Rice

While wheat is the staple of the rural parts of the Middle East, rice is the everyday food of the cities. It was introduced in the marshlands of the area through Persia from India. It is often the main part of the meal, with small amounts of meat and vegetables acting as garnish or accompaniment. It is roz to the Arabs, pirinç, or pilav when cooked with other ingredients, to the Turks. Iranians call it chilau when it is plain, and polo when cooked with other ingredients. In the Arabian gulf they have taken to an Indian way of making it called birian.