... Breakfast to go ...

How many times have you heard that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?”. In Egypt, breakfast is indeed not to be taken lightly. You won’t usually find many Egyptians simply throwing some cereal in a bowl, adding milk and wolfing it down. Nor eating a quick yoghurt and piece of fruit.

MAIN ITEMS:

Breakfast is a glorious meal, if you eat the traditional breakfast of:

* Fuul (beans)

* Falafel

* Eggs

* Bread

* Salad.

Now some people prefer to cook and prepare there own at home, but many will simply pop out to the nearest breakfast cart and get a quick breakfast to go, and walk briskly back to their own house to eat it with their family.

WHO COMES TO BUY:

It is usually the men who will come out to the street to these glorious breakfast carts. Some will come still in their pyjamas, some will arrive in their cars on the way to work, some will come with their own bowls, some will simply stand at the food cart and eat there. People will usually have their favorite breakfast cart, and indeed some people will travel to another neighborhood just to get their favorite breakfast.

WHAT IS ON A BREAKFAST CART?

These carts are usually odd wooden carts, that have been brightly painted. They have large wheels and look very cheerful! They can be attached to a horse, pushed, or even connected to a bicycle to be moved around. 

Around one side of the cart is usually a small shelf, shoulder height, where you can stand and eat, chatting to your fellow cart-restaurant diners!

On the opposite side is usually the dishing up side: where there is usually a large, silver, small necked pot, in which the fuul (beans) has been simmering for hours. This can be dished up in a small plastic bag, or put in a sandwich, poured into a personal bowl (if you are taking it home) or dished up onto a plate if you are eating at the cart.

There are usually some boiled eggs, falafel ready made, bread and some mixed salad. Oil, salt, spices and chilly can be added to taste.

QUALITY FOOD AND VALUE FOR MONEY:

Many visitors are frightened at the idea of “street food”. And indeed some have better cleanliness standards than others. But ask a few local people where is the best breakfast cart, and they can show you!

Then pop across one morning, for the quickest, freshest, cheapest and filling breakfast I think you will ever have had!!

... the thick, sweet Winter Drink ...

Egyptians are very particular about their drinks! There are many and varied in:

• colour
• ingredients
• look
• texture and 
• temperature.

One of the rather more interesting drinks is called:

SAHLAB.

This is the official Winter Drink of Egypt! It will produce a frown and a gasp of horror if you ask for it when winter is over. Guests have described it as a “hot dessert in a glass”! And indeed it is: a sweet, hot, creamy tea!

INGREDIENTS:

In many a previous era, Sahlab was drunk before tea and coffee were the order of the day. In those times, Sahlab was made (apparently) from the powder by drying and crushing the tuberous root of a wild, white orchid: the orchis mascula. In Ottoman days it is said to have been drunk as an aphrodisiac, as well as being thought to be very nutritious for invalids, and medicinal for gastric irritation. 

In more recent days, this lovely wild orchid is becoming more and more rare, and more expensive to buy, so tastes have become more simplified, more instant.

MODERN SAHLAB:

The new recipe for Sahlab replaces the wild orchid powder with corn-starch and milk. Some people like to add rose-water, to give a floral hint. But this thick milky drink then has many other things added to it, depending on the taste of the drinker:

• coconut
• raisins
• sugar
• nuts (usually pistachio)
• sesame seeds 

Nowadays you can get this all in a pre-packed package, only needing to add water or milk, and perhaps an extra topping or 2! Or you can buy the ready made powder in a local souq (market) from a large bag, measuring out the quantity you want.

DRINK OR CHEW?

With the thick consistency of this sweet milky drink, with nuts and coconut on the top, the biggest dilemma is whether to drink it or eat it! All we recommend is that you have one: take a sip, but have a spoon nearby to scoop out all the goodness within your glass.

But be warned: this is like a meal in itself….. not to be drunk flippantly or with a meal: it is a meal on its own: warm, sweet and very yummy! 

On a cold day in Egypt….

it is just the thing.

... the fabulous Fez from Fowa ...

Having seen the remains of the once impressive and one of its kind (at the time) Fez factory in the town of Fowa(ordered by Mohmmad Ali Bashr and built by Mohammed Maghreb in 1824), taking a close look at the revered Fez hat provided an interesting topic for this page. This small, red truncated cone hat, with its black tassel has had a remarkably turbulent history, and is rather an “iconic” hat, if ever there was one!

