Çörək,Cheorek, Cheoreg or Çörek is a dinner roll that comes from Turkey. The name "cheoreg" means ring or rounded. Cheoreg is a braided bread. It is especially popular in Turkey, Armenia and the Middle-East. Cheoreg comes in different variations, from sweet to savory. In Armenian tradition, a big batch of choreg is baked for Easter, with one of the choregs containing a coin for good luck to whoever gets it.

Börek (also burek and other variants) is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as yufka (or phyllo). It can be filled with cheese, often feta, sirene or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables. Most probably invented in what is now Modern Turkey, in the Anatolian Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in its early era, to become a popular element of Ottoman cuisine. A börek may be prepared in a large pan and cut into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the börek is often sprinkled with sesame seeds. Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, especially in North Africa and throughout the Balkans. The Northern Slavic cuisines, historically developed by people living in close contact with the Turkic peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature derivatives of the börek. Börek is also part of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish traditions. They have been enthusiastically adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities, and have been described, along with boyos de pan and bulemas, as forming "the trio of preeminent Ottoman Jewish pastries". Modern Turkey enjoys a wide variety of regional variations of börek among the

Mujaddara (Arabic: مجدرة‎ mujadarah, with alternative spellings in English mejadra, moujadara, mudardara, and megadarra) consists of cooked lentils together with groats, generally rice, and garnished with sautéed onions. Mujaddara is the Arabic word for smallpox; the lentils among the rice resemble pockmarks. The first recorded recipe for mujaddara appears in Kitab al-Tabikh, a cookbook compiled in 1226 by al-Baghdadi in Iraq. Containing rice, lentils, and meat, it was served this way during celebrations. Without meat, it was a medieval Arab dish commonly consumed by the poor, reputed to be a derivative of the "mess of pottage" Jacob used to buy Esau's birthright. A saying in the Eastern Arab world perhaps inspired by the Biblical story is, "A hungry man would be willing to sell his soul for a dish of mujaddara." Cooked lentils are popular all over the Middle East and form the basis of many dishes. Mujaddara is a popular dish throughout the Arab world, and is generally made using brown or green lentils and rice, that can be seasoned with cumin, coriander, or mint. It is topped with fried onions and is generally served with yogurt, among other vegetables and side dishes, either hot

Mashed potato ("mashed potatoes" or "whipped potatoes" in American English) is made by mashing freshly boiled potatoes with a ricer, fork, potato masher, or food mill, or whipping them with a hand beater. Dehydrated and frozen mashed potatoes are available in many places. Mashed potatoes are occasionally called "whipped potatoes" or "smashed potatoes." The use of "floury" types of potato is usually recommended, although "waxy" potatoes are sometimes used for a different texture. Butter, vegetable oil, milk or cream are usually added to improve flavor and texture, and the potatoes are seasoned with salt and pepper, and any other desired herbs and spices. Popular ingredients and seasonings include: garlic, cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, crisp onion or spring onion, mustard, spices such as nutmeg, chopped herbs such as parsley or rosemary, white turnip, and wasabi. A French variation adds egg yolk for pommes duchesse; piped through a pastry tube into wavy ribbons and rosettes, brushed with butter and lightly browned. In low-calorie or non-dairy variations, milk, cream, and butter may be replaced by soup stock or broth. Aloo Bharta, an Indian sub-continent variation, uses chopped

Ayran or laban is a cold beverage of yogurt mixed with cold water and sometimes salt; it is popular in many Central Asian, Middle Eastern and South-eastern European countries. Similar and possibly related beverages include the South Asian lassi and the Afghan doogh. The name 'ayran' (turkish) is used in Turkish and Arabic. According to Turkish sources, ayran was developed by the Göktürks. According to Persian sources, ayran (doogh) dates to ancient Persia. Turkey is the biggest producer of ayran in the world, and has researched the subject extensively. In Turkey, ayran is often regarded as a separate category from other soft drinks. International fast-food companies in Turkey, such as McDonald's and Burger King, include ayran on their menu. In rural areas of Turkey, ayran is offered as a "standard" drink to guests. Ayran is usually served chilled, and is a common accompaniment to any form of grilled meat, pastry, or rice. In Albania Ayran is called Dhallë. It is made from cow yoghurt mixed with water and is served salted and cold. You can buy it in the market, fast-food chains, Byrektore (A shop where Byrek is made). It is very popular in summer. Ayran also enjoys considerable

Creamed corn (which is also known by other names, such as "cream-style corn") is a soup or sauce made by melting butter and adding flour, milk, canned corn, and optionally some spices. It is a common part of Midwestern American cuisine, typically sold canned by firms such as Del Monte Foods. It is an almost soupy version of sweetcorn, but unlike other preparations of sweetcorn, creamed corn is partially puréed, releasing the liquid contents of the kernels. Sugar and starch may be added and in home-made version, some variety of milk, perhaps even cream. In store-bought canned preparations adding milk is less common. http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/real-creamed-corn/ more info

Ghapama (Armenian: ղափամա) is an Armenian stuffed pumpkin dish, often prepared during the holiday season. It is prepared by removing the guts of the pumpkin (known as դդում in Armenian, pronounced ddum in Eastern Armenian and ttum in Western Armenian) and stuffing it with boiled rice and a variety of dried fruits such as chopped almonds, apple, cornel, apricot, prunes and raisins. It is also common to pour on honey and mix in ground cinnamon or sugar. The pumpkin is then baked until it becomes soft, then brought to the table where it is cut up and served. There is an Armenian song about the meal known as Հէյ Ջան Ղափամա (Hey Jan Ghapama), popularized by Harout Pamboukjian.

Sesame chicken (also called Chinese sesame seed chicken) is a syncretic dish, commonly found in Chinese restaurants throughout the English-speaking world. The dish is similar to General Tso's chicken but sweet rather than spicy. The dish involves chicken (usually thigh) pieces that are boned, battered, and deep-fried, then dressed with a translucent, reddish-brown, semi-thick, sauce made from corn starch, vinegar, wine or Sake, chicken broth, and sugar. The dish is typically served with broccoli and topped with toasted sesame seeds, hence the name Sesame Chicken. Sesame Shrimp is also available. Shrimp is simply substituted for chicken and the preparation is the same. The only difference is that chopped almonds may be substituted for the sesame seeds, hence the name almond shrimp.

Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant, tomato and pepper. The stuffing may or may not include meat. Meat dolmas are generally served warm, often with garlic yogurt sauce; meatless ones are generally served cold, though meatless dolma are eaten both ways in Iran. The filling generally consists of rice, minced meat or grains. In either case, the filling includes onion, herbs like dill, mint or parsley and spices. Meatless fillings are cooked with olive oil and include raisins or currants, onion, nuts or pulses. Dolma is a verbal noun of the Turkish verb dolmak, 'to be stuffed', and means 'stuffed thing'. Dolma is a stuffed vegetable, that is, a vegetable that is hollowed out and filled with stuffing. This applies to courgette, tomato, pepper, eggplant, and the like; stuffed mackerel, squid, and mussel are also called dolma. Dishes involving wrapping leaves such as vine leaves or cabbage leaves around a filling are called sarma

Lahmacun (Turkish: Lahmacun), (Armenian լահմաջուն lahmaǰun or լահմաջո lahmaǰo), from Arabic: لحم بعجين‎, lahm bi'ajīn, "meat with dough", is an item of prepared food consisting of a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat (most commonly beef and lamb). Lahmacun is often served sprinkled with lemon juice and wrapped around vegetables, including pickles, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, and parsley; atypical variants may be found employing kebab meat or sauces.

