Coast

The Syrian Mediterranean coast — Latakia and Tartus — is the greenest stretch of the country. Olive groves spill down the hills, citrus and lemons grow in abundance, and fresh fish is year-round, so the cooking is lighter, oilier, greener than the interior's. Olive oil is used generously in nearly every dish; lemon, not pomegranate molasses, leads the acidity. Yalanji — the meatless stuffed vegetables, grape leaves and marrow filled with rice, tomato and herbs — is the coast's signature, the Lenten and summer staple. Grilled fresh fish, yogurt-cucumber cold soups, and olive-oil-marinated vegetable antipasti fill the coastal table. This is Syria's sunniest, most Mediterranean face.