Visit Jordan - Taste The Middle East & Celebrate our Seasonal Harvests

Land of the Shepherds

Jordan is located in the Heart of the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of agriculture, and positioned at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. Known as the safest and most hospitable country in the Arab world, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is truly an undiscovered culinary gem with an eclectic food culture and a rich diversity of seasonal harvests in winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Jordan is a Culinary Museum of the Near Eastern Man - Cecil Hourani

Jordan has been my serendipitous safe haven since August 2019. Intrepid travels through the deserts, the valleys, and the mountains of this beautiful destination, north to south, east to west, and almost everything in between, gave me a deep appreciation of the land aptly described as 'A Culinary Museum of the Near Eastern Man' by the late Cecil Hourani in his masterpiece Jordan, the Land & the Table. I am hopeful you will arrive to the same conclusion once you've eaten your way through Jordan's seasons and micro-climates, and once you have had the rare chance to meet the anthropologists, ethnologists, the educated elderly and activist youth, the Ums & the Babas, the curators and historians, the restaurant chefs & home-cooks, generational farmers, artisans, botanists, hikers & foragers, fishermen, the herbalists, and what have you - preservationists of Jordan's culinary heritage.

In this article:
- Land of the Shepherds
- Culture on your Plate
- Seasonality & Micro-climates
- Some of Jordan’s leading examples
- Culinary Tours in 2022 & 2023
- Michelin-starred From Farm to Fork dinner
- In Celebration of Olive Oil 2022 & 2021        

This is the land of the Shepherds & Awassi sheep where the?world’s oldest bread, dating back 14.000 years,?was discovered at an old Natufian site in the basaltic Black Desert. The?oldest farm villages?of the Near East (7.200 - 5.000 BC) were found in the outskirts of Amman, and archeologists found?wine-presses?near Petra built by the Nabateans (300 BC - 106 AD). Some sources even suggest that the?wine served to Jesus?during the Last Supper came from the Decapolis city of Gadara (modern?Umm Qais) which overlooks the Sea of Galilee. Jordan is also home to some of the world’s oldest olive trees and 4.500-year-old olive oil mills, telling the story of the original superfoods, ?laying the earliest foundations of today’s “Mediterranean Diet”.

Jordan tells the story of the original superfoods, laying the earliest foundations of today’s Mediterranean Diet

Culture on your Plate

Jordanian food culture can be described as half-Bedouin half-urban, and is rooted in the cuisine of the Levant, a region known in Arabic as the Bilad Al-Sham that covers Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and parts of southern Turkey. The eclectic food hub of the Eastern Mediterranean. The layers of Jordan’s culinary identity, however, run much deeper.

The Kingdom’s culinary DNA is influenced by several major ancient cultures that ruled the Levant during the past 5.000 years, from the ancient dynasties of the Canaanites, Nabateans, and Mesopotamia, to the Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, and Ottoman empires. In the late 19th century people from the Caucasus fled to the Ottoman Empire to escape from the Czarist Russia, adding Circassian, Chechen, Druze, and Armenian dishes to Jordan’s cuisine and making it truly eclectic, serving both regional and migrated Cultures on your Plate.

Seasonality & Micro-climates

The most surprising contrasts you will find on your table is the reflection of seasonality with freshly harvested fruits like Figs, Pomegranate, Dates, Grapes, Oranges, Lime, Prickly Pear, Pomelos, and Honey Melon, and vegetables such as Okra, Eggplant, Beets, Pulses, Mushrooms, Mallow, and Artichoke, to name but a few.

Wild Plants and Wild Flowers like Hibiscus, Nigella, Berries, Sumac, Rosemary, Thyme, and other Mountain Herbs are still used today in Traditional Arabic Islamic Medicine (TAIM).

Local recipes prepared from farm to fork, layered in history, are elevated to contemporary Jordanian cuisine by a new generation of talented Chefs, Farmers, and Producers, aiming to preserve and modernize Jordan’s culinary heritage for a more sustainable future.