THE FEZ: (or TARBOOSH)

The traditional Fez hat is usually made of felt (wool) and is of a striking merlot/red color with a black tassel. It was a brimless “bonnet” which made it easier for Muslims while praying (as there was no brim!) Where it first originated is under dispute, but it appears to have been either in Greece or the Balkans, though many assume it was in Morocco. But it rose to fame in the Ottoman era in 1826.

DURING OTTOMAN TIMES:

In 1826, Sultan Mahmud II made sweeping reforms over his lands, and one of those was to “update” the military uniform. He banned the wearing of the cherished turbans, and substituted it with the compulsory fez. His civil officials were then ordered to wear the plain fez. People were gradually “coerced” into accepting the fez as a symbol of “modernity” and oriental cultural identity: a new national hat!

The result was a sudden and huge demand for the production of these fez hats. The factory in Fowa was key initially, then gradually production centers were established in Constantinople and the Czech Republic (Austria).

Austria continued to produce in an almost near monopoly of the market until 1908, when there was a 1 year “Fez Boycott” and the fabulous fez saw the end of its universality.

IN TURKEY:

In Turkey the Fez was widely worn until the 1920's, Kamal Turk decided that his "new Republic" needed to follow European trends and stay up to date. On the 30th August, 1923, he banned the Fez, and forcefully introduced various European options of headgear: bowler hats, fedoras, panama hats. 

MILITARY USE:

+ 1840s - 1910 a red Fez with a blue tassel was used in the Turkish army.

+ late 19th Century, all locally recruited “native soldiers” of the Colonial armies adopted the Fez as their distinctive headdress. They wore them at different angles or placement of the tassels differently to denote which regiment they were from. 

+ The Egyptian army wore the classic Turkish model Fez until 1950

But although they were colorful and picturesque, for military use they were quite impractical: no protection from the sun, and a rather visible target.

USE TODAY:

The Fez is still used in various places by various people:

Cyprus, Peci (Indonesia), Songkok (Malaysia) and in North Africa in their hotel industry: bellhops, porters, and by some sects. 

However it is a charged symbol with a long and complicated history, and for many Muslims today the Fez hat is still a symbol of the "oppressors" and as such it might be considered politically incorrect to wear them.

But for those of you who would like to have one, you can easily buy them on-line, ranging from $4 (used) up to $65 (hand-made velvet)!

... round and round and round they go ...

THE DERVISHES:

Many people who come to Egypt want to see a whirling dervish (mowlawlyya). 

Who are these people who spin around and around in a religious dance?

The dervishes are a branch off of the Sunni sect of Islam. In Egypt at present the Order of the Whirling Dervishes is a very small number indeed, and are usually only seen at Moulids/festivals/tourist stages. But this order was founded in Konya (in Turkey) almost 800 years ago, the original master was a Persian poet named Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. The Mevlevi or Semazens (as the Dervishes are also called) extol music and dance as a way of shedding earthly ties and abandoning oneself to God's love.

THE SUFI IDEAL:

Their aim is to attain union with God, the source of all perfection. During the Ottoman and Mamluk times Sufism flourished. They propose that the way of life is to love, and be of service to people, deserting one's own ego/false self and all illusions to become mature and perfect. Sufi followers were known for their extreme poverty and austerity, and were often said to be thin, unkempt and sometimes frighteningly mystical when they arrived in a village! Many followers of the order of Dervish were great artists: music, calligraphy and painting.

But many orthodox Muslims think Sufism and the order of the dervishes is blasphemous.

THE WHIRLING CEREMONY:

The actual dance of the dervishes is called the Sema Ritual: Sama meaning hearing/listening. It is said to be physically active meditation and represent one's spiritual journey. 

The aim of the dance is to abandon one's ego by listening to the music, focus on God and spin slowly in repetitive circles: trying to find God and become quiet and peaceful in finding him. 

As you watch the circling worshippers, it is good to understand the symbolism they attach to each element of the dance:

• the music: this represents the solar system
• the spinning: represents the heavenly bodies (planets orbiting the sun)
• right hand up: is pointing to heaven, where grace is being received from God
• left hand down: is pointing to earth, where this grace is being distributed
• camel hair cone hats: tomb-stones of personal desires (selfish ego)
• black cloaks: the tomb (of ego) which they discard to signify spiritual re-birth to the truth
• white skirts: the funeral shrouds

The revolving is said to signify the harmony with all things in nature and they join the choreography of the cosmos by dancing to its rhythm in the spinning action of the universe.

