Egyptian cuisine
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Egyptian cuisine consists of the local culinary traditions of Egypt. Egyptian cuisine makes heavy use of legumes and vegetables, as Egypt's rich Nile Valley and Delta produce large quantities of high-quality crops. Meat is less prominent in Egyptian cuisine than in the cuisines of North Africa or the Bilad al-Sham.
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[edit] History and characteristics
- See also: Ancient Egyptian cuisine
Egyptian cuisine's history goes back to Ancient Egypt. Archaeological excavations have found that workers on the Great Pyramids of Giza were paid in bread, beer, and onions, apparently their customary diet as peasants in the Egyptian countryside. Dental analysis of the mummified bodies of these workers seems to indicate that the bread was chewy and coarse but hearty, rather like the bread of modern Egypt; the occasional desiccated loaves found in tombs confirms this, in addition to indicating that ancient Egyptian bread was made with flour from emmer wheat. Though beer disappeared as a mainstay of Egyptian life following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 654 CE, onions remain the primary vegetable for flavoring and nutrition in Egyptian food. Beans were also a primary source of protein for the mass of the Egyptian populace, as they remain today.
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Egyptian cuisine is notably vegetarian- and vegan-friendly, as it relies so heavily on vegetable dishes. Though food in Alexandria and the coasts of Egypt tends to use a great deal of fish and other seafood, for the most part Egyptian cuisine is based on foods that grow out of the ground. Meat has traditionally been very expensive, and a great deal of vegetarian dishes have developed to work around this absence.
[edit] Dishes
Egyptian cuisine is characterized by dishes such as Ful Medames, Kushari and Molokhia, while sharing similarities with food found throughout the eastern Mediterranean like kebab and falafel.
Bread forms the backbone of Egyptian cuisine. Bread is consumed at almost all Egyptian meals; a working-class or rural Egyptian meal might consist of little more than bread and beans. The local bread is a form of hearty, thick, glutenous pita bread called Eish Masri or Eish Baladi (Egyptian Arabic: عيش ʿēš) rather than the standard Arabic خبز khubz. The word "Eish" comes from the verb "ʿāš, yiʿīš" meaning "to live" indicating the centrality of bread to Egyptian life. In modern Egypt, the government subsidizes bread in order to ensure that poor Egyptians have bread to put on the table; as of 2008, however, a major food crisis has caused ever-longer bread lines at government-subsidized bakeries where there would normally be none; the occasional fight has broken out over bread, leading to fear of bread riots. [1]
Most Egyptians perhaps consider Ful Medames, or mashed fava beans, to be the national dish. Ful is also used in making Ta'miyya or Falafel (Arabic: طعمية – فلافل), in contrast to elsewhere in the Arab world, where chick peas are used for the dish.
Ancient Egyptians are known to have used a lot of garlic and onion in their everyday dishes. Fresh mashed garlic with other herbs is used in spicy tomato salad and is also stuffed in boiled or baked aubergines (eggplant). Garlic fried with coriander is added to Mulukhiyya (Arabic: ملوخية), a popular green soup made from finely chopped leaves. Fried onions are added to Kushari (Arabic: كشري), a dish consisting of brown lentils, macaroni, rice, chickpeas and a spicy tomato sauce.
Other popular dishes include Kebab and Kofta (Arabic: كباب وكفتة), usually of lamb meat, chops & minced meat on skewers grilled on charcoal. Egyptians are famous for stuffing spicy rice in vegetables like green pepper, aubergines, courgettes and tomatoes to make Mahshi (Arabic: محشي). Mahshi is generally rolled in grapevine leaves, Mahshi Warraq Enab (Arabic: محشي ورق عنب), or in cabbage leaves, Mahshi Koronb (Arabic: محشي كرنب).
Shawerma (Arabic: شاورمة) is a popular sandwich of shredded meat or chicken, usually rolled in pita bread with Tahina sauce. It is not as popular in Egypt as in the Levant.
Dukkah is a dry mixture of chopped nuts, seeds and Middle Eastern spices and flavors.
Although Ramadan is a month of fasting in Egypt, it is usually when Egyptians pay a lot of attention to food in variety and richness, since the whole family would gather on the breakfast table just after sunset. There are several special desserts almost exclusive to Ramadan such as Kanafeh and Atayef (Arabic: كنافة وقطايف). In this month, many Egyptians will make a special table for the poor or passers-by, usually in a tent in the street, called Ma'edat Al Rahman (Arabic: مائدة الرحمن) which translates literally as Table of (God) the Gracious (Merciful).
Christians of Egypt, mainly Copts, observe fasting periods according to the Liturgical Calendar that practically extend to more than two-thirds of the year. The diet is mainly vegan. During this fasting, Copts will usually eat vegetables fried in oil as they avoid meat, chicken, dairy products including butter.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ A City Where You Can’t Hear Yourself Scream. The New York Times (14 April 2008). Retrieved on 7 May 2008.
[edit] Bibliography
- Balkwill, Richard. (1994). Food & feasts in ancient Egypt. New York: New Discovery.
[edit] External links
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