We can all agree that pita bread aka Arabic bread is the most important staple food in every Arab household. The bags of pita bread are often bought in bulk … because if it’s not in your kitchen you might as well be on a starvation diet. Your culinary hands are tied. It’s eaten with everything, and these 7 foods just don’t work without pita bread:

1. Nutella

Yes, Western world. You don’t know Nutella until you’ve eaten it with pita bread.

I know we always make fun of the fact that our parents feed us almost everything in pita bread, but you gotta admit Nutella inside pita bread is just a taste of heaven on earth. Especially when you start squeezing that chocolate from the tip of the sandwich like a tube of toothpaste. Delicious.

2. Falafel

Whoever even tries to eat falafel in a hamburger bun, on toast or french bread is just doing it wrong. Really, falafel is just not good if it’s not on pita bread that turns soggy at some point from the tahini (taratour) overload. You’ll never know how good soggy bread tastes till you try falafel in pita.

3. Shawarma

Another food that is made to go with pita bread. The perfect meat/chicken pieces fit perfectly in the center of the round-shaped pita, making it just the right complement.

4. Mjadara

Yes, we’re guilty of eating carbs on carbs in our meals, but honestly mjadara is just not complete if it’s not eaten with pita bread. It’s not something that should be eaten with a fork/spoon. No, it has to be with pita bread.

5. Hummus

People who haven’t eaten hummus the authentic Arab way don’t know that pita bread scooping is the way to go about it.

6. Labneh

This one’s a given. Although labneh does taste delicious with pretty much anything and inside pretty much everything. Stuff that pita bread with some cucumbers, tomatoes and olives and you’ll be good to go.

7. Zaatar

Of course, there was no way your parents sent you to school without feeding you that zaatar sandwich in the mornings before your exam … because zaatar opens up your brains.