Some of Jordan’s leading examples

The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts | Maida Olive Oil | Mujeb Organic Farm | Al Barakeh Wheat | Cuts | Chef Moeen Abuzaid | MaisaLetsTalkFood | Chef Sereen Kurdi | Manara Art & Culture | Beit Sitti | Alee | Levant | The Precious | BookAgri | Baraka Destinations | Shams Al Balad | Shamsa Rooftop | Fabrakat | Feynan Ecolodge | Fairmont Amman | InterContinental Jordan | The St. Regis Amman | The Ritz-Carlton Amman | Kempinski Dead Sea | M?venpick Dead Sea | Al Manara Aqaba | Hyatt Regency Aqaba | The Wine Experience | Carakale | Jordanian restaurants ranked on the 50 Best Restaurants of the Middle East & Africa: Fakhreldin, 13C Bar in the Back, and Sufra.

Culinary Tours in 2022 & 2023

To experience Jordan ‘from farm to fork’ first-hand, we are organized three bespoke Culinary Tours for leading chefs and renowned food & travel writers, who believe that Sustainable Culinary Tourism is essential for the future of travel & gastronomy.

• Fall 2022 | 24-26 November | In Celebration of Olive Oil (view videos below)
• Spring 2023 | 10-13 May | In Celebration of Plant Health & Fair Trade
• Summer 2023 | 12-15 July | In Celebration of Youth in Tourism & Agriculture

The culinary tours are part of a larger pilot project called From Farm to Fork in Jordan developed by Hospitality in Health (HIH) during the Covid-19 pandemic, and supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Amman, to activate Sustainable Culinary Tourism by connecting local farmers to responsible chefs. Our four core values are Health Cuisine, Environment, Innovation, and Socio-Economic Impact. Our mission is to attract a new generation of conscientious travelers with two meaningful stories through the lens of food & gastronomy: ?

Visit Jordan, Taste the Middle East & Celebrate our Seasonal Harvests

In Celebration of Olive Oil 2022 was a hit

From 24 to 26 November we welcomed two?leading international chefs, a tour operator, and a travel writer from Canada and The Netherlands to Jordan. Day 1 brought us to Dar Ne’meh for breakfast at The Citadel, then to the farm of award-winning Maida Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Dinner was at Farm-to-Table restaurant Carob House in Madaba?before heading back to?the Fairmont Amman. Day 2 began with Arabic Breakfast at Shamsa Rooftop, followed by a grand tour by Dr.?Nizar Haddad?at the National Olive Festival. For dinner we went to Sufra in Rainbow Street, and on day 3 we enjoyed breakfast at Cuts Abdoun followed by?market visits to shop for dinner. Watch the tour video above and some of our culinary experiences below.

From Farm to Fork Dinner sold-out

The very first Michelin-starred dinner in Jordan sold-out 4 days before the event on 26 November 2022. We had a full-house with 70 guests enjoying a 5-course dinner at Manara Arts & Culture to celebrate World Olive Tree Day. The menu was 100% seasonal and 100% local, featuring 5 hero ingredients and 5 courses by 5 leading chefs.

In Celebration of Olive Oil 2021

Looking back on our first culinary campaign in 2021 we celebrated local Olive Oil with various olive farm tours, tastings, a cooking competition, and a seven-course vegan dinner in Dana Biosphere. We also served a bespoke Farm to Fork Dinner prepared by five leading Levantine Chefs with Michelin-experience who were supported by students of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts. Watch the videos below.

In the Media

About

From Farm to Fork in Jordan

From Farm to Fork in Jordan? by HIH promotes Culinary Tourism in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with a central role for Sustainable Gastronomy at the intersection of Agriculture, Culinary Arts, Heritage, Destination Management, and Responsible Tourism. The project is aligned with the UNWTO guidelines for Gastronomy Tourism, Slow Food, and the Economic Modernization Vision related to Green Growth and Destination Jordan. Our mission is to position Jordan as a meaningful food destination that tells the story of Bilad Al Sham (Levant). Our goal is to meet the ethical culinary expectations of conscientious tourists and business travelers, while encouraging a healthy food culture for local residents. Follow us on Instagram.

HIH

Hospitality in Health (HIH) is a Dutch boutique agency specialized in Sustainable Gastronomy and Responsible Food & Beverage Strategies, supported by a curated network of Michelin chefs, chefs ranked in The World's 50 Best Restaurants, Academic experts, and Culinary platforms. HIH successfully delivered tailored hospitality solutions to a diverse client-mix of luxury hotels, boutique F&B brands, educators, tourism boards, and tradeshow organizers in Europe, the Americas, and MENA. Download our Menu & Portfolio.