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich or PB is a sandwich, popular in North America, that includes a layer of peanut butter and either jam or jelly on bread, commonly between two slices, but sometimes eaten open-faced. A 2002 survey showed the average American will have eaten 1,500 of these sandwiches before graduating from high school. Some variants add honey, chocolate, maple syrup, the hazelnut-chocolate spread Nutella, marshmallows, raisins, bananas, butter, marshmallow fluff, potato chips, cheese, other dried fruit, or another slice of bread. Other variations include slices of fresh fruit besides bananas such as apples or strawberries. In 1968, The J.M. Smucker Co. introduced Goober, a jarred product which combined alternating vertical stripes of peanut butter and jelly. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich made from white bread, with two tablespoons each of peanut butter and grape jelly, provides 27% of a person's Recommended Daily Intake of fat and 22% of their calories. While roughly 45% of the calories are from fat, most of them come from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which have been linked positively with heart health. In December 1999, two independent

Kefir (pronounced /kəˈfɪər/ kə-FEER) (alternately kefīrs, keefir, kephir, kewra, talai, mudu kekiya, milk kefir, búlgaros) is a fermented milk drink made with kefir grains that originated with shepherds of the North Caucasus region, who discovered that fresh milk carried in leather pouches would occasionally ferment into a carbonated beverage. It is prepared by inoculating cow, goat, or sheep's milk with kefir grains. Traditional kefir was made in skin bags that were hung near a doorway; the bag would be knocked by anyone passing through the doorway to help keep the milk and kefir grains well mixed. Marco Polo mentioned kefir when recounting his travels. The term kefir is of Turkish origin, from köpür → köpük (foam), and is also thought to be derived from Arabic: كيف kayf, meaning well-being or pleasure. Kefir has become the most commonly used name, although it is known in other regions by various names. Kefir grains are a combination of bacteria and yeasts in a matrix of proteins, lipids, and sugars, and this symbiotic matrix forms "grains" that resemble cauliflower. For this reason, a complex and highly variable community of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts can be found in these

Harissa (Armenian: Հարիսա) is an Arabic dish similar to kashkeg, a kind of homogeneous porridge made of previously stewed and boned chicken and coarsely ground soaked wheat. The dish has been passed on since ancient times. Harissa is traditionally served on Easter day. It is still prepared by many Armenians around the world and is also considered the national dish of Armenia. Harissa is also very common in Lebanese villages, across its different ethnic communities, where it is usually cooked on religious occasions in a big pot in a village gathering. Harissa is very similar to a popular dish among Arab countries of the Persian Gulf known as harees which is made of meat and finely ground wheat.

Nshkhar (Armenian: նշխար nšxar) is a bread given to churchgoers after the Holy Badarak (Holy Mass) in the Armenian Church.

Green bean casserole is a casserole consisting of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and french fried onions. The recipe may also call for ground black pepper and soy sauce. It is a popular Thanksgiving side dish in the United States. The green bean casserole was first created in 1955 by the Campbell Soup Company. Dorcas Reilly led the team that created the recipe while working as a staff member in the home economics department. The inspiration for the dish was "to create a quick and easy recipe around two things most Americans always had on hand in the 1950s: green beans and Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup." In 2002, Reilly presented the original recipe card to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

Jermuk (Armenian: Ջերմուկ) is a bottled mineral water originating from the town of Jermuk in Armenia, and bottled since 1951. Jermuk mineral water has been used for its medicinal properties since centuries, as is clear from primitive stone basins, one of which has survived as a reminder of the past. Jermuk was first mentioned in writing in 189 AD, when Jermuk fortress was built, with the eponymous town being founded some time later. According to historical records, Jermuk was the summer residence of the Armenian princes of the neighbouring province of Syunik. The first surveys of the area around Jermuk (including the composition and properties of its mineral waters) were made in 1830 by the Russian geologist and engineer G. Dzoyokoyev-Boykikov; these did not result in the commercial exploitation of "Jermuk" mineral water, however. Only in 1925-1935 did well-known scientists like V. Alexandrov S. Nalbandov, V. Dikin and A. Melik-Aramyan and others subject Jermuk's mineral waters to scientific examination, in the process confirming its unquestionable medicinal properties. In 1945 the Soviet government took the decision to turn Jermuk town into a health resort of nationwide

A hamburger (also called a hamburger sandwich, burger or hamburg) is a sandwich consisting of a cooked patty of ground meat usually placed inside a sliced bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with lettuce, bacon, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese and condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup and relish. The term "burger", can also be applied to the meat patty on its own, especially in the UK where the term "patty" is rarely used. The term may be prefixed with the type of meat as in "beef burger". The term hamburger originally derives from Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, from which many people emigrated to the United States. In High German, Burg means fortified settlement or fortified refuge; and is a widespread component of place names. Hamburger can be a descriptive noun in German, referring to someone from Hamburg (compare London → Londoner) or an adjective describing something from Hamburg. Similarly, frankfurter and wiener, names for other meat-based foods, are also used in Germany and Austria as descriptive nouns for people and as adjectives for things from the cities of Frankfurt and Wien (Vienna), respectively. The term "burger" is associated with many

Kofta (see section Name for other names) is a Middle Eastern and South Asian meatball or meatloaf. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced or ground meat—usually beef or lamb—mixed with spices and/or onions. In Pakistan and Iran, koftas are usually made of beef and chicken. They are often shaped into meatballs which are prepared with a mixture of ground meat, rice, leeks and some other ingredients. The (Kufteh Tabrizi) is also very popular in Pakistan and forms part of the common diet. The vegetarian varieties, like lauki kofta and shahi aloo kofta, are popular in India. The meat is often mixed with other ingredients such as rice, bulgur, vegetables, or eggs to form a smooth paste. Koftas are sometimes made with fish or vegetables rather than red meat, especially in India. They can be grilled, fried, steamed, poached, baked or marinated, and may be served with a rich spicy sauce. Variations occur in North Africa, the Mediterranean, Balkans and South Asia. In Pakistan, koftas are made of beef and chicken. Nargisi kofta with eggs are also very popular in Pakistan. According to a 2005 study done by a private food company, there were 291 different kinds of kofta in

A Waldorf salad is a salad traditionally made of fresh apples, celery and walnuts, dressed in mayonnaise, and usually served on a bed of lettuce as an appetizer or a light meal. The salad was first created between 1893 and 1896 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City (the precursor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which came into being with the merger of the Waldorf with the adjacent Astoria Hotel, opened in 1897). Oscar Tschirky, who was the Waldorf's maître d'hôtel and developed or inspired many of its signature dishes, is widely credited with creating the recipe. In 1896, Waldorf Salad appeared in The Cook Book by 'Oscar of the Waldorf'; the original recipe did not contain nuts, but they had been added by the time the recipe appeared in the Rector Cook Book in 1928. The salad became popular enough that Cole Porter featured it in his 1934 song "You're the Top". Other ingredients, such as chicken, turkey, grapes, and dried fruit (e.g. dates or raisins) are sometimes added. Updated versions of the salad sometimes change the dressing to a seasoned mayonnaise or a yogurt dressing. A variation known as an Emerald Salad replaces celery with cauliflower. The salad also may include zest of

Gata (Armenian: Գաթա; also sometimes transliterated as Gatah (Eastern Armenian) or Katah (Western Armenian)) is an Armenian pastry, similar to a coffee cake. There are many variations of gata and typically specific towns or regions will have their own version. It can be found in a variety of shapes, sizes and may be decorated or left unadorned. Long ago, gata was baked in a tonir but is now baked in ovens. The bread is often times baked to coincide with the feast of Candlemas (known as Tiarn'ndaraj in Armenian), but is not limited to the holiday and is eaten year around. One popular variety is gata with koritz (khoriz), a filling that consists of flour, butter and sugar. Gata can have other fillings such as nuts, most commonly walnuts. Some variations include placing a coin inside the dough before the gata is baked, and it is said that whoever is the lucky one to receive the piece with the coin is to be blessed with good fortune. Gata from the villages of Garni and Geghard are decorated (with dough before baking) delicious breads that are round in shape and generally about a foot in diameter. Around the southern edge of Lake Sevan at the town of Tsovinar gata is baked without

