Traditional Arab Food

Across the Arab world the table is where hospitality becomes visible. A guest is fed before being asked their business, portions are calculated to leave food remaining, and the largest dishes are built for sharing from a single platter.

The staples are ancient. Wheat and barley became bread — from the paper-thin markook of the Levant to the thick khubz of the Gulf and the semolina breads of the Maghreb. Rice arrived later and became the centre of the great communal dishes: kabsa in Saudi Arabia, majboos in the Gulf, maqluba in Palestine and Jordan, ouzi in Iraq and the Levant.

Spice defines the regions as much as the ingredients. Baharat and loomi, the dried black lime of the Gulf, give kabsa its depth. Ras el hanout and preserved lemon mark the Moroccan tagine. Sumac, za'atar, tahini and olive oil are the signature of the Levant, while berbere and cardamom-heavy coffee run along the Red Sea.

Slow cooking is the other constant — the underground sand pit of the Bedouin zarb, the sealed clay of Yemeni mandi, the covered pot of a Moroccan tagine left over coals for hours. And every meal ends the same way: coffee poured from a dallah into small handleless cups, served in threes, with dates alongside.