HOW TO SPIN:

There is strict order and structure in the dance. The order begins with a novice learning from a teacher who has in turn learnt from his teacher. This chain or order (Silsila) is said to trace finally to God himself. The novices first have to go through the strict discipline of the body to enable the mind to become free before they can even begin to dance. There is a chief dancer (Sheik) for every dance, and they stand in an honored corner. As the plaintive and insistent call of the Turkish flute (ney) begins, each dervish will pass him 3 times to greet, with both hands crossed on their shoulders.  Then they begin to slowly rotate, revolving with ever increasing speed. They revolve from left to right, rotating on the ball of the left foot, using the right foot as the impetus to spin. And during the dance, should any of the dervishes become too enraptured with their whirling, they will be corrected by the chief dancer touching their robe. 

BANNING:

In 1925 in Turkey, public religious performances of this order were banned. Finally in 1954 the Mevlevi order were given permission to whirl twice a week for tourists. So the following is very small, but if you look, you might just be able to get a glimpse of these whirling dervishes as they spin and seek connection with God.

... in bright colors, with intricate patterns ...

KILIM (or GOBLAN)

In the delta and in Upper Egypt (the South) you can find lovely hand-woven woolen carpets called Kilim (pronounced Kileem). They are hand made on lovely old wooden looms and begin literally from the wool on the back of a sheep, ideally a fat tailed one!

THE ORIGINS:

The first evidence of these carpets of the slit-weave variety were thought to be from around 1000 BC in Egypt. Some propose that it came there from Syria as early as 7th century BC.

THE WOOL:

The process begins with the farmers, who shear their sheep and then bring the wool into “town” to be sold. The pool is collected, cleaned and then processed into “thread” as it is called here. These threads are then washed, dried and colored, and then wound over large “bobbins”. At this point the transformation begins.

THE LOOMS:

In many of a small room, with little light or ventilation, you will find 2 -4 older men, working side by side, skeins of wool hanging from hooks and beams all around them, bags of wool or bits of wool all over the floor, and the wonderful wooden clunk and creak of a working loom. Their aging, wise hands fly instinctively back and forward across the interlocking threads in front of them, while their feet regularly change “gear” under the loom. They make it look incredibly effortless, and the pattern they are producing just appears to grow like a miracle on the loom in front of them.

But do not be deceived: working these old looms requires much concentration and many years of experience!

TYPES OF KILIM:

Traditionally there were 2 types of Kilim:

1. Folk (where the patterns were of nature or geometrical design)
2. Super (which is of a much higher quality, more expensive and required the skill of the expert weaver. These could even be with silk thread and massive portraits!)

APPARATUS USED:

+ A loom: this could be either a fixed vertical loom (used by sedentary people - in villages) or the easily movable horizontal loom (used by nomads). The loom holds the longitudinal threads (warps) and the horizontal threads (wefts) and weaves them together creating a flat-weave. No knotting in these mats

+ A beating comb: this is a large strong version of a hair comb! It is made from wood, metal or bone and is used to compress the new line of thread into the previous one, so that a tightly woven pattern is formed

• A Shuttle: this is what the weft (horizontal thread) is placed in, and then inserted between alternate warps (longitudinal thread). It is passed at speed (by the experts) backwards and forwards with incredible precision
• A knife/pair of scissors: to cut and trim the thread
• Wool: or cotton / silk / goat hair / camel hair

KILIM PATTERNS:

The weft strands carry the design/colour. Though made for daily use, the Kilim carpets have beautiful patterns, motifs and designs on them. Most have a geometric pattern, which is commonly used in artwork in the Muslim world, and some have simple pictures on them. It is said that many a maiden has poured her heart-story into the mat she has been weaving! Depending on the colour, design, patterns and motifs a person wise to the society and community could read it almost like a book!

USES:

Traditionally this carpet is made for use: a functional carpet, not simply commercial! It can be used:

• hung on the wall as a decoration
• thrown over a simple bed as a cover
• on the floor as a rug/mat
• over the table as a tablecloth
• on the ground as a "picnic" rug
• as a prayer mat

KILIM TODAY:

Sadly, the craft, skill and art of traditional Kilim making is slowly dying. The market has suffered greatly with the cheaper and more “fashionable” mats made overseas. Local demand has reduced and international demand is very low.