Kung Pao chicken, also translated as Gong Bao chicken (Chinese: 宫保鸡丁; pinyin: Gōngbǎo Jīdīng), is a spicy stir fry dish made with chicken, peanuts, vegetables, and chili peppers. The dish is popular both within China and in westernized Chinese cuisine in North America. The classic dish in Szechuan cuisine, originating in the Sichuan Province of central-western China also includes Sichuan peppercorns. The dish is believed to be named after Ding Baozhen, a late Qing Dynasty official, a one-time governor of Sichuan. His title was Gong Bao (Chinese: 宫保; pinyin: Gōng Bǎo; literally "palatial guardian"). The name "Kung Pao" chicken is derived from this title. During the Cultural Revolution, the dish's name became politically incorrect because of its association with Ding Baozhen. The dish was renamed "fast-fried chicken cubes" (hong bao ji ding) or "chicken cubes with seared chiles" (hu la ji ding) until its political rehabilitation in the 1980s. The original Sichuan version uses chicken as its primary ingredient. In this original version, diced chicken is typically mixed with a prepared marinade. The wok is seasoned and then chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns are flash fried to add

Chop suey (simplified Chinese: 杂碎; traditional Chinese: 雜碎; pinyin: zá suì; literally "assorted pieces") is a Chinese dish consisting of meat (often chicken, fish, beef, prawns, or pork) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. It is typically served with rice but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the addition of stir-fried noodles. Chop suey has become a prominent part of American Chinese cuisine, Filipino cuisine, Canadian Chinese cuisine, German Chinese cuisine, Indian Chinese cuisine, and Polynesian cuisine. In Indonesian Chinese cuisine it is known as Cap cai (雜菜, "mixed vegetables") and mainly consists of vegetables. Chop suey is widely believed to have been invented in America by Chinese immigrants, but in fact comes from Taishan (Toisan), a district of Guangdong Province (Canton), which was the home of many of the early Chinese immigrants to the U.S. The Hong Kong doctor Li Shu-fan reported that he knew it in Taishan in the 1890s. Chop suey appears in a 1884 article in the Brooklyn Eagle, by Wong Chin Foo, "Chinese Cooking," which he says "may justly be called the "national

Coregonus lavaretus is a species of freshwater whitefish, in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of its genus Coregonus. There are widely different concepts about the number of species in the genus Coregonus and the delimitation of the species Coregonus lavaretus. In a narrow sense, Coregonus lavaretus, or the lavaret, is considered to be endemic to Lake Bourget and Lake Aiguebelette in the Rhône river basin in France, whereas it formerly also occurred in Lake Geneva. According to this view there is a great number of distinct whitefish species in lakes, rivers and brackish waters of Central and Northern Europe. In the broad sense, Coregonus lavaretus, referred to as the common whitefish or European whitefish, is widespread from central and northwest Europe to Siberia. Often called the C. lavaretus complex and considered as a superspecies, it encompasses many of the whitefish populations suggested by others to be locally restricted species (such as the British powan and the gwyniad or the Alpine gravenche, as well as distinct intralacustrine morphs and populations characterized by different feeding habits, gill raker numbers, growth patterns and migration behaviour.

Hummus is a Middle Eastern food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. In its earliest form, "Hummus Kasa", the recipe is of medieval Egyptian origin: 'Hummus Kasa', the earliest documented recipe for something similar to modern hummus (although without garlic, and with additional spices and nuts), dates to 13th Century (CE) Egypt. Today, it is popular throughout the Middle East (the Levant in particular), Morocco, and in Middle Eastern cuisine around the globe. The English word hummus comes from Turkish humus meaning the hummus food dip or spread, which in turn comes from Arabic حمّص ḥummuṣ, in turn derived from ḥimmaṣ "chickpeas". The earliest known attestation for hummus in English is in 1955. Spellings of the word in English can be inconsistent. Among the spellings are hummus, hummous, houmous, hommos, humos, hommus, hoummos, etc. The spelling humus is generally avoided in English as it is a homonym of humus (organic matter in soil), though this is the usual Turkish spelling and the Oxford English Dictionary indicates the word entered the English language from Turkish. The complete name of the prepared

Pumpkin pie is a traditional sweet dessert, often eaten during the fall and early winter, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States and Canada. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time and featured also at Halloween. The pie consists of a pumpkin-based custard, ranging in color from orange to brown, baked in a single pie shell, rarely with a top crust. The pie is generally flavored with nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Pumpkin pie is frequently topped with whipped cream. This pie is often made from canned pumpkin or packaged pumpkin pie filling (spices included); this is a seasonal product available in bakeries and grocery stores, although it is possible to find year-round. The traditional method for preparing a pumpkin pie involves the use of a "pie pumpkin" which is about eight to ten inches in circumference, being smaller than a "jack o'lantern" size pumpkin. The pumpkin is sliced in half, and the seeds removed. The two halves are heated until soft. This was traditionally done either in an oven or over an open fire, but nowadays, stove tops and microwaves are frequently used. Sometimes the pumpkin halves are brined to soften the pulp, rather than cooked.

Pilaf is a class of rice dishes, most commonly referring to rice cooked in a seasoned broth with meat or vegetables. The English term is borrowed from Turkish pilav, from Persian pilāv, which in turn is borrowed from Sanskrit pulāka. The English term is further influenced by Modern Greek pilafi. Due to the vast spread of the dish, there exist variations of the name in many languages, including plov, polou, palov, etc. It is well known in Trinidad and Tobago as 'pelau'.

Çiğ köfte (pronounced as chigh keufte and meaning literally "raw köfte" in Turkish, also written in one word, as çiğköfte) is a favorite Turkish snack and a specialty of South Eastern (Turkey) region, especially Şanlıurfa. Bulgur is kneaded with chopped onions and water until it gets soft. Then tomato and pepper paste, spices and very finely ground beef are added. This absolutely fatless raw mincemeat is treated with spices while kneading the mixture, which is said to "cook" the meat. Lastly, green onions, fresh mint and parsley are mixed in. One spice that is associated with çiğ köfte, and with Şanlıurfa as a whole, is "isot", a very dark, almost blackish paprika, prepared in a special manner, and which is considered as indispensable for an authentically local preparation of çiğ köfte (and also of lahmacun). Although, isot is famous as the special dried pepper that is locally produced by farmers of Şanlıurfa, in fact, it is a general word used for pepper in Şanlıurfa. A favorite way of eating çiğ köfte is by sandwiching it within a lettuce leaf, accompanied with good quantities of ayran to counter-act the burning sensation that this very spicy food will give. For vegetarians, two

Pecan pie is a pie made primarily of corn syrup or molasses and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the recipe. Pecan pie is often served with whipped cream. Tradition holds that the French invented pecan pie soon after settling in New Orleans, after being introduced to the nut by Native Americans. Attempts to trace the dish's origin, however, have not found any recipes dated earlier than 1897, and well-known cookbooks such as Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking did not include it before 1940. The makers of Karo syrup popularized the dish and many of its recipes. Karo Syrup's own website contends that the dish was a 1930s "discovery" of a "new use for corn syrup" by a corporate sales executive's wife. Pecan pie is often mentioned in American literature (and television) as associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other special occasions; for example:

Doogh (Persian: دوغ‎ dūgh; Iraqi: Shinēna) is a yogurt-based beverage. Popular in Iran and also found in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Pakistan as well as the Balkans, it is sometimes carbonated. Outside of Iran and Afghanistan it is known by different names. Doogh has long been a popular drink and was consumed in ancient Persia. Described by an 1886 source as a cold drink of curdled milk and water seasoned with mint, its name derives from the Persian word for milking, dooshidan. By 2009 it was being referred to as a "minted yogurt drink". Salt (and sometimes pepper) is added, and commonly dried mint or pennyroyal is mixed in as well. One variation includes diced cucumbers to provide a crunchy texture to the beverage. Some varieties of doogh lack carbonation.

