The Levant is a historical geographical term that refers to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of West Asia. It is an approximate term that has undergone a dynamic process of historical evolution in usage, meaning, and understanding. In its narrowest sense, it is equivalent to Cyprus and a stretch of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea in western Asia. The populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position but also cuisine, some customs, and history. The Levant has been described as the "crossroads of Western Asia, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Northeast Africa". The term is also used for modern events, peoples, states, or parts of states in the same region. The modern-day Levant includes countries such as Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, part of Syria, and western Jordan. The Levant has a rich history of winemaking and cuisine, which includes shared plates and a wide palate of tastes embracing numerous cultures in the southeast corner of the Mediterranean. The Oriental Institute’s projects in the Levant have helped to reconstruct the millennia of cultural contact stretching back to the prehistoric period.