labor-intensive, which explains their high price today. In Syrian cooking, they’re more than decoration: pine nuts are sprinkled over rice dishes, kibbeh, and stews.

Syrian desserts are sweet, rich, and layered. They usually feature nuts, pastry, syrup, and cheese.  A hallmark of Syrian sweets is the tradition of pastry and syrup. Thin dough, phyllo, or semolina is filled with pistachios, walnuts, or almonds, baked, and then soaked in sugar syrup.

Milk and semolina puddings are another important branch of Syrian sweets. Fruits are also dessert ingredients, both fresh and preserved. Whole fruits preserved in syrup are a sign of hospitality, served with coffee for guests. Dried figs, dates, and apricots find their way into confections and drinks.