Cairo - The modern Egyptian diet has its roots in ancient times, almost 4 000 years ago, when the Great Pyramids of Giza were constructed.
Locals still talk about the hard labour during excavations, and the ferrying of large amounts of sand, rocks and huge stones that required a massive workforce.
“These men and women had to be fed, and fed seriously, if the work was to be done effectively,” a Cairo restaurateur says.
We chew the fat as the waiters at his eatery, Sequoia, balance no fewer than three dishes in one hand, and bottles of water in the other, and as they place steaming dishes of rich pasta, bread, beans and vegetables on the table.
The meal, served to six young journalists, could easily feed a small army of South African women. The dishes include a mixture of three pastas, two types of beans and lentils, cooked together and mixed with rice to produce an infusion of flavours second to none.
The meal is called “Kushari” and is considered a national Egyptian dish. It is served with caramelised onions and chickpeas infused with tomato sauce and garlic. “No one must go hungry,” a waiter says.
His colleagues explain that meals, while not particularly balanced in the conventional sense, must have the right amount of everything. “There is always bread and vegetables, sauces and meat,” Egyptian journalist Asmaa Khaled says.
That first meal in downtown Cairo was but a glimpse of the food during my entire stay in Egypt, where food was always plentiful, and where local people eat heartily.
Bread, said by folklore to have been the most important and readily available staple food of the pyramid era workers, is served with every meal. The loaves come in different shapes and sizes – from flat to round, long, short and hollowed.
“Bread is important, very important,” explained street vendor Maharez. He offers the most common bread, known as the eesh baladi. It is baked with whole-wheat flour and is flat and round. It can be opened up and stuffed with delicious fillings. On his mobile street stand are various accompaniments for the bread, ranging from roasted vegetables to cheeses, sauces and dips.
The streets are where the Egyptian people’s generosity with food was most visible. Streets are narrow, crowded and dusty, but crammed with food stands.
Some are mobile; others crudely built, but always piled with food, and surrounded by crowds of people keen to eat. The offerings are colourful, giving off a whiff of hot, spicy flavours.
The bustling city streets get busy from early morning until about midnight when street traffic starts to dwindle. “We are a city that never sleeps, and always eats,” vendor Hussein says, as his customers, most of them men, sit around his stand and break bread, dip it in hot sauces and down it with tea.
A couple of blocks down, Amin’s customers eat aish balasi with hot or cold fillings, a common option found across the city from the streets to formal restaurants.
Down the street is the stand of an an elderly man, which is fitted with a frying pan, on which an onion and red, green and yellow peppers fry. His customers queue as he cuts away at the meat and stuffs it into bread, adds the mixture from the pan and his sauces. “They love it, especially because this is not original local cuisine but a treat I have adapted to their needs,” he says.
His secret, he shares, is to use only local spices and the generous portions, and his proximity to a tea street vendor nearby.
Shai, the local tea, is drunk out of glasses. Randomly placed and brewed along the street, these vendors boast a profitable business. One says: “We love tea despite our high temperatures. You can never provide enough of it.”
Water coolers are also placed all along the streets.
In the early evening with the still searing heat of the desert, young men in colourful attire walk up and down the streets with portable liquid containers tucked under their arms. They sell karkada, brewed from the hibiscus plant and said to have more benefits than water.
“It has vitamins and stuff and will keep you looking young,” explains the vendor as he dispenses glass after glass of the cool, sweet liquid. It can also be found inside restaurants, along with tea and coffee imported from other countries.
Sweets, pastries and cakes are offered as snacks, vegetable platters and bread as starters.
The main courses vary and can include seafood, chicken and beef, more vegetables, and sweet delicatessen for dessert.
Inside formal eating houses is where the appetite of the Egyptian people can be witnessed, as men, women, young and old pile their plates high and bowls full.
My lasting memory will be of a nation who enjoys food, never spares a thought about their weight, and appear oblivious to expanding waistlines.
Pretoria News