Crossing the border from Turkey to Syria a lot of things change, not least the food. Gone are the green and white bean casseroles, the stuffed eggplant, and the use of dill. In their place, are a fresh set of flavours with a strong Lebanese influence, like smoky tahini, mint and lemon dressed salads.

A Syrian meal begins with shared mezzes that luckily include a range of standard vegetarian salads and dips. A perennial favourite of ours is hummus, often served with a thin consistency and a lovely tahini flavour. This is a good way of mopping up the pitta bread that invariably comes with the meal, (and for which you’ll invariably be charged extra).

Two favourite eggplant dips are baba ghanoush and muttabal. Baba ghanoush is made from mashed, chargrilled eggplant and usually is not mixed with tahini.

Muttabal is an eggplant dip that is mixed with tahini and yoghurt, to give it a far creamier consistency and more smoky taste.

There are two main salads vegetarians will come to know, love, and survive on in Syria: Tabbouleh and Fattoush. Fortunately, most places make them well, and their parsley base is a good way to get a hit of iron. Tabbouleh is the simpler of the two, but the fresh parsley, tomato and burghul dressed with lemon makes a great meal on a hot day or night.

Fattoush is distinguished by the toasted or fried pieces of pitta bread that come with the salad base of tomato, cucumber and parsley. Depending on the restaurant, ingredients like white cheese and lettuce may also make their way in there.

While these dishes are standard, some restaurants will offer extra vegetarian dishes, like vegetable soup (served with a tomato base and cinnamon), stuffed vine leaves, and eggplant casserole. A note of caution - beware long lists of salads with vague names. Often the ingredients and dressing are almost indistinguishable, and they seem to be there just to bulk out the menu.

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