He and Noam Sienna conclude that both shakshouka and menemen, among other dishes like piperade and ratatouille, are members of a wider family of vegetable stews of common ancestry appearing throughout the western Mediterranean.

Some cooks add preserved lemon, salty sheep milk cheeses, olives, harissa or a spicy sausage such as chorizo or merguez.

In Tunisia, a similar dish called slata meshouia is enjoyed, but it differs from hmiss with the addition of onions, cumin and tuna.

[19] Because eggs are the main ingredient, it often appears on breakfast menus in English-speaking countries, but in the Arab world as well as Israel, it is also a popular evening meal,[20] and like hummus and falafel, is a Levantine regional favorite.

[22] In Jewish culture, a large batch of tomato stew may be made on Friday for the Sabbath dinner and the leftovers used on Sunday morning to make a breakfast shakshouka with eggs.