Culinary traditions lost as Syria's civil war continues

The conflict in Syria has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions more without a home. Some of the oldest archeological sites in the world have been destroyed.

And thanks to the mass migration of people, some Syrian culinary traditions are being left behind.

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The Syrian city of Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. As such, it has some deep-rooted culinary customs, like the Aleppo pepper — a spice that dates back at least 2,000 years to a time when the city was a stop on the Silk Road.

Syrian spice exports dry up

Aleppo pepper only gained some modern global acceptance in the last decade or two, according to Philippe de Vienne. He's a Canadian spice importer who co-owns the Montreal spice shop Épices de Cru. 

He says the prized sweet-hot Aleppo pepper was just one of the products he imported from Syria. The richly flavoured pepper tastes sort of like a combination of dried fruit and chillies, and has become a favourite of cooks around the world.

It's still available — but more likely now to originate from Turkey than Syria, says de Vienne.

In the past, he also brought in wild herbs like za'atar, and Middle Eastern and Mediterranean herbs that grow in the very dry and hilly regions of Syria. 

"The [Aleppo] peppers took a year or two before we could source [them] from people who knew what they were doing in Turkey," he said. 

"The cumin was a different story. The climate and soil of Syria is quite unique, so it produces a cumin that was highly appreciated by many. It was very different from the cumins of Morocco or India."

De Vienne said he no longer has access to cumin, peppers and za'atar from Syria. Nor does he find the same quality of Aleppo peppers, which came out of their namesake city for thousands of years.

'They simply disappeared'

Over the last five years, Syrian exports of all food have more or less dried up. And de Vienne says many of the farmers and exporters he once dealt with in the country have left. Others have simply not been heard from.

"People who had become our friends simply disappeared. That was the impact for me and for us was mostly emotional — knowing your friends are in the middle of a war and there's very little you can do," he said.

"Many are refugees. Our agent, he's now a refugee. And actually, he found a job in the spice market in Istanbul."

Hopeful for peace

But de Vienne hopes peace will come back to Aleppo one day.

"[Aleppo] has seen more than one invasion," he said. "It has survived. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. So it's going to survive. The people of Aleppo are indestructible," de Vienne said.

People who once populated the spice markets of the city will one day be back, he thinks. 

And he hopes that when peace returns, so will the spice trade.