Kibbeh or kibbe (also kubbeh, kebbah or kubbi) (Arabic: كبة‎) is an Arab dish made of burghul, minced onions and ground red meat, usually beef, lamb, or goat. The best-known variety is a torpedo-shaped fried croquette stuffed with minced beef or lamb. Other types of kibbeh may be shaped into balls or patties, and baked or cooked in broth. Kibbeh is a popular dish in Levantine cuisine. It is widespread in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt (where it is called kebbah or koubeiba), Cyprus (where they are called koupes), Israel, the Palestinian Territories, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey and several Latin American nations which received part of the Syrian and Lebanese diaspora during the early 20th century, such as Brazil,Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico. The Arabic word kubbah means "ball". Various transliterations of the name are used in different countries: in English, kibbe and kibbeh and in Latin America, quibe, kibe, or quipe (Dominican Republic). Other names for the dish derive either from the Persian word کوفته kofteh (literally "ground [meat]"), such as the Turkish içli köfte, and the Armenian իշլի քյուֆթա išli k’yuft’a; or from

Eetch, otherwise known as eech, itch, metch, or one of several other variations), is a traditional Armenian side dish made principally from bulgur. It is somewhat similar to tabbouleh but much thicker and grainier (with far less parsley), and not as tangy. The color is red from crushed or pureed tomatoes. Common additional ingredients include onion, parsley, olive oil, lemon, paprika, and bell peppers. Eetch can be eaten cold or warm. A similar dish is known as kısır in Turkey and used as a meze. Eetch is colloquially known as mock kheyma, due to its characteristics as a vegetarian form of kheyma.

Kebab (or originally kabab) is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Midlle East and later on adopted in the Middle East, Turkey, South Asia and Asia Minor, that are now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer. In the Middle East, however, kebab refers to meat that is cooked over or next to flames; large or small cuts of meat, or even ground meat; it may be served on plates, in sandwiches, or in bowls. The traditional meat for kebab is lamb, but depending on local tastes and taboos, it may now be beef, goat, chicken, pork; fish and seafood; or even vegetarian foods like falafel or tofu. Like other ethnic foods brought by travellers, the kebab has become part of everyday cuisine in many countries around the globe. The origin of kebab may lie in the short supply of cooking fuel in the Near East, which made the cooking of large foods difficult while urban economies made it easy to obtain small cuts of meat at a butcher's shop. The phrase is essentially Persian in origin and Arabic tradition has it that the dish was invented by medieval Persian soldiers who used their swords to grill meat

Kvass is a fermented beverage made from black or regular rye bread. The colour of the bread used contributes to the colour of the resulting drink. It is classified as a non-alcoholic drink by Russian standards, as the alcohol content from fermentation is typically less than 1.2%. Overall, the alcohol content is low (0.05% - 1.0%). It is often flavoured with fruits or herbs such as strawberries, raisins or mint. Kvass is also used for preparing a cold summertime soup called okroshka. It is popular in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and other Eastern and Central European countries as well as in former Soviet states, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where one can see many kvass vendors in the streets. Kvass is also popular in Harbin and Xinjiang, areas within China that are influenced by Russian culture. The word "Kvass" derived from Old East Slavic квасъ, kvasŭ, meaning "yeast" or "leaven". Today the words used are almost the same: in Belarusian: квас, kvas; Chinese: 格瓦斯/克瓦斯, géwǎsī/kèwǎsī; Latvian: kvass; Polish kwas chlebowy; Russian: квас, kvas; in Ukrainian: квас/хлібний квас/сирівець, kvas/khlibnyy kvas/syrivets. Except Lithuanian: gira, which means

In Armenian Christian tradition, matagh (Armenian: մատաղ mataġ) is a lamb or a rooster slated for sacrifice to God, a ritual which has continued from the pagan past. In many regions of Armenia today, this pagan-Christian synthesis is very much alive in the regular slaughter of chosen animals in front of churches.

Tabbouleh (Arabic: تبولة‎ tabūlah; also tabouleh or tab(b)ouli) is a Levantine Arab salad traditionally made of bulgur, tomato,and finely chopped parsley and mint, often including onion and garlic, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Traditionally served as part of a mezze in the Arab world, it was adopted by Cypriots, variations of it are made by Turks and Armenians, and it has become a popular ethnic food in the United States. The Levantine Arabic tabbūle is derived from the Arabic word tabil, meaning seasoning. The emphatic diminutive structure faʕʕūl is related to the formal Arabic emphatic structure fuʕʕūlun (as in quddūsun "much sacred"). Use of the word in English first appeared in the 1950s. To the Arabs, edible herbs known as qaḍb, formed an essential part of their diet in the Middle Ages, and dishes like tabbouleh attest to their continued popularity in Middle Eastern cuisine today. Originally from the mountains of Syria and Lebanon, tabbouleh has become one of the most popular salads in the Middle East. In Greater Syria, including Lebanon, the wheat variety salamouni cultivated in the region around the Golan Heights, Galilee, Judea and Samaria, Jezreel Valley,

Turkish delight or Lokum is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; the cheapest are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, or lemon. The confection is often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with icing sugar, copra, or powdered cream of Tartar, to prevent clinging. Other common types include such flavors as cinnamon and mint. In the production process, soapwort may be used as an emulsifying additive. The sweet as it is known today was invented by Bekir Effendi, who moved from his hometown Kastamonu to Istanbul and opened his confectionery shop in 1776. Originally, honey and molasses were its sweeteners, and water and flour were the binding agents, with rosewater, lemon peel and bitter orange as the most common flavors (red, yellow and green). Lokum was introduced to Western Europe in the 19th century. An unknown Briton reputedly became very fond of the delicacy during his travels to Istanbul and purchased cases of it, to be shipped back to Britain under the name Turkish delight. It became a major delicacy in Britain and throughout

Girl Scout cookies are cookies sold by Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) as one of its major fundraisers for local Scout units. Members of the GSUSA have been selling cookies since 1917 to raise funds. Girls who participate can earn prizes for their efforts. There are also unit incentives if the unit as a whole does well. As of 2007, sales were estimated at about 200 million boxes per year. The first cookie sales by an individual Scout unit was by the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma in December 1917. In 1922, the Girl Scout magazine The American Girl suggested cookie sales as a fund-raiser and provided recipes. In 1933, Girl Scouts in Philadelphia organized the first official sale, selling homemade cookies at the windows of local utility companies. The first Girl Scout cookie recipe was a sugar cookie. In 1936 the national organization began licensing commercial bakers to produce cookies. During World War II the Girl Scouts sold calendars in addition to cookies, because of shortages of flour, sugar, and butter. In 1942 there were 48 cookies per box, available in either vanilla or chocolate. Customers were limited to two boxes during some war years. By 1943 Girl Scouts also

Sarma is a savory dish of grape, cabbage or chard leaves rolled around a filling usually based on minced meat, or a sweet dish of filo dough wrapped around a filling often of various kinds of chopped nuts. It is found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire from the Middle East to the Balkans and Central Europe. Sarma means 'a wrapped thing' in Turkish language, from the verb sarmak 'to wrap' or 'to roll'. Yaprak Sarma (grape leaves with meat) may also be commonly called yaprak dolması 'filled leaf' or simply dolma 'stuffed thing', although linguisticallyit is not correct. Dolma, which properly refers to stuffed vegetables, is often conflated with sarma. Yaprak sarma without meat (grape leaves filled with spicy rice, pinos and black currants) is usually called "yalancı (false) dolma". Besides the savory dish of leaf-wrapped filling, sarma in Greek can also refer to sweet pastries similar to baklava, saray sarma and fıstık sarma, which are prepared by wrapping phyllo dough around a mixture of crushed nuts and syrup. Minced meat (usually beef, pork, veal, or a combination thereof, but also lamb, goat, sausage and various bird meat such as duck and goose), rice, onions, and

A turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey. The word turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken or hen. The dish is a form of engastration, a recipe method in which one animal is stuffed inside the gastric passage of another. The thoracic cavity of the chicken/game hen and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird. The result is a fairly solid layered poultry dish, suitable for cooking by braising, roasting, grilling, or barbecuing. Roasts of nested birds or other animals have been documented for centuries. The Yorkshire Christmas pie, an English dish served in the 18th century, consists of five different birds either layered or nested, and baked in a standing crust. The pie was normally produced only by the wealthy. In his 1807 Almanach des Gourmands, gastronomist Grimod de La Reynière presents his rôti sans pareil ("roast without equal")—a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a

