Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Seasonal Specialities
Spring
Lamb cooked in a
zerb
(ground oven) will ruin your palate for mutton. Fresh,
frothy camel's milk is abundant and giant watermelons ripen in fields alongside the Desert
Highway.
Summer
The fruit harvest brings pomegranates, pistachios, peaches and limes. During
Ramadan, fast with the locals (dawn to dusk) and see how hunger enhances the flavours
of traditional evening sweetmeats.
Autumn
Pluck dangling figs or grapes from the vine and sample corn drizzled with newly
pressed olive oil from local groves. In the Jordan Valley bananas and mangoes ripen in
subtropical warmth.
Winter
Copper-coloured persimmons ripen for Christmas - a good time to try Bethany's
'Baptism Fish'. It's not carnage on the roads - it's tomatoes. Crates of them fill the fields
near Safi.
Quick Eats
Local 'fast food' is safe, tasty and available in every town, usually from stands. The most
popular dishes are as follows.
Shwarma
Lamb or chicken sliced with great flourish from a revolving spit, mixed with
onions and tomato and packed into flat bread
Felafel
Deep-fried balls of chickpea paste with spices, served in a piece of rolled-up
khobz
(bread) with varying combinations of pickled vegetables, tomato, salad and yogurt
Farooj
Chicken roasted on spits in large grills in front of the restaurant, served with
bread, raw onion and pickles
Shish tawooq
Spicy minced chicken kebabs, grilled over charcoal
COOK YOUR OWN AT PETRA KITCHEN
It was an inauspicious start one cold day in winter: the knives were seriously large, the onions eye-smartingly
malevolent and the eggplants (aubergines) too big for their own good. But just as I was thinking this wasn't the
activity for me, I caught sight of my fellow apprentice. With a smile of collusion across the basins of parsley, I took
heart and placed myself in the hands of Mr Tariq, professional Petra chef and our teacher for the evening. Within
