Believe it or not, there were people living in Egypt long before the Pharaohs ruled and archaeologists tell us that there were hominids (human-like beings) living in the Nile valley around 700,000 years ago – further south, in Tanzania lies the Olduvai Gorge archaeological site – the oldest site in the world and part of ancient Egypt. It was discovered by Dr. Mary D. Leakey and her husband Louis - they found the remains of large hominids (Zinjanthropus boisei) that were almost two million years old surrounded by more than a few animal bones and crude stone

tools – they were  intelligent beings and they ate meat! However, no species of Homo habilis was ever found in the Nile Valley at that time – our earliest ancestors were living in South Africa in an area known as the Cradle of Mankind. (If  hominids were already roaming over Africa nearly two million years ago, it seems pretty likely that Homo habilis could have migrated to the Nile Valley a millennium later.) For the purpose of our purpose, it suffices to say that the Egyptian cuisine’s history dates back to Ancient Egypt and the times when the pyramids were built . Archaeologists now know that workers on the Great Pyramids of Giza didn’t receive money but bread, onions and beer and that it was probably standard payment for peasants – the bread was coarse but healthy and made from the flour of emmer wheat as evidence in the tombs suggested. After the Muslims conquered Egypt in 654, beer disappeared off the menu but onions remained and today it plays as important a role as then and beans, today as then, provided protein for the larger part of the population.

The Egyptian diet was (and still is) largely vegetarian and was primarily based on the food that grew out of the ground even though, in Alexandria and the coasts of Egypt, a lot of seafood was eaten, as it is today. Agriculture was an important part of life for all the people living around the Nile and from the pre-dynastic period on the rich, like the poor, based their diets on bread. The rich, of course, ate quite a variety of bread, often with seeds and spices to improve the flavour. (The diet was, clearly, quite different from the earlier hominids in Tanzania who ate meat.)  Bread was made by combining a type of flour with water (when bread was first made) and then later with yeast, salt, spices, milk, butter and even eggs – it was kneaded in huge containers, using both hands and feet and cooked on open fires or in the embers. From the period of the Old Kingdom onwards, pre-heated bread-moulds, properly greased were used and as the process became more sophisticated, tall bread ovens were built that were heated by ovens at the bottom (quite different from the oven used below). We read that bread was, initially, a type of flatbread but as time progressed, long rolls, round rolls and specially shaped breads were baked for ceremonial purposes and celebrations. Big, soft, griddle cakes were well loved, as they still are in Nubia, and often thick, hollow loaves were baked that were stuffed with beans or local vegetables whilst flat bread with raised edges were preferred for eggs and similar fillings. In time bread was often sweetened with honey,

dates or fruit and spiced with aniseeds and sesame seeds.Vegetables and fish formed an important part of the diet and even the poor enjoyed both of these food types – after all, they were considered to be gifts of the Nile and available to everyone. Beans, chickpeas, lentils, green peas, leeks and Egyptian lettuce were popular too. Garlic was eaten both for enjoyment and for medicinal purposes. Radishes don’t seem to have been terribly popular, despite the writings of Herodotus and I can’t say that I blame the Egyptians. The most popular fruit in ancient Egypt was dates – it was both plentiful and cheap and used by the poor as a sweetener whereas the rich preferred honey because sugar hadn’t been discovered yet. Dates were also preserved by drying and fermented to make wine. Figs were well known (as we can see from illustrations and references) and grapes were turned into raisins when they weren’t being eaten fresh. Pomegranates, watermelons and Egyptian plums were seen on the tables quite often but peaches were only introduced in the Ptolemaic (Greek) period after Alexander’s Indian excursion. Even though olives were discovered in Egypt before Greece, the Greeks were the first to make oil from them and the Egyptians were forced to import it if they wanted to use it in their food – and they did. Walnuts and carob seeds only became common from the period of the New Kingdom onwards. The rich ate meat with gusto and occasionally also a variety of  fish and certain types of wild poultry whereas the poor were forced to be happy with geese, ducks, quails, cranes and a few other birds. Ironically the poor, as so often in history got the better end of the bargain and ate healthier bread and much tastier meat!

