Apart from the dance, the music, the traditional costume, the custom, the language, the history… the food also takes part of those cultural elements which define the identity of a country. The culture is on the plate. If there is a thing that the humanity shares, it is the social importance of the food in which there is an exchange, a pleasure, a joy…In order to build up your appetite, here are some selections of typical food of five countries in the Arab world.
- Egypt
Egyptian cuisine includes numerous typical dishes from North Africa. It is a mixture of numerous mediterranean specialities especially Syro-Lebanese. Starchy foods and rice are the basic food with a lot of spicy dishes of vegetables and meat. Thea and coffee are the national drinks. But the emblematic dish of the country is the « foul medammas ». They are boiled beans served hot and marinated in some oil and lemon. There are different ways to cook it. For the breakfast, it is current to eat a pancake garnished of foul.
- Morrocco
Morrocan cuisine is a mediterranean cook which has been influenced by Arabic, Berber, Jew, Sub-saharan Africa and Asia. Inspite of this, Morrocco could conserve its originality and its unique cultural specificities. There is a big diversity of dishes : couscous, tagine, lamb barbecue named mechoui, pastilla… But the tagine is the emblematic dish of Morrocco and it is also the name of the earthenware pot with its sharp hat in which it is cooked. It is a daily dish with meat, chicken or fish which is accompanied with bread. The tagine is a spicy dish but not highly spicy as chilli. It can take diffrent forms and can be prepared with seasonal vegetables.
- Jordan
The Typical dish in Jordan, considered as the national dish is the Mansaf. It is also considered as festive meal, for example during a wedding or the independance day. It is prepared with of meat of lamb and a sauce made of fermented and dried yogurt called jamid. The Mansaf is often served with rice or a mixture of different groats. Then, all of this is served with a slice of flat bread. The Mansaf is also a daily meal made with nature yogurt to make easy the preparation and to reduce the time of cooking. There are many types of Mansaf with other meat like chiken or fish and different methodes of cooking.
- Yemen
Even though the cooking varies according to the regions, the Saltah is considered as the national dish of Yemen. The origin of this word « Saltah » is from the word « Salatah » which means mixture of vegetables. The basis of this recipe is a beef broth or a beef soup, a fenugreek mousse called Holba, a mixture of chilli, tomatoes, garlic and herbs called Sahawiq. The most used meats for this dish are the lamb and the chicken. This soup is accompanied with rice, potatoes, scrambled eggs or vegetables. The traditional bread served with the Saltah is called Malloga, a bread cooked in a terracotta oven similar to Indian oven.
- Algeria
Algeria has different kinds of traditional dishes extremely rich and varied. The Algerian national dish is the couscous. It is also one of the emblematic dishes of Magrheb, Jewish, African and Mediterranean cuisine but which varies one receipe to another. The preparation of Algerian couscous varies as well according to the regions, towns and villages. The are salted couscous and sweet and savoury couscous. It is garnished of many kinds of vegetables such us potatoes, turnips, courgettes, carrots, beans, pumpkins…And then, it is served with chicken, mutton, camel or fish and accompanied with a well spiced broth.