Category Archives: Food and Drink

Pizza my mind

Anthropology/Sociology, Food and Drink, Lebanon


Pizza Hut in Beirut, 2009; photograph by Daniel Martin Varisco

Being Italian by family name, and Sicilian at that, I feel qualified to talk about pizza. Whether or not pizza really was invented in Italy, Italian Americans have made pizza parlors the strip mall contender with Chinese takeouts. Pizza was not invented once, any more than the wheel. Once you start baking flat bread, and that goes back millennia, all you need is a few of the right kinds of droppings and the rest is culinary evolution. In the current global economy food has been ethnicized and consumer friended around the world. The Pizza Hut, with humble beginnings a half century ago in Kansas (yes Kansas!), now boasts franchises throughout the Middle East. There is even a website in Arabic. Of course, real Italians (those with the requisite last names) go to local parlors rather than give in to the fast food giant.

But this commentary is not really about pizza; it’s about what we choose to eat rather than what we actually eat. Choosing Pizza Hut in Beirut is branding yourself, even if you convince yourself it tastes good. Continue reading Pizza my mind →

What’s Cooking in Yemen 1

Folklore and Proverbs, Food and Drink, Yemen

In yesterday’s post the cover of a recent book published in Yemen was featured. This book is a pictorial introduction to the art of traditional cooking in rural Yemen. It was published in 2008 by the Center for Heritage of Sanaa University. The picture on yesterday’s cover was of a Yemeni woman preparing to bake bread. The steps above illustrate the preparation and baking of round barley bread, known as malûj in Yemen’s central highlands. The bread dough is formed into a ball and then stretched out with a makhbaza (see below) to a flat found shape that can be patted to the sides of the tannûr oven. The taste is hard to describe, since it is almost impossible to find pure barley bread in America. It is a hard, crisp bread and tough to break apart, but goes well with a variety of traditional stews.

to be continued

The Fifth Annual Arab-American Heritage Park Festival

Food and Drink, Music and Dance

The Fifth Annual Arab-American Heritage Park Festival

Sunday, July 18, From 1-6pm

Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY

15th Street Entrance

Presented By: The Arab American Family Support Center & Alwan for the Arts

Bring Your Family & Friends of all ages to Celebrate Arab Heritage

Directions:

F Train to 15th Street/Prospect Park B-68, B-69, or B-75 Buses to Prospect Park West & 9th Street

Enjoy music, cultural performances, savory Arabic food, traditional Arabic shisha, professional henna artists, heritage arts and crafts, face painting, bouncy house, plus enter the raffle to win lots of great prizes!

For more information contact Bret Denning at bret@aafscny.org

Last day in Lamu

Conferences and Talks, Food and Drink, Music and Dance


Chamba dance in Lamu Fort

I am sitting in the lobby of Lamu House on the delightful Swahili island of Lamu, my last day after a seminar sponsored here by the Rift Valley Institute on the Horn of Africa. On Wednesday night I attended a reception given by the Lamu museum and other respected officials and members of Lamu town. The highlight of the evening was a performance in “The Fort” of the Chamba wedding dance, a slow-moving line dance with swords and sticks held steadily. On Saturday I went on a dhow trip with Captain Abu (anyone going to Lamu should ask for Abu; he is superb and knows the area well, and the Rasta man Hasan is a fantastic cook) and met Muhammad Famou Othman, head of the dance troop, who took us on a tour of his village.

On Monday I delivered a talk to the Lamu community in The Fort. The talk was in English and I will post it here anon. But I also gave a brief introduction in Arabic, which was well appreciated. I would very much like to learn Swahili now and inshallah return to Lamu to do research on those here who have Yemeni ancestors.

My last day, chilling in a rather warm climate but with a strong breeze.