Tarhana (Turkish), trahanas (Greek τραχανάς) or (ksino)khondros ((ξυνό)χονδρος), tarkhīneh, tarkhāneh, tarkhwāneh (Persian ترخینه، ترخانه، ترخوانه), trahana (Albanian), трахана/тархана (Bulgarian), tarana/тарана (Serbian), kishk (Egypt), or kushuk (Iraq) are names for a dried food based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk (Persian ash-e tarkhïna dūgh آش ترخینه دوغ). As it is both acid and low in moisture the milk proteins keep for long periods. Tarhana is very similar to some kinds of kishk. The Turkish tarhana consists of cracked wheat (or flour), yoghurt, and vegetables fermented then dried. The Greek trahana contains only cracked wheat or a cous cous-like paste and fermented milk. In Cyprus, it is considered a national specialty, and is often served with pieces of haloumi cheese in it. Like many other foodstuffs which originated from the need to preserve food—cured ham, smoked fish,and the like—tarhana soup is often eaten as a matter of taste and choice where fresh food is abundant and refrigeration available. Hill and Bryer suggest that tarhana is related to Greek τρακτόν (trakton, romanized as

Kashkak, keşkek, kashkeg, kishkak, kashkek, etc. is a sort of ceremonial meat or chicken and wheat or barley stew found in Iranian, Turkish and Greek cuisines. It is documented in Iran and Greater Syria as early as the 15th century and it is still consumed by many Iranians around the world. The origins of this dish ultimately allude to Kashk, which, in 16th- to 18th-century Iran had sheep's milk added to wheat or barley flour and meat, mixed in equal pars. Keşkek is traditional for wedding breakfasts in Turkey. Under the name of κεσκέκ, κεσκέκι and κισκέκ, it is a festival dish in Lesbos and Samos as well as among the Greek Pontians. and in Epirus The "ceremonial keşkek tradition" was listed on Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2011. In Lesbos, keskek is prepared on summer nights when a ceremonial bull is being slaughtered, which is then cooked overnight and eaten next day with wheat. Keşkek is called "haşıl" in Northeast and Middle Anatolia regions in Turkey. In both Turkey and Iran, it is a common dish and frequently consumed during religious festivals, weddings or funerals. Keşkek is very similar to the Armenian dish called

Pepper Pot is a thick stew of beef tripe, vegetables, pepper and other seasonings. The origins of the stew are steeped in legend, with one story attributing the dish to Christopher Ludwick, baker general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. According to this story, the winter of 1777–1778 in Valley Forge was exceptionally harsh. Farmers in the area sold their food to the British for pounds rather than the weak continental currency offered by George Washington's soldiers. The Continental Army was running low on food, and survived on a stew made of tripe, vegetables, and whatever else they could find to stay alive. In the early 19th century, artist John Lewis Krimmel depicted the pepper pot street vendor in Philadelphia with his painting, Pepper-Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market. Krimmel's work was first exhibited in 1811 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The painting shows a barefoot black woman serving soup from a pot to white customers. The pepper pot is also the symbol of an award given by the Philadelphia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The Pepperpot Awards ceremony is held each year recognizing

Pita or pitta ( /ˈpɪtə/ PI-tə) is a round pocket bread widely consumed in many Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Balkan cuisines. It is prevalent in Greece, the Balkans, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, and parts of the Indian Subcontinent. The "pocket" in pita bread is created by steam, which puffs up the dough. As the bread cools and flattens, a pocket is left in the middle. Pita is a slightly leavened wheat bread, flat, either round or oval, and variable in size. Its history extends far into antiquity, since flatbreads in general, whether leavened or not, are among the most ancient breads, requiring no oven or utensils to make. The first evidence of flat breads occurs in and around Amorite Damascus. The term used for the bread in English is a loanword from Greek, pita (πίτα), probably derived from the Ancient Greek pēktos (πηκτός), meaning "solid" or "clotted". In the Arabic world flatbreads such as pita are called khubz (ordinary bread). The tenth-century Arab cookery book, Kitab al-Tabikh by ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, includes six recipes for khubz, all baked in a tannur oven. Pita is used to scoop sauces or dips such as hummus and to wrap kebabs, gyros or falafel in the

Ararat is an Armenian brandy that has been produced by the Yerevan Brandy Company since 1887. It is made from Armenian white grapes and spring water, according to a traditional method. "Ordinary Brandies" are aged for 3, 4, 5, or 6 years, the soft flavor of the Brandy being based on selected brands of wines and pure spring water, which help to create a unique taste for each type of Ararat Brandy. The "Aged Brandies" of 10, 15, 18, and 20 years each have their own unique taste and specific dark golden color. The distinctive aroma and rich bouquet of these Brandies allowed the Yerevan Brandy Company to enjoy considerable success in international exhibitions and tastings. Ararat Brandy is not only popular in Armenia, but in many of the former states of the Soviet Union, chief among them Russia (where it's known under the name Armjanskij Konjak), Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus. In the Russian-speaking countries of the former Soviet Union the Armenian Brandy is marketed as cognac. This is because in 1900, the brandy won the Grand-prix award in Paris and the company so impressed the French that they have been allowed to legally call the product "cognac". The term "brandy" has never really

Moussaka is an aubergine (eggplant) based dish of the Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, and the Middle East. The best known variation outside the region is the Greek one. The name comes from the Arabic: مسقعة‎ musaqqaʿa 'chilled'. This name is used in Greek cuisine (μουσακάς), Turkish (musakka), and the South Slavic languages (musaka/мусака). Other languages call it simply "eggplant casserole" (e.g. Hungarian rakott padlizsán). Most versions are based primarily on sautéed eggplant (aubergine) and tomato, usually with minced meat. The Greek version includes layers of meat and aubergine topped with a white sauce/Béchamel sauce and baked. Turkish musakka, on the other hand, is not layered. Instead, it is prepared with sautéed aubergines, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and minced meat. It is eaten with cacık and pilaf. There are also variants with zucchini, carrots and potatoes. The Serbian version and Bulgarian version use potatoes instead of aubergines, pork mince and the top layer is yogurt mixed with raw eggs and a couple of spoons of flour. In the Arab world, moussaka is a cooked salad made up primarily of tomatoes and aubergine, similar to Italian caponata, and is usually served

Sopa de mondongo is a soup made from slow-cooked diced tripe (the cleaned stomach of a cow) and, vegetables such as bell peppers, onions, carrots, cabbage, celery, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic or root vegetables originating from Latin America and the Caribbean. Many variations of sopa de mondongo exist in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some add rice or maize late in the process. Bone marrow or hoof jelly may be used. The tripe may be soaked in citrus juice or a paste of sodium bicarbonate before cooking. The vegetables and spices used vary with availability. Origins of mondongo can be tracked back to African slaves in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In Brazil, it is also referred to as mondongo. It is usually consumed in the southern regions, but in northeast it is also named dobradinha. In Colombia sopa de mondongo is often eaten as the soup course of a traditional almuerzo. The soup in Colombia, is often made with chicken or beef stock, with a lot of cilantro. Many vegetables such as peas, carrots and onion are used to flavor the chicken or beef stock. Salt and pepper, along with corn, are also thrown into the soup for extra flavoring. The tripe used for this soup is

A corn dog is a hot dog sausage coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter and deep fried in oil, although some are baked. Almost all corn dogs are served on wooden sticks, though some early versions had no stick. There is some debate as to the exact origins of the corn dog; they appeared in some ways in the US by the 1920s, and were popularized nationally in the 1940s. A US patent filed in 1927, granted in 1929, for a Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus, describes corn dogs, among other fried food impaled on a stick; it reads in part: In 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles, author Linda Campbell Franklin states that a "Krusty Korn Dog baker" machine appeared in the 1929 Albert Pick-L. Barth wholesale catalog of hotel and restaurant supplies. The 'korn dogs' were baked in a corn batter and resembled ears of corn when cooked. A number of current corn dog vendors lay claim that credit for the invention and/or popularization of the corn dog. Carl and Neil Fletcher lay such a claim, having introduced their "Corny Dogs" at the Texas State Fair sometime between 1938 and 1942. The Pronto Pup vendors at the Minnesota State Fair claim to have invented the corn dog in

