Cheap Food in Syria

Cheap Food in Syria

The food in Syria sells for cheaper than most anywhere in the world that I have yet traveled. To a great extent, the fast food of Syria can rival that of India as far as value.

Sit down and wait for your food style restaurants seem to be remarkably few in Syria, rather fast food rules, and there is nothing wrong with this. Syrian fast food is good. For the week and a half that I traveled through Syria I feasted on falafel wraps, baby pizzas, and totally decked out hamburgers.

I am a happily vagabond with a full belly in Syria.
—————————-
Wade from Vagabond Journey.com
in Damascus, Syria- April 20, 2009
Travelogue —Travel Photos –Travel Guide
Click on map to view route of travel.

The fast food restaurants in the Middle East also tend to serve food that is of a fairly decent quality. The ingredients are locally produced and fresh and are not frozen or shipped from locations far away. Fast food in the Middle East just refers to food that is served quickly and at a low price, it does not mean that it is of a drastic lackluster quality.

Prices of food in Syria:
Falafel wraps- 20 SP (.40 USD)
Baby pizzas (2 for a meal)- 15 SP each or 30 SP for a meal (.60 USD)
Large hamburger w/ toppings- 65 SP ($1.30)
Breakfast croissants- 15 SP (.30 USD)
Package of pita wrap bread- 15 SP
Package of string cheese (multiple servings)- 50 SP (1 USD)

The only downside of eating at fast food restaurants in the Middle East is that the idea of using gloves or utensils to handle the food is completely foreign. The cooks simply handle everything that you eat with bare hands, often smushing it between their fingers before plopping it on your plate. It is highly questionable whether these hands have been washed any time within recent history. In fact, I try to avoid looking at the cook’s hands all together.

This is just the way it is, there are no alternatives other than preparing my own food. Each culture has their own ways of of viewing communicable disease, the transference of illness, and food preparation methods. In more than 80% of the world the idea of using gloves or utensils to handle food is very odd. This is OK by me. I seldom get ill when traveling and I eat food that has been manhandled by dirty looking hands every day.

In travel, sometimes you just have to turn your head and pack in your own acculturated ways. Different ways of food preparation is just a part of the game of travel.

But Syrian fast food is good and cheap no matter how it is prepared. I am eating well here and smile big smiles each time I walk passed a 40 cent falafel stall.

Fast food restaurant in Aleppo, Syria.

A $.40 falafel sandwich in Syria.

Cheap Food Syria