Aleppo: conquered a lot, probably for its kebabs
Syria, and Aleppo in particular, seemed like the natural place to start my Middle East food crawl. In many ways, this was where it all began. Along with the capital, Damascus, Aleppo claims to be the oldest continually inhabited city on earth.
People have been thriving here for over 10,000 years, during which time the city has been conquered by – in no particular order – the Akkadians of Mesopotamia (Iraq), the Sumerians, Amorites, Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Hittites, Mongols, Mamluks and Ottomans (apologies to any marauding hordes of barbarians that I might have left out).
Alexander The Great stormed into town in 333 BC, possibly because he was at a loose end one afternoon while he was waiting for a hair appointment.
Alexander The Great: mass murderer, ruthless despot, sacker of cities… but such great hair.
Throw in the spread of Islam in the 7th century AD, and the Crusades that followed – not to mention the odd earthquake here and there – and you’ve got a real little survivor on your hands. And that’s before you get to the brief British occupation and then the French Mandate that followed the First World War.
Sandwiched between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, Aleppo had once enjoyed a position as a great trading city on the Silk Road, but its routes of prosperity began to dry up, and by the early 20th century it had fallen into decline.
Pot Noodle in ongoing Middle East conflict comparison outrage
If Aleppo’s troubled history was a meal, it would be a buckling banquet table of hot and cold mezze plates, fiery dips, succulent grilled meats, aromatic rice dishes and bitter-sweet Arabic pastries – a bewildering variety of complex flavours, textures and aromas that would make the modern-day Arab-Israeli conflict look like a Pot Noodle.
James Brennan is a freelance food and travel writer. The former food editor of Time Out Dubai and restaurant critic for The National newspaper, he has contributed to a range of publications in the Middle East and beyond, from CNN Traveller to The Sunday Times.
He is the current Academy chairman of the Middle East region for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants sponsored by S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, and he has travelled extensively to discover the food, flavours and people of this fascinating and often misunderstood region.