There are many types of Armenian soups. Such soups include spas (SPAHS), made from yogurt, greens and herbs, and aveluk (ah-veh-LOOK), a river green, prepared in soup. There is a type of bean soup made in Vaik, which has a walnut base, and should not be missed. Another soup, Khash (KHAHSH) is considered an Armenian institution. Songs and poems have been written about this one dish, which is made from ham hocks and herbs made into a clear broth. Tradition holds that Khash can only be cooked by men, who spend the entire night cooking, and can be eaten only in the early morning in the dead of winter, where it served with heaps of fresh garlic and dried lavash. T'ghit is a very special and old traditional food, made from T'tu Lavash, cut into small pieces, which are boiled in water. Onions fried in oil are added, and the mixture is cooked into a purￃﾩe. Pieces of fresh lavash are placed on top of the mixture, and it is eaten hot with fresh lavash used to scoop up the mixture by hand. K'rchik is an amazing dish made from cooking pickled cabbage and wheat kernels. Other soups include borscht (BOHRSH) a beet root soup with meat and vegetables (served hot in Armenia, with fresh sour

The sundae is an ice cream dessert. It typically consists of a scoop of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup, and in some cases other toppings including chopped nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, or maraschino cherries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origin of the term sundae is obscure, however, it is generally accepted that the spelling "sundae" derives from the word Sunday or, according to one source, from the German name Sonntag, which means Sunday. Among the many stories about the invention of the sundae, a frequent theme is that the dish arose in contravention to so-called blue laws against Sunday consumption of either ice cream or ice cream soda. The religious laws are said to have led druggists to produce a substitute for these popular treats for consumption on Sunday. According to this theory of the name's origin, the spelling was changed to sundae to avoid offending religious conventions. In support of this idea, Peter Bird wrote in The First Food Empire: A History of J. Lyons and Co. (2000) that the name 'sundae' was adopted as a result of Illinois state's early prohibition of ice cream consumption on Sundays, because ice cream with a topping that obscured

Baklava ( /ˈbɑːkləvɑː/, /bɑːkləˈvɑː/, or /bəˈklɑːvə/; Ottoman Turkish: باقلوا) is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and much of Central and Southwest Asia. The history of baklava is not well documented. It has been claimed by many ethnic groups, but there is strong evidence that it is of Central Asian Turkic origin, with its current form being developed in the imperial kitchens of the Topkapı Palace. Many Ottoman sweets are similar to Byzantine sweets, using dough, sesame, wheat, nuts and fruits, and some were similar to the Ottoman börek, halva, and so on. Indeed, Speros Vryonis identifies the ancient Greek gastris (γάστριςà, kopte (κοπτὴ σησαμίς), kopton (κοπτόν), or koptoplakous (κοπτοπλακοῦς), mentioned in the Deipnosophistae, as baklava, and calls it a "Byzantine favorite". But though gastris contained a filling of nuts and honey, its outer layers did not include any dough, but rather a honey and ground sesame mixture similar to modern pasteli or halva. Perry assembles evidence to show that layered breads were created by Turkic peoples

Originating in Fall River, Massachusetts in the 1930s or 1940s, the chow mein sandwich is a hot sandwich, which typically consists of a brown gravy-based chow mein mixture placed between halves of a hamburger-style bun, popular on Chinese-American restaurant menus throughout Southeastern Massachusetts and parts of neighboring Rhode Island. The sandwiches are served "strained" or "unstrained", referring to whether or not the sandwich has vegetables. If the chow mein is "strained", it is served without vegetables. These sandwiches can be found in the cities of Fall River, Massachusetts; New Bedford, Massachusetts; Taunton, Massachusetts; Woonsocket, Rhode Island; and Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

An apple pie is a fruit pie (or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. It is sometimes served with whipped cream or ice cream on top. Pastry is generally used top-and-bottom, making it a double-crust pie, the upper crust of which may be a circular shaped crust or a pastry lattice woven of strips; exceptions are deep-dish apple pie with a top crust only, and open-face Tarte Tatin. Cooking apples (culinary apples), such as the Bramley or Granny Smith, are crisp and acidic. The fruit for the pie can be fresh, canned, or reconstituted from dried apples. This affects the final texture, and the length of cooking time required; whether it has an effect on the flavour of the pie is a matter of opinion. Dried or preserved apples were originally substituted only at times when fresh fruit was unavailable. A piece of cheese is occasionally placed on top of or alongside a slice of the finished pie, particularly in Canada and Great Britain. In New England and the Midwest, apple pie is also sometimes served with a slice of cheese. Sharp cheddar cheese is often used. English apple pie recipes go back to the time of Chaucer. The 1381 recipe (see illustration at right) lists the

Egg foo young (Chinese: 芙蓉蛋, also spelled egg fooyung, egg foo yong, egg fu yung, or egg furong) is an omelette dish found in Chinese Indonesian, British and Chinese American Cuisine. The name comes from the Cantonese language. Egg foo young is derived from Fu Yung Egg Slices, a mainland Chinese recipe from Shanghai. Literally 'lotus egg', this dish is prepared with beaten eggs and minced ham. It may be made with various vegetables such as bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, sliced cabbage, spring onions, and water chestnuts. When meat is used as an ingredient, a choice of roast pork, shrimp, chicken, beef, or lobster may be offered. In Chinese Indonesian cuisine, it is well known as Fu yung hai or sometimes spelled as Pu yung hai, the ingredients of the omelette usually made from the mixture of vegetables such as carrots, bean sprouts and cabbages, mixed with meats such as crab meat, shrimp or minced chicken. The dish is served in sweet and sour sauce with peas. In Western countries, the dish usually appears as a well-folded omelette with the non-egg ingredients embedded in the egg mixture, covered in or served with sauce or gravy. Chinese chefs in the United States, at least as early as

Fattoush (Arabic: فتوش, also fattush, fatush, and fattouche) is a Levantine bread salad made from toasted or fried pieces of pita bread (khubz 'arabi) combined with mixed greens and other vegetables. Fattoush belongs to the family of dishes known as fattat (plural) or fatta, which are made in the Levant by Arab cooks using stale flatbread as a base. To make fattoush, cooks use seasonal produce, mixing different vegetables and herbs according to taste, while making use of pitas that have gone stale. The vegetables are cut into relatively large pieces compared to tabbouleh which requires ingredients to be finely chopped. Sumac is usually used to give fattoush its sour taste. Fattūsh is made of Arabic fatt "crush" and the suffix of Turkic origin -ūsh. Coining words this way was common in Syrian Arabic as well as in other dialects of Arabic.

Moo shu pork (also spelled moo shi pork, mu shu or mu xu pork) is a dish of northern Chinese origin, possibly originally from Shandong. It is believed to have first appeared on the menus of Chinese restaurants in the United States in the late 1960s, and is also a staple of American Chinese cuisine. In its traditional Chinese version, moo shu pork consists of sliced or shredded pork chop meat and scrambled eggs, stir fried in sesame and/or peanut oil together with thinly sliced wood ear mushrooms (black fungus) and day lily buds. Thinly sliced bamboo shoots may also be used. The dish is seasoned with minced ginger and garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and rice cooking wine (usually huangjiu). In the United States, the dish seems to have appeared in Chinese restaurants in New York City and Washington, D.C., in approximately 1966, receiving mention in a New York Times guide to Washington, D.C., restaurants published in that year. One of the first restaurants in Manhattan to serve the dish was Pearl's, one of the best known New York City restaurants to serve non-Cantonese food in the 1960s. A 1967 article in The New York Times states that another of the first restaurateurs to serve the

The Sevan trout (Salmo ischchan) is an endemic fish species of Lake Sevan in Armenia (Armenian: իշխան išxan). It is a salmonid fish related to the brown trout. The fish is endangered, because various competitors were introduced into the lake during the Soviet period, including common whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) from Lake Ladoga, goldfish (Carassius auratus) and narrow-clawed crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus), and of lake level change. On the other hand, the Sevan trout itself has been successfully introduced to the Issyk Kul lake in Kyrgyzstan. A resolution by Armenia's Council of Ministers in 1976 stopped the commercial fishing of Sevan trout and organized National Park "Sevan". The fish are nowadays also reared in hatcheries. The Sevan trout has four (or two) distinct strains differing in their breeding time and place, and growth rate: The winter bakhtak is the largest form and can grow to considerable size, up to 90 cm and 15 kg. It breeds within the lake. The summer bakhtak is smaller (