Almost all the edible fish from the Nile were eaten with the exception of Lepidotus and Phragus for religious reasons (they were, somehow, connected to Osiris and thus taboo). In some parts of Egypt even the Nile Perch couldn’t be eaten because it was worshipped! While fish were sometimes roasted or boiled, they were more often than not salted or dried in the sun to preserve them. Beef was frequently eaten by the wealthy but commoners only had the opportunity to enjoy this specific meat on festive occasions. Wild game like antelope, ibex, gazelles and deer were eagerly hunted and consumed in large quantities by the wealthy who also ate sheep and goats voraciously. Pork was very popular in Lower Egypt but rarely in Upper Egypt even though it was associated with the evil god Seth – at a later stage they were reared throughout the country and thrived.  The use of milk, cheese and butter isn’t too well documented in the ancient times but later on we find  illustrations of men carrying what appears to be pots of milk or cream and in one tomb from the 19th dynasty, we can see a seated woman pulling white cones of what is probably butter or cheese out of a large vessel even though oils and fat were chiefly used in food preparation – goat, beef and fat from other animals as well as oils from sesame, flax, caster-oil plants, colocynth, safflower and horseradish oil were very popular. Because of salt’s connection to the god Seth, they didn’t eat salt and must have had very very healthy blood pressures. Pepper was only introduced later by the Greeks but Egyptian spices were liberally used, amongst others, aniseed, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, marjoram, mustard and thyme and the food must have been both tasty and healthy. The ancient Egyptians ate very well indeed and the Nile provided well for her children most of the time. When it comes to drinking, the commoners drank cheap beer, made with wheat or stale bread, with their meals as did the rich but the mega rich enjoyed their wine too.

FUL MEDAMES

Ingredients

• 500 g dried, peeled fava beans
• 150 ml dried red lentils
• 3 – 4 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled
• 1 tsp cumin
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

• Soak the fava beans in water to cover for about 12 hours.
• The next day, place the favas beans, the red lentils, the onions, the garlic and the cumin in a large saucepan and add enough fresh water to cover by 4 cm.
• Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to very low, cover and simmer for 5 – 8 hours (or until everything is really soft), skimming the scum off the top occasionally.
• Remove this from heat and mash it lightly with a potato masher or, if you don’t have,  the back of a spoon will do.
• Stir in the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
• Put the beans in a serving bowl and garnish with a goodly splash of olive oil (the Egyptians use melted butter but it’s really not that great).
• Serve with fried or hard-boiled eggs and pita bread.

Variations

• Ful medames are always made with dried favas and never fresh ones – bear in mind that a small fava called ful hammam is used by Egyptians but the bigger ones, called ful rumi are the kind you’d probably find more often in South African, European and American retail outlets or markets –these can also be used.

Today the food of Egypt is even more exotic and exciting then in ancient times and is a glorious Arab and Persian fusion and bread, today as then, is a very important part of the diet. The most well known dishes in the Egyptian cuisine are Ful Medames (recipe above), Mulukhiyya (rabbit stuffed with rice and spices), Kushari (recipe below),  Feteer Meshaltet and, of course, they also love the Eastern Mediterranean  dolmades (grape leaves rolled over rice) and vegetables stuffed with rice.  Shwarmas, Kebabs, Falafels, Baba Ghannoug and Baklava form part of the typical Egyptian diet and are all served with bread. Poorer Egyptians often eat mainly bread and beans as their ancestors did but the bread is very healthy – it’s a thick pita bread and truly delicious. Today bread is still subsidized despite criticism by many politicians.

HUMMUS

Even though chickpeas are amongst the oldest foods known to man, it does seem that hummus-bi-tahini is not as old we thought and could have originated in it’s current format in 18th-century Damascus. Some cookbooks do, however, insist that it was first made in the 12th century by Saladinand and Cathy Kaufman in her book, Cooking in Ancient Civilizations suggests  that the ancient Egyptians may have made hummus by substituting vinegar for lemon juice but the fact is, we don’t know how the Egyptians ate their chick-peas. According to Charles Perry, the nearest medieval recipe was recorded in a 13th century Arab cookbook, Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada where it was called Hummus kasa and substituted vinegar for lemon, included herbs and nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios.

