Latakia, Syria
The Syrian Table
What the Boats Bring In, the Kitchen Decides
On the coast the menu is not written the night before. It is written at six, on the quay, by whatever came up.
By The Bayt Syria table desk
14 January 2021
1 min read
Latakia
Inland, a kitchen decides what it wants and then goes and finds it. On the coast the order is reversed, and everyone involved seems happier for it.
The cook does not arrive at the quay with a list. She arrives with a budget and an opinion, and the two are negotiated against whatever is in the crates. If the sea has been generous the menu is generous. If it has not, the same three vegetables do more work and nobody comments.
This produces a cuisine with a particular quality: it does not have signature dishes so much as signature moves. A way of handling something small and bony. A way of using lemon that is not a garnish but a structural decision. A tolerance for a plate that is mostly one thing.
The recipe is a shape, not a list. You are given the shape and you fill it with whatever the morning provided.
Ask for the recipe and you will be given quantities that cannot possibly be right, because the person telling you has never once measured them, and is reconstructing from the wrist.
Photographs
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