Kids' Favorites

The chickpea and tahini classic every country claims as its own.

5 versions

Crisp fried patties — chickpea in the Levant, fava in Egypt, beloved everywhere.

3 versions

Golden half-moon pastries — the first thing to vanish from any iftar table.

2 versions

Egypt's beloved street feast: rice, lentils, pasta, chickpeas, spicy tomato sauce, and crispy onions.

1 version

The spinning spit, tamed for the home kitchen — chicken or beef, wrapped and pressed.

3 versions

Minced meat, onion, and parsley — grilled on skewers or baked with potatoes and tahini.

3 versions

The Levantine morning flatbread — zaatar, cheese, or both, straight from the oven.

2 versions

Strained yogurt, thick enough to hold olive oil like a bowl holds water.

1 version

Savory sesame-mahlab rings — the dyafeh tin that never empties.

2 versions

Damascus's paper-thin sesame-pistachio crisps — sweet, snappy, dangerous by the boxful.

1 version

Open-faced meat pies — Baalbek's tiny masterpieces and every child's favorite tray.

2 versions

Molten cheese under crisp golden pastry, drowned in orange-blossom syrup — the region's most contested treasure.

3 versions

Ramadan's pancake: folded around cream or nuts, fried or fresh, always with syrup.

2 versions

The syrup-soaked semolina cake with an identity for every border it crosses.

2 versions

Egypt's bread pudding of victory — pastry, milk, nuts, and history baked to a bubbling crust.

1 version

Rice pudding, chilled and perfumed — the dessert every teta keeps waiting in the fridge.

2 versions

The butter cookies of every Levantine holiday tin — swirled, sandwiched, and dipped in chocolate.

1 version

The lattice-topped jam tart that traveled the Mediterranean and settled on every Levantine tea table.

1 version

Crisp golden fritters swimming in syrup — 'the floaters' of every festive night.

1 version

Lebanon's golden turmeric cake — humble, fragrant, and gone by sunset.

1 version

Thick, warm milk drink under cinnamon and nuts — winter's softest blanket.

2 versions

Frosted blender lemonade with mint — the drink of every Levantine summer lunch.

1 version

Salted yogurt over ice — the only correct answer to sfiha, kebab, and summer.

1 version

Crispy potato cubes tossed with garlic, coriander, and chili — the mezze everyone fights over.

1 version

Yogurt-and-garlic marinated chicken skewers, charred and always chased with toum.

2 versions

Peas and carrots with meat in tomato broth over rice — the first tabkha every kid learns to love.

1 version

Meatballs simmered with pearl onions in tomato sauce — named for an Ottoman pasha, loved by every kid.

1 version

Spiced minced meat baked inside baladi bread until the crust crackles.

1 version

Egypt's beloved pasta bake — penne, spiced meat, and a deep duvet of bechamel.

1 version

Spinach-stuffed triangles, sour with sumac and lemon — the pastry every teta folds by the hundred.

2 versions

The squeaky cheese that browns instead of melting — breakfast's fastest luxury.

1 version

The thousand-hole pancake — every pore drinks up honey and melted butter.

1 version

The purse-shaped sesame bread of Beirut's street corners — split, dusted with zaatar, eaten walking.

1 version

The milk pudding every MENA grandmother keeps in her fridge — silky, floral, and gone in a spoonful.

2 versions

Ridged choux fingers fried crisp and dunked in syrup — 'dates of Damascus' that contain no dates at all.

2 versions

The Gulf's little bites — crackly dumplings drizzled with date syrup, vanishing by the handful.

1 version

One name, two drinks: Egypt's snowy coconut-rice cooler and the Hijaz's tangy fermented barley brew.

2 versions