BREAD

• Pita, also known as  khubz“is used to scoop sauces or dips (like hummus and tahini) and to wrap kebabs, gyros or falafel.
• Aish Merahrah is an Egyptian flat bread made with 5 -10% ground fenugreek seeds and maize and is part of the traditional country diet – it’s usually made at home in the villages. The bread is quite similar to the Lebanese markouk, which are flat, wide loaves, and usually about 50 cm in diameter and made from maize (corn)  flour that has been turned into a soft dough,  fermented overnight with a sourdough starter and then shaped into round loaves that are then allowed to rise or “proof” for 30 minutes before being flattened into round disks that are then baked. Fenugreek seeds are added to increase the protein content and digestibility.

SPECIALLY LOVED FOODS

• Baba Ghannoug is made with aubergines, chickpeas, lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley, cumin and oil and is well known the world over.
• Duqqah is a dry mixture of chopped nuts, seeds and Middle Eastern spices.
• Hamaam Mahshi is pigeon stuffed with rice or wheat and herbs that is roasted or grilled.
• Kabab and Kofta is made from lamb and consists of minced meat or cubed meat on skewers that are grilled on charcoal.
• Kishk is made with milk (or yogurt) and flour, fried onions and chicken broth.
• Kushari (rice, lentils and macaroni) is considered by many people to be the national dish although there are those that insist that insist that Ful Medames (mashed fava beans) are the national dish. Fava beans are extremely popular and here they are used to make falafels (known as  Ta’meyya in Egypt.
• Mulukhiyya ( a greenish soup made from very finely chopped jute leaves) sometimes contains fried onions or chicken as does  Kushari.

KUSHARI

Ingredients

• 250 ml rice
• 250 ml pasta (either macaroni or penne)
• 250 ml lentils
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
• 600 ml tomatoes, peeled, deseeded and pureed
• 1 tsp ground chilli
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil or light olive oil to fry
• 1 large onions, thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Cook the rice, the pasta and the lentils until they are all just done.
• While the rice, pasta and lentils are cooking, heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat and sauté the onions and garlic until they are translucent.
• Add the crushed tomatoes, the chilli and redusce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes, adding a splash of water if it becomes too thick.
• Check and correct the seasoning.
• Nowe heat enough oil to fry the onion rings until they are golden and crisp and drain them on absorbent kitchen towels.
• Place the rice, macaroni and lentils in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir together gently with a fork.
• Portion the mixture into individual bowls and spoon some of the tomato sauce over each portion.
• Top with crispy fried onions and serve hot or at room temperature

• Macaroni with béchamel is actually a very famous pasta dish in Egypt and is a mixture of penne or macaroni and béchamel sauce with, more often than not, one layer of cooked spiced meat with onions.
• Mahshi is a stuffing made with rice, seasoned with herbs and spices that is place into vegetables like green peppers, aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes or rolled in cabbage leaves that are put in a pot, covered with pureed tomatoes and seasoned generously with lemons.
• Mahshi Waraq ‘Enab are grape leaves stuffed with a rice combined with or without sautéed beef – it’s seriously spicy and also contains finely chopped tomatoes, onions, parsley, dill, salt, pepper and Egyptian spices (boharat) – they’re  rolled into an individual grape leaf and put in a pot, again topped with pureed tomato sauce and lemon juice.
• Moa’amar is very popular and consists of rice baked  in milk and chicken soup.
• Moussaqa’a consists of sliced, grilled aubergines – packed into a flat dish, covered with sliced onions, green peppers and jalapenos after which it is covered with a rich tomato sauce enhanced with typical Egyptian spices.
• Mulukhiyah consists of finely chopped mallow leaves, loads of garlic and fresh coriander leaves.
• Shwarma is well known everywhere today and is made with shredded beef, lamb or chicken meat, rolled in pita bread with Tahina sauce.
• Tahina salad is made with sesame butter, chickpeas, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley, cumin and olive oil.
• Tahini sesame paste is made from sesame tahini, lemon juice and garlic and usually eaten in the same way as hummus.