... a gloopy, green, viscous, soupy thing ...

A unique Egyptian National Dish, beloved by her people, is Molokhiya (pronounced Mologheya!!!). To the un-initiated, this can be scary to look at and a bit intimidating to eat… largely because of its unusual texture (to the eye and the mouth).

But hold on… let me help you understand a bit more about this rich dish, and encourage you to be bold, be brave, put some on your rice and give it a go….

WHAT IS IT MADE OF?

The name Molokhiya (spelt in a huge variety of ways) is both the name of the dish, and the plant from which it is made. It is a leafy green vegetable…. but it is not spinach, nor is it basil…yet there are similarities to both!!!

This plant is known as:

• Jews Mellow (in English apparently)
• Nalta (in Indian)
• moroheiya (Japan)
• Jute leaves
• Japanese Globeflower
• Corchorus (botanical name)

It apparently thrives in hot, humid places and is well known in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, India and many areas in Asia. The leaf is a medium size, bigger than basil, saw-toothed with a small point at the top, and small tendrils at the base of the leaf. In the middle east it abounds in its fresh state. Some countries it is available as a dried leaf, and in others in a powdered form. Wider abroad, it is often found frozen, but the discerning Molokhiya eaters shudder at the thought of using frozen molokhiya to make their dish.

HOW IS THE DISH MADE?

The way of preparing the dish differs on which country you are in, or from which country the chef originates from!! But as they say the origins lie in Egypt (popular from Pharaonic times apparently) we shall consider the Egyptian style. Ideally, the fresh leaves are stripped from the stems/spine, washed, dried and then minced/cut with a mezzaluna (the ever-present round blade knife with handles). If using the dried leaves, these should be soaked to soften them first. Then simmered gently, not covering the pot!

The stock then must be made from the chicken/beef/fish/rabbit that you will be using with the greens. 

The “taqliya” mix must be prepared: sautéed garlic and olive oil.

These are carefully added and simmer a bit more, until a lovely, thick, rich, mucilaginous (slimy) broth is made. There is a natural thickening agent in the leaf, but care should be taken not to add too much broth, as you will have a soupy mess!

Coriander, salt and pepper, lemon is then added to taste.

Traditionally this is served over rice, never eaten just as a soup! 

IS IT GOOD FOR YOU?

This simple yet comforting dish is extremely nutritious, in fact it is packed with many good things:

• betacarotene
• iron
• calcium
• vitamen C                                                                                                                        
• ……and 32 other vitamens/minerals/trace elements!

It is best to taste it made by someone who knows what they are doing, as “bad” molokhyia can you put off for life I am told. So take courage when presented with this soupy, gluey like substance: take a spoonful and pour it onto your rice… then taste: your body will be glad you did!

... alluring tattoo’s on hands, arms, ankles and feet ...

HENNA - the glorious dye that has been used for 6000 years (or so) for hair and skin is still alive and well in Egypt!

WHAT IS HENNA?

Henna is a flowering plant: a tall shrub (or a short tree!) with the proud formal name of “Lawsonia”. This plant is found naturally in:

• North Africa
• West and South Asia
• and North Australia                                                                                                           The leaves are dried and pounded into a powder and the mixed with a mild acid (like lemon juice) into a paste. After it is left to stand for a few hours, it can be used to stain skin, hair, fingernails and fabrics.

HOW TO APPLY HENNA:

There are a variety of tools that can and have been used:

• a stick
• a twig
• a syringe
• a cone

 The longer it is left, the darker it becomes and the longer it lasts. It is best applied on the hands and feet, as here the skin is thin and will look darker and last longer

BLACK HENNA:

Henna is never black in its natural form! It has a brown-reddish color. Sometimes different chemicals are added to the henna to turn it black, but these can be harmful and should be avoided.

WHEN IS HENNA USED:

Henna is generally applied on “happy days”:

• holidays
• celebrations
• victories
• marriages
• and when good luck is needed

MEN AND WOMEN?

Henna is most often used for Brides, as the patterns and decorated hands and feet are thought to be very alluring for the Groom! However, Muslim men often use henna in their beards and hair (when they are going grey). This is considered a commendable tradition in Islam.

HOW LONG DOES A HENNA TATOO LAST?

This is only temporary, and depends where it was put, how long you left it to dry, and how often that area is exfoliated. In general it will last between 1-2 weeks at most.