What to Eat in Jordan in 2026: The Best Food and Drink

Jordanian food is Levantine cooking shaped by Bedouin generosity and a specific national ingredient — zarb, the underground pit cooking that produces smoky, tender chicken or lamb over rice in a method that dates to desert hospitality before any fixed kitchen existed. Mansaf — lamb in jameed (dried, fermented goat or sheep's milk reconstituted into a tangy yellow broth), served over rice and flatbread and eaten with the right hand at a communal platter — is the national dish of Jordan, the meal served at weddings and funerals and important meetings, a food of social weight. Hummus in Jordan, specifically at an Amman hummus institution in the Palestinian community of Weibdeh, is eaten warm with fresh olive oil and a plate of vegetables at breakfast or lunch, never as a side dish. Falafel (Jordan's is chickpea-based, herb-green inside, served in thin flatbread) and kunafa (Nabulsi cheese under shredded dough, soaked in orange blossom syrup, the Levantine dessert that Jordanians credit to Nablus) complete the traditional food picture. Sage tea and the specific Bedouin qahwa (made with green coffee beans and cardamom) are the Jordan-specific beverage traditions. Take your time.