Khash (Armenian: Խաշ, Azerbaijani: Xaş, Georgian: ხაში, Persian: کله ‌پاچه [Kale Pache], Arabic: باجة[Pacha], Bulgarian: Пача [Pacha], Türkçe: Kelle Paça [Kalla Pacha]) is a traditional dish in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Formerly a nutritious winter food for the poor people, it is now considered a delicacy, and is enjoyed as a festive winter meal, usually by a company of men who sit around in a table, early in the morning. Modern-day convention in Armenia dictates that it should be consumed during the month that has an 'r' in its name, thus excluding May, June, July, and August (month names in Armenian are derivatives of the Latin names). No such restriction on khash consumption exists in Georgia. A similar food is called piti in the vicinity of Kars Province, although piti is also made from feet of other livestock, primarily sheep. It may originate from the Armenian verb "khashel," which means "to boil." The Persian name literally translates as head and hoof which are the central ingredients in this dish. Khash remains a purist meal with great parsimony in ingredients. The main ingredient in khash is cow's feet (known in Armenian as totikner),

Sujuk, also soudjouk (from Armenian: Սուջուխ) is a dry, spicy sausage in Armenian and Turkish cuisine eaten from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia. Sujuk consists of ground meat (usually beef, but pork is used in non-Muslim countries and horse meat in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan), with various spices including cumin, sumac, garlic, salt, and red pepper, fed into a sausage casing and allowed to dry for several weeks. It can be more or less spicy; it is fairly salty and has a high fat content. Sujuk may be eaten cooked (when raw, it is very hard and stiff). It is often cut into slices and cooked without additional oil, its own fat being sufficient to fry it. At breakfast, it is used in a way similar to bacon or spam. It is fried in a pan, often with eggs (e.g. as breakfast in Egypt), accompanied by a hot cup of sweet black tea. Sujuk is sometimes cooked with haricot bean or incorporated into pastries at some regions in Turkey. In Bulgaria, raw, sliced sujuk is often served as an appetizer with rakia or other high alcoholic drinks. In Lebanon, cooked sliced sujuk is made into sandwiches with garlic sauce and tomato. Sujuk is also commonly used as a topping on savoury

Chow mein (Chinese: 炒麵, "fried noodles") is a Chinese term for a dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties. The pronunciation chow mein comes from the Taishan dialect of Chinese, spoken by immigrants from Taishan to America. In Taishanese, it is pronounced chāu-mèing. The lightly pronounced Taishanese phoneme /ŋ/ was taken to be /n/ by English speakers. In American Chinese cuisine, it is a stir-fried dish consisting of noodles, meat (chicken is most common but pork, beef or shrimp can be used), onions and celery. It is often served as a specific dish at westernized Chinese restaurants. There are two main kinds of chow meins available on the market: 1) Steamed chow mein, and 2) Crispy chow mein, also known as Hong Kong style chow mein (see below). The steamed chow mein has a softer texture, while the latter is crispier and drier. Crispy chow mein uses fried, flat noodles, while soft chow mein uses long, rounded noodles. Crispy chow mein has either onions and celery in the finished dish or is served "strained", without any vegetables. Steamed chow mein can have many different kinds of vegetables in the finished dish; most commonly including onions and celery but

Arak or Araq is a highly alcoholic spirit (~50%-63% Alc. Vol./~100-126 proof) from the anis drinks family. It is a clear, colorless, unsweetened anise-flavored distilled alcoholic drink (also labeled as an Apéritif). It is the traditional alcoholic beverage of Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Syria. The word arak comes from Arabic ′araq عرق, meaning "sweat", its pronunciation varies depending on local varieties of Arabic: /ʕaraʔ, ʕaraɡ/. Arak is not to be confused with the similarly named liquor, arrack (which in some cases, such as in Indonesia—especially Bali, also goes by the name arak). Another similarly sounding word is aragh, which in Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia is the colloquial name of vodka, and not an aniseed-flavored drink. Raki, zivania, and ouzo are aniseed-flavored alcoholic drinks, related to arak, popular in Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece, respectively. Arak is usually mixed in approximately 1/3 arak and 2/3 water in a traditional Levantine water vessel called "Ibrik", in Arabic "إبريق"; then the mixture is poured in small ice filled cups, like in the picture. This dilution causes the clear liquor to turn a translucent

Pastirma or bastirma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the multiple counties throughout the Caucasus, Middle East, and Balkans. The name bastirma is from Turkish: bastırma et (pressed meat). bastırma is the gerund of the verb bastırmak (bastırmak in modern Turkish), which means "to depress, restrain". The word is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region: Albanian: pastërma, Arabic: بسطرمة (basterma)‎, Armenian: բաստուրմա (basturma), Azerbaijani: basdırma, Macedonian: пастрма (pastrma), Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: pastrma, Bulgarian: пастърма (pastărma), Greek: παστουρμάς (pastourmás) or παστρουμάς (pastroumás), and Romanian: pastramă. The word pastrami, although used for a differently prepared type of meat, also goes back via Yiddish: פּאַסטראָמע (pastrómeh) to pastırma. Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries, since at least Byzantine times. There are various stories about the origin of pastirma, none well documented. One story gives its origins as the city of Caesarea Mazaca (modern Kayseri) in Anatolia, where there was supposedly a dish called pastron; but this is not supported by standard Greek dictionaries. Pastırma is

Matnakash (Armenian: մատնաքաշ matnakʿaš) is a traditional soft Armenian bread. The word matnakash literally means finger draw or finger pull, referring to the way the bread is prepared. Matnakash is made of wheat flour with yeast or sourdough starter. It is shaped into oval or round loafs with longitudinal or criss-crossed scoring. The characteristic golden or golden-brown color of its crust is achieved by coating the surface of the loaves with sweetened tea essence before baking. Matnakash, along with lavash, a thinner Armenian bread, can be purchased from numerous bakeries in Armenia as well as places with large Armenian populations as a result of the Armenian diaspora. Matnakash was honored in Soviet times. In the 1930s, food specialists in Soviet Armenia wanted to mark the new communist country with a more modern looking bread. The matnakash became a mass-produced urban bread. Even the bakers' patterns on the bread was re-interpreted to fit the soviet agenda. It resembled a plowed field with rows and furrows. The bread's rim was interpreted as an agricultural field and its imprinted lines as tilted rows.

A fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a "fortune" wrapped inside. A "fortune" is a piece of paper with words of wisdom or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers, some of which have become actual winner numbers. Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States and some other countries, but are absent in China. The exact provenance of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century, basing their recipe on a traditional Japanese cracker. Fortune cookies have been summarized as being "introduced by the Japanese, popularized by the Chinese, but ultimately ... consumed by Americans." As far back as the 19th century, a cookie very similar in appearance to the modern fortune cookie was made in Kyoto, Japan, and there is a Japanese temple tradition of random fortunes, called omikuji. The Japanese version of the cookie differs in several ways: they are a little bit larger; are made of darker dough; and their

Lavash (Armenian: լավաշ, Turkish and Azeri: lavaş, Georgian: ლავაში lavaši, Kurdish: Lawaş لاواش, Persian: لَواش‎, lavāš) is a soft, thin flatbread popular in several countries of the northern parts of the Middle-East and the southern parts of the Caucasus. Lavash has been baked for centuries in Armenia. Traditionally the dough is rolled out flat and slapped against the hot walls of a clay oven. While quite flexible when fresh, lavash dries out quickly and becomes brittle and hard. The soft form is easier to use when making wrap sandwiches; however, the dry form can be used for long-term storage (almost one year) and is used instead of leavened bread in Eucharist traditions by the Armenian Apostolic Church. In villages in Armenia, the dried lavash is stacked high in layers to be used later, and when the time comes to rehydrate the bread, it is sprinkled with water to make it softer again. In its dry form, left-over lavash is used in Iran to make quick meals after being rehydrated with water, butter and cheese. In Armenia the dried bread is broken up into Khash. Fresh lavash is also used with kebabs to make dürüm wraps or in Armenia to make burum which are wraps with herbs and

Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat formed into a loaf shape and baked or smoked. The loaf shape is formed by either cooking it in a loaf pan, or forming it by hand on a flat baking pan. It is usually made from ground beef, although lamb, pork, veal, venison, and poultry or a combination are also used. The meatloaf has European origins; meatloaf of minced meat was mentioned in the famous Roman cookery collection Apicius as early as the 5th century. Meatloaf is a traditional German and Belgian dish, and it is a cousin to the Dutch meatball. American meatloaf has its origins in scrapple, a mixture of ground pork and cornmeal served by German-Americans in Pennsylvania since Colonial times. However, meatloaf in the contemporary American sense did not appear in cookbooks until the late 19th century. Many meatloaf recipes are interchangeable with meatball recipes, the distinction coming from shape and from the accompaniments or choice of sauce. Sometimes a form of tomato sauce or ketchup is also mixed with the meat before baking. Meatloaf is a versatile dish. The ground meat may be mixed with a binder such as eggs and breadcrumbs, small pieces of bread soaked in milk (or red wine or

Satsivi (Georgian: საცივი) is a Georgian sauce made of walnuts and served cold either as a dipping sauce for bread, or sauce for boiled or fried game or fish. Traditionally, satsivi is made of walnuts, water, garlic, combination of dried herbs, vinegar, cayenne pepper, and salt to taste. Boiled turkey or chicken pieces submerged in satsivi sauce is one of staples of winter holiday feasts.

Sevan khramulya (Varicorhinus capoeta) (Armenian: կողակ koġak) is a cyprinid fish, which previously dominated in the fish landings of Lake Sevan, along with Sevan trout. Khramulya feeds on aquatic macrophytes and from the age 2+ also on detritus (Dadikyan, 1986). Since 1936, with the gradual deterioration of reproduction conditions due to the permanent exposure of many spawning grounds, and with many spawning grounds in rivers lost, khramulya stocks in Sevan have gradually declined.

A chocolate brownie is a flat, baked square or bar developed in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century and popularized in both the U.S. and Canada during the first half of the twentieth century. The brownie is like a cross between a cake and a cookie in texture. Brownies come in a variety of forms. They are either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density, and they may include nuts, frosting, whipped cream, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation that is made with brown sugar and no chocolate is called a blondie. Brownies are common lunchbox fare, typically eaten by hand, and often accompanied by milk or coffee. They are sometimes served warm with ice cream (à la mode), topped with whipped cream, or topped with marzipan, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. They are especially popular in restaurants, where they can be found in variation on many dessert menus. A chef at Chicago's Palmer House Hotel created the confection after Bertha Palmer requested a dessert for ladies attending the fair; it should be, she said, smaller than a piece of cake, though still retaining cake-like characteristics and easily eaten from boxed lunches. These first brownies featured

Crab Louie salad, also known as Crab Louis Salad or the King of Salads, is a type of salad featuring crab meat. The original recipe dates back to the early 1900s and originates on the West Coast of America. The exact origins of the dish are uncertain, but it is known that Crab Louie was being served in San Francisco, at Solari's, as early as 1904. A recipe for Crab Louie exists from this date in a publication entitled Bohemian San Francisco by Clarence E. Edwords, and in the 1910 edition of a cookbook by Victor Hertzler, head chef of the city's St. Francis Hotel. By some accounts it was created by entrepreneur Louis Davenport, founder of the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington. Davenport spent his early years in San Francisco before moving to Spokane Falls. He would use crab imported from Seattle to be offered in his hotel. His recipe pre-dates 1914 and can be found in hotel historical menus. The popularity of Crab Louie has diminished since its heyday in the early to mid 1900's, but it can still be found on the menu of some hotels and restaurants on the West Coast, including the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and the Davenport Hotel. The main ingredient for Crab Louie, as the

General Tso's chicken (sometimes Governor Tso's chicken, General Tao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken) is a sweet and spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in North American Chinese restaurants. The dish was unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora before it was introduced by chefs returning from the United States. The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, although this connection is tenuous. He is said to have enjoyed it, and perhaps helped create a dish, but there are no recorded recipes. The real roots of the dish lie in the post 1949 exodus of chefs to the United States. The dish is reported to have been introduced to New York City in the early 1970s as an example of Hunan cooking, though it is not typical of Hunanese cuisine, which is traditionally very spicy and rarely sweet. The dish was first mentioned in The New York Times in 1977. The food has been associated with the name of Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠, 1812–1885), a Qing Dynasty general from Hunan. Zuo himself could not have eaten the dish as it is today, and the dish is neither found in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, nor in

Kenafeh (Arabic: كنافة kanāfah), also spelled knafeh, kunafeh, or kunafah, is a traditional Arab cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup. Kanafeh pastry comes in three types: The pastry is heated with butter, margarine or palm oil, then spread with soft white cheese such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with more pastry. In khishnah kanafeh the pastry is rolled around the cheese. A thick syrup of sugar, water and a few drops of rose water is poured on the pastry during the final minutes of cooking. Often the top layer of pastry is tinted with orange food coloring. Crushed green pistachios are sprinkled on top as a garnish. The city of Nablus is especially renowned for its kanafeh. Jerusalem kanafeh is a neon orange pastry with a crust of shredded phyllo dough or semolina filled with soft goat cheese and drenched in syrup. It is especially popular during Ramadan. A landmark kanafeh shop in the Old City is Jaffar's Sweets, where the knafeh is made fresh every day. This variant is popular across the Levant and Turkey, where it can be eaten for breakfast or even for dinner as a main meal; but it is primarily considered a dessert. Eaten as a layered treat or helwah, it may also be placed in a

Turkish coffee is a style of serving coffee. Roasted and then finely ground coffee beans are boiled in a pot or (cezve) and served in a cup where the grounds are allowed to settle. Sugar is added to taste. This method of serving coffee is found in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. The earliest evidence of coffee drinking comes from 15th-century Yemen. By the late 15th century and early 16th century, coffee had spread to Cairo and Mecca. In the 1640s, the Ottoman chronicler İbrahim Peçevi reported the opening of the first coffeehouse in Istanbul. As well as an 'every day' beverage, Turkish coffee is also a part of the Turkish wedding custom. As a prologue to marriage, the groom's family must visit the bride's family to ask permission for and blessings upon the upcoming marriage. During this meeting, the bride must prepare and serve Turkish coffee to the guests. For the groom's coffee, the bride uses salt instead of sugar to gauge his character. If the groom drinks his coffee without any sign of displeasure, the bride to be assumes that the groom is good tempered and patient. In more recent times, the traditional drinking of Turkish coffee has been

Za'atar (Arabic: زَعْتَر‎ za‘tar, also romanized zaatar, za'tar, zatar, zatr, zattr, zahatar, zaktar or satar) is a generic name for a family of related Middle Eastern herbs from the genera Origanum (Oregano), Calamintha (Basil thyme), Thymus (typically Thymus vulgaris, i.e., Thyme), and Satureja (Savory). The name za'atar alone most properly applies to Origanum syriacum. It is also the name for a condiment made from the dried herb(s), mixed with sesame seeds, dried sumac, and often salt, as well as other spices. Used in Arab cuisine, both the herb and spice mixture are popular throughout the Middle East. Written history lacks an early definitive reference to za'atar as a spice mixture, though unidentified terms in the Yale Babylonian Collection may be references to spice blends. According to Ignace J. Gelb, an Akkadian language word that can be read sarsar may refer to a spice plant. This word could be attested in the Syriac satre, and Arabic za'atar (or sa'tar), possibly the source of Latin Satureia. Satureia (Satureja) is a common name for satureia thymbra, a species of savory whose other common and ethnic names include, "Persian za'atar", "za'atar rumi" (Roman hyssop), and