FOOD

I’ve been asked about Egyptian food a lot, so let me try to give you some taste of it:

Tasty food, eating, sharing meals and giving food to others all are of major importance in Egypt. The average (Western) European has to get used to quite large parts of oil and meat in the diet and to large amounts of generally everything. And it is very hard to refuse, so be prepared to eat a lot especially when visiting someone!

Continental Europeans will also notice a big difference in breakfast as ful, one of the most typical Egyptian dishes is often served in the mornings. It is best described as a stew of brown beans that re soaked for some hours and then kept simmering overnight with tomatoes, garlic and spices. It is usually served with or inside bread which is round, quite flat, about 20 cm in diameter and comes in a double layer so it can be filled. Most popular fillings apart from ful are Tameya, chicken, salad made from tomatoes, cucumber, green onions and cilantro or a mix of cottage cheese and tomatoes.

Staying with a Christian family during one of their vegan fasting periods I learn not only how to make ful, but also gain some experience in making pickels, mainly of eggplants and peppers that are fried and then stuffed with a very spicy mix of tomatoes, lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, chili powder, salt and cumin. Eggplants, bell peppers and vine leaves are also often stuffed with rice cooked with tomatoes, herbs and spices.

Another national Egyptian dish is also said to originate from Coptic fasting criteria. Koshari is a mix of noodles, rice, lentils, fried onions and hot red sauce. While vegetarianism is not at all common in Egypt vegetarians can definitely survive, especially among Orthodox Christians who eat vegan for one third of the year anyway.

 

Ful pot, fried potatoes, baked vegetables, rice

Some other specials not to be missed when visiting Egypt, in my opinion is Feteer, a kind of flaky pastry containing a lot of butter and served with various salty or sweet fillings. Water melons, several kinds of mango and dates, grapes, bananas, guavas, figs and teen shoki (‘figs with horns’, a fruit from the desert) are sold on every other street corner and after washing or peeling them I never had any bad experience with these very sweet fruits. You also get most of them as juices in the supermarkets or at juice bars along with sugar cane and pomegranate juice, definitely a worth a try!

Egyptians also have a weakness for sweets and sweet drinks, most prominently black tea with fresh mint and quite a lot of sugar. Apart from dates in different shapes and preparations and Arabic and Turkish pastries that are very delicious and really very sweet, cupcakes (I like these) have found their way to Egypt, especially for Ramadan being customized with traditional local toppings and an American company specializing in cinnamon buns meets the local taste. Yesterday Ahmed invited me to a place that as its specialty serves fresh waffles with the chocolate bar of your choice spread on it! Ingenious! Sugar shock and tryptophane boost guaranteed =), decide for yourself if this is Egyptian or I just didn’t run across it anywhere else.