For dessert, the Egyptians typically offer:

• Basbousa is made from semolina soaked in a sugar syrup and topped with almonds – traditionally cut diagonally into pieces so that each piece a diamond shaped.
• Baqlawa consists of layers of phyllo pastry, nuts and soaked in plenty of sweet, spiced  syrup.
• Fatir are pancakes made from filo dough and typically stuffed with dried fruits or fresh fruit.
• Ghurayyeba is a type shortbread that’s usually topped with roasted almonds and it’s well known throughout northern Africa.
• Kahk is a traditional sweet served during Eid ul-Fitr in Egypt – again a type of shortbread but here covered with icing sugar and usually stuffed with dates, walnuts, agameya (the western world knows it as turkish-delight) or simply served plain.
• Kunāfah is a dish of strands made from batter, fried on a hot grill and stuffed with pistachios and other sweets and served with thick whipped cream.
• Luqmat al-Qadi are small, round doughnuts that  are crunchy on the outside and soft and syrupy on the inside – often dusted cinnamon and icing sugar.
• Qatayef is reserved for Ramadan and is a sweet crepe filled with sweet cheese and nuts.
• Ruz bil-laban is the famous Egyptian rice pudding, made with milk, cream and plenty of vanilla.
• Umm Ali is one of the  national dishes of Egypt and consists of a raisin cake that has been soaked in milk.

And now for tea and cake, Egyptian style.

Tea is the national drink in Egypt and coffee doesn’t come near it in popularity– in Egypt, tea is known as  shai almost exclusively imported from Kenya and Sri Lanka. The Egyptian government considers tea a strategic crop and owns and runs large tea plantations in Kenya. There are two types of Egyptian tea – Koshary and Saiidi – the former popular in the north and the latter in the south.  Koshary tea is almost always sweetened with sugar and drunk with fresh mint leaves and is a light tea. Saiidi tea is extremely strong, usually drunk thick and black and is terribly sweet. Tea is as important to the Egyptians as coffee is to the Italians – the day is started with tea and it is drunk continuously throughout the day, notwithstanding the fact that there are variations on the theme, other drinks are enjoyed and coffee (also known as Gahwa) is usually served. Coffee is poured into a coffee-pot, called a dalla and served in a small cup made for coffee called finjan. Cakes are also popular with apple cakes (spiced with Egyptian spices in the butter and rich with crushed walnuts or almonds), sponge cakes and  vanilla slices (pastries made with several layers of puff pastry layered pastry cream,  whipped cream or jam and glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white and chocolate strips) being the favoured cakes here.

UMM ‘ALI

This well loved dessert is made from coconut, milk and wheat flakes and legend tells that it was first created during the reign of the Ottoman Turks. A sultan, whilst hunting in the Nile delta, became ravenous and because the peasants wanted to impress their ruler, the best chef in the village, Umm ‘Ali used the only ingredients that she had and made a dessert with dried wheat flakes (probably broken pieces of filo pastry), sultanas, nuts, and coconut and covered it with milk and sugar after which she baked it in the village oven. It was delicious and the sultan asked for Umm ‘Ali ‘s dessert the next time he visited.  Coconut was brought to Egypt by traders from South Arabia or East Africa because coconuts didn’t grow in Egypt despite many rather unsuccessful attempts by the local farmers.

Ingredients

• 125 g dried filo pastry, crumbled into flakes
• 3 heaped tbsp ground blanched hazelnuts
• 3 heaped tbsp ground blanched almonds
• 1 heaped tbsp toasted almonds, sliced slivered
• 2  heaped  tbsp dessicated coconut
• 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
• 3 heaped tbsp sugar
• 2 heaped tbsp golden raisins
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 500 ml whipping cream
• 2 large organic or free range eggs

Method

• Preheat oven to 220 C.
• Grease a baking dish generously with butter (about 18 x 24 cm) and layer the dish with the broken pieces of filo pastry.
• Sprinkle the nuts, the sugar, the seeds, the dessicated coconut flakes and  the raisins over the broken pastry.
• Whisk the eggs into the cream and pour the cream & egg mixture over everything and then place in the oven until the creamy mixture is bubbling and the top starts to brown – no longer than 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and serve hot with more whipped cream if you like.