The Middle East is a region lush in its vegetation, a gift to the non-meat-eater. Much of the cuisine is naturally plant-based, with a lot of the flavor of recipes coming from the herbs, spices, cooking methods, and sheer joie de cuisine traditional to Middle Eastern dining. Vegan diets can often be dismissed as lacking in certain nutrients, but there is no doubt that one thing a Middle Eastern kitchen teaches us is balance: every dish from a traditional kitchen is carefully crafted to offer a balance of "hot" and "cold" elements to satiate the four humors of medieval yore with legumes, grains, nuts, and vegetables galore

• Bread and pastry
• Herbs and salads
• Dairy and eggs
• Soup
• Legumes and pulses
• Rice and grains
• Vegetables
• Cooking with fruit
• Saucing, pickling and preserving
• Desserts