Egypt Food
Egypt impressions - good, cheap but limited variety. Most
of the Egyptian meals consisted of some type of kabob (fish, chicken, or lamb), a
salad (smashed chickpeas, eggplant, and/or sesame seeds), and a piece of bread
shammy (similar to a pita though thinner). Egyptian beer (Stella) was
readily available in most restaurants. Here are a few of our favorites:
Baba Ganough and Tahina - these are the two salads that we often
had several times a day; usually breakfast and dinner. To be honest they
both tasted about the same to me; smashed garlic, olive oil and
either eggplant (baba ganough) or sesame seeds (tahina). We'd eat it by
dipping pieces of a shammy into it. Although I ate a lot of it, I never
got tired of the taste.
Tamia - we found great Egyptian food counter in Cairo that
served these sandwiches for about 30 cents (US). Nothing fancy: falafel
(deep fried chick peas or fava beans), lettuce, and tomato in a shammy.
Eating here was fun because after receiving your food, there were no seats, you
simply stood at the counter amongst the locals eating. Great lunch for two
would only cost about 1 USD.
Fuul - Lea's favorite at the Cairo lunch counter. Fava
beans (not fried) in a shammy . . . by now you've realized that we ate A LOT of
bread.
Kushari - this was our absolute favorite. As we ventured
out into the Cairo night for dinner we often passed a small restaurant packed
with locals, i.e. no tourists. (For those familiar with the Roanoke Wiener
Stand, picture it full of Egyptians). After sheepishly looking in the
windows, we decided to peak inside and see if they had an English menu. We
were eagerly greeted by a smiling Egyptian (his picture is on the home page) who
stated that "he would be our menu". We had entered a Cairo
kushari restaurant; there is no real menu, as they only serve one thing -
kushari. Kushari is a combination of macaroni, spaghetti, rice, lentils,
and dried onions. You then mix a spicy red chili sauce with a lemon sauce
and pour it on top. Excellent and a bowl of this stuff will set you back
about 50 cents (US); if you get the rice pudding and some water your looking at
about 1 USD.