Ibn al-Mujâwir and the al-Huthi Rebellion

Architecture, Food and Drink, Huthis, Saudi Arabia, Travel, Yemen


Traditional buildings in Sa‘da, Yemen

Over the past few years a major civil war has been simmering, at times brewing over into neighboring Saudi Arabia, in the north of Yemen. It has been called the al-Huthi rebellion and much of the fighting took place around the historic town of Sa‘da, the main entry of the Zaydi imams in the 10th century C.E. The exquisite travel text of Ibn al-Mujâwir, penned and quilled in the early 13th century, has a brief account of the overall region. Here is what Ibn al-Mujâwir, as ably translated by G. Rex Smith, said:

A description of these areas. The [previous] informant, [al-Kirmani], informed me as follows: All these areas [are made up of] settlements similar in size to one another to a greater or lesser degree. Each settlement has its own people. Every Arab tribal group and even bedouin section is [represented] in a settlement. As a result of their behaving badly [towards others], no one can settle with them, either on a temporary or a permanent basis.

A stronghold of stone and plaster has been built in every settlement and everyone living in the settlement has a store in the stronghold in which he keeps all his possessions, taking only from it what he needs on a daily basis. the inhabitants of the settlement surround the stronghold on all four sides. Each settlement is ruled over by an old shaykh of some power, clever and intelligent. When he gives a ruling, no one else shares in, nor opposes, what he advises them to do and what judgement he gives. There is no other authority ruling over all those in these areas and they pay no tax, nor do they hand over any levy at all, except whatever one wishes. thus they are constantly fighting, one getting the better of another’s wealth and the relatives of Zayd taking the wealth of ‘Amr. They do this all the time.

Their crops are wheat and barley; their trees are vines, pomegranates and almonds. All [kinds] of fruits and choice things are to be found among them. Their food is ghee and honey and they [bask] in their God[-given] ease and security. They are tribes who go back to Qahtân and others in their family trees.

Quoted by Ibn al-Mujâwir in his early 13th century travel text, translated by G. Rex Smith, A Traveler in Thirteenth-Century Arabia: Ibn al-Mujâwir’s Târîkh al-Mustabsir (London: The Hakluyt Society, 2008), p. 65.

Nutrition in Colonial Aden, #2

Aden, Development, Food and Drink, Yemen

Say what you will about colonial empires, but at least they generate reports. I recently came across a British report to Parliament in 1939 entitled “Summary of Information Regarding Nutrition in the Colonial Empire.” Four pages are devoted to Aden Colony, which is said to have an area of 75 square miles, a population in 1931 of 45,992, a birthrate in 1937 of 32.07 per 1,000, an infant mortality rate in 1937 of 196.61 per 1,000, and a death rate in 1937 of 31.72 per 1,000. For part 1, click here. I attach more excerpts below:

3. Diet and Health (deficiency diseases and other relevant considerations). – On the whole, Aden can boast a high standard of public health. The greatest drawback is overcrowding. Large families occupy inadequate and ill-ventilated accommodations in which, as often as not, the domestic goat also claims a quota of space. In consequence of these conditions, respiratory and alimentary diseases are all too common. Diseases directly attributable to qualitative dietary deficiency are not a prominent feature of hospital returns in Aden and the more classical of the tropical diseases – beriberi, scurvy and pellagra – do not occur. Evidence of qualitative deficiency is found, however, in the incidence of rickets among children and of certain eye infections. An examination of 527 unselected children (consecutive cases treated in the Civil Hospital) showed that 33, 0r 6.2 per cent, were suffering from rickets. Continue reading Nutrition in Colonial Aden, #2 →

Where’s the Beef?

Animals, Food and Drink, United Arab Emirates

Camel Burger Newest “Healthy” Option on Dubai Menu

DUBAI (Reuters), February 2, 2010
A traditional Emirati restaurant in Dubai has added a new entree to its menu billed as a fat-free choice for carnivorous but health-conscious diners: the Camel Burger.

For 20 UAE dirhams ($5.45), the Local House restaurant offers a quarter pound camel burger, loaded with cheese and smothered in burger sauce, the Xpress weekly newspaper reported on Thursday.

Ali Ahmad Esmail, Local House assistant manager, told the paper that the burger patties were fat- and cholesterol-free. But he declined to say how the outlet tenderized the tough camel meat. Continue reading Where’s the Beef? →