Category Archives: Food and Drink

Smoke Rises in the Middle East

Development, Food and Drink, Journalism and Media, Turkey


Hooked on Hookah, 1909

No, this is not another post about terrorism, nor the violent protests following the recent Iranian election, nor more reports of suicide bombs in hotel lobbies. The smoke from these tragedies is not about to disappear any time soon. The smoke I am talking about is from the tobacco industry. Newsweek (July 27 issue) provides a breakdown of smokers worldwide. While China leads all populations with almost 334 million smokers (32% of the overall population), they are actually lower percentage wise than Turkey with its 19 million users, accounting for 36% of the population. Other Middle Eastern countries surveyed fare a bit better than the United States (24% of the population) with 21% (28 million users) in Pakistan, 17.6% (9 million users) in Iran and only 14.2% (2.4 million users) in Iraq. I suspect even these numbers are under reported, given the ubiquity of cigarettes in the region. Health warnings or not, tobacco is still sultan in the Middle East and indeed the entire world. Continue reading Smoke Rises in the Middle East →

Tracing the History of Qat

Agriculture, Anthropology/Sociology, Food and Drink, Plants, Qat (Catha edulis), Yemen


Selling qât in Yemen. Photo by Pascal Maréchaux

Much has been written, pro and con, about the chewing of qât leaves in Yemen. In addition to the economic and social problems over qat, there is a historical puzzle. When and how did the plant Catha edulis come from Ethiopia, its botanical origin, to Yemen? Yemeni legend and folkore suggest that the stimulant qualities of qat leaves were first discovered by a goatherd who noticed the effect on goats who browsed on the plant. A variant of this goat legend, told to me in 1979 by a poet from Husn al-‘Arus, suggests that an Ethiopian came along to explain to the goatherd what was happening. The goat is one of the few animals that can be seen occasionally eating qât leaves, but the story is surely apocryphal. Sometimes it is told for the origin of coffee, another stimulant brought from East Africa. Continue reading Tracing the History of Qat →

Streetwise Halal

Food and Drink, Islam in America


Little Persian Cafe, on the corner of Broadway and W116th Street

by Dagmar Riedel
Street vendors in midtown Manhattan, between 5th and 6th Avenue, often play Arab music and wear vaguely Muslim head dresses. Some time ago, their advertisements began focusing on all-beef hot dogs and burgers. But now they are advertising their food as halal. The photos of the halal carts were taken between the end of March 2009 and the beginning of May 2009. It seems that both Arab-Americans and Iranian-Americans are jumping on the bandwagon, though dress and cart names may also be the result of marketing strategies. Continue reading Streetwise Halal →

At least it wasn’t pork

Food and Drink, Luke R. E. Publican, YouTube Watch


Sacred meat with name of Allah from Nigerian restaurant

Gullibility may be the most common human trait. The West has its UFOs and citings of Elvis, following medieval Christian crusades to find the true cross and holy grail. Indeed, even the prepuce of the Messiah (venerated in the church on January 1) shares space in almost two dozen cathedrals. It is reported (the kind that Fox News might report) that on Christmas day in 800 AD the about-to-be-crowned Charlemagne gave a part of the foreskin of Christ to Pope Leo III. Charlemagne said he received it from an angel, but others say it was a wedding gift from the Byzantine Empress Irene. One wonders who spirited the bit of divine flesh out of the stable in Bethlehem and saved it for a future queen.

All three monotheisms posit signs from Yahweh, the Triune God or Allah. The Virgin Mary or even the head of Jesus may appear on a piece of toast, as though God blesses the bread we eat only if it can take the heat. Islam, unfortunately, is not immune from calligraphic appearances in the most mundane places. Less than a year ago, the Arabic name Allah, appeared on several pieces of meat in a Nigerian restaurant. Alhamdillah, it was beef. But as a sign of hard times, it was not a prime rib or filet mignon (which would have been far too much Western cuisine, I think), but gristle. “When the writings were discovered there were some Islamic scholars who come and eat here and they all commented that it was a sign to show that Islam is the only true religion for mankind,” claimed the restaurant owner. The more appropriate response might be: fat chance. Continue reading At least it wasn’t pork →

Emirati Youth in a Rapidly Changing Society

Anthropology/Sociology, Development, Food and Drink, United Arab Emirates

by el-Sayed el-Aswad, United Arab Emirates University

The UAE has developed amenable ways of synchronizing localism with globalism. It is hard to erase specificities that create a misleading portrait of a single global culture. However, Emirati local culture transforms and appropriates aspects of the global into a unique system of local social meaning. The young generations of the Emirates, for instance, have succeeded in assimilating outside influences without deserting their heritage. They have expressed their pride generated by their ability to combine both local culture and modern, global ways of life. They speak Arabic with Emirati dialects, eat indigenous food, use incense and wear traditional costumes (including veils for women) so as to symbolically identify themselves with their traditional society, but, at the same time, they speak English and employ symbols signifying western ‘global’ modernity, such as using computers, eating Western fast food, consuming expensive perfumes, and driving extravagant four wheel-drive cars. However, it can be argued that symbols of modernity do not fundamentally alter people’s beliefs, values, or culture. Continue reading Emirati Youth in a Rapidly Changing Society →

Kill the Pigs

Animals, Egypt, Food and Drink, Israel

“Kill the pigs.” After all, they are a bunch of swine. Were this the rallying cry of a terrorist group or the mantra of war-torn propaganda, such a phrase would not be a surprise. But beyond the barricades in the pigpen, there is a new strain in the refrain. It’s bad enough that the pig has been a symbolic target for censure by the orthodox in Judaism and Islam (Christians were saved by St. Peter’s dream), but now it is subject to literal swinocide. That is what is happening in Egypt, a country where pig bones are as much a part of the rich archaeological record as mummies. Here is the AP story, written by Maamoun Youssef:

CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who blocked streets and stoned vehicles of Health Ministry workers who came to carry out the government’s order. Continue reading Kill the Pigs →

Lithographica Arabica 2: An Oriental Cafe

Coffee, Food and Drink, Lithographs, Orientalism


“An Oriental Café” from Bible Lands by Henry Van-Lennep, 1875, p. 779

For those who share the tactile thrill of fingers thumbing through brown-edged paper and caressing delicate bindings of century-plus-old books, I dedicate a new theme on Tabsir devoted to the art of lithographic representation of the Middle East. Lithographica Arabica — long live the line drawings and antiquated woodcuts of bibliophilic bliss.

The café (more properly kahweh) is a nearer approach to Western ideas, and deserves a passing notice, being an important institution of the East. Continue reading Lithographica Arabica 2: An Oriental Cafe →

Yes, We Qat no Grapes

Agriculture, Development, Food and Drink, Qat (Catha edulis), Yemen

Yemeni farmers threaten to swap grapes for qat
Saddam Al-Ashmori, The Yemen Times, October 11, 2008

SANA’A, Oct 11 – Yemeni raisin producers have threatened to replace grapes with qat in their plantations after the loss they sustained this year as a result of not being able to sell all their produce.

Nasser Al-Khawlani, owner of a vineyard, said that the reason behind the low demand for local raisins this year was the presence of other cheap and attractive raisins in the markets, smuggled into Yemen from China.

He further said that, if the government didn’t take steps to prevent the smuggling of Chinese raisins into the country, farmers would replace grapes with qat in their lands. Continue reading Yes, We Qat no Grapes →