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Food and Drink
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Introduction
In Egypt, dining out includes standup sandwich bars and luxurious five-course meals. Most of the best (and expensive) restaurants are in large hotels, but you can find small, inexpensive establishments that serve good Egyptian food. If you're in a hurry, try snack bars. Although the cubbyholes off the street (which probably have running water) are generally safe, avoid street vendors unless the food is hot or can be peeled. Larger cities have Western-style fast-food chains, but they're relatively expensive. In cities, both food and water are safe, though the change in diet may produce short-term gastrointestinal upsets.
Eating Conventions
Most residents begin the day with a light breakfast of beans or bean cakes, eggs and/or pickles, cheeses, and jams. Most families eat their large, starchy lunch between 2 and 5 PM and follow it with a siesta. They may take British-style tea at 5 or 6 PM and eat a light supper (often leftovers from lunch) in late evening. Dinner parties are scheduled late, often no earlier than 9 PM, with the meal served an hour or two later. In restaurants lunch is normally served 1–4 PM, dinner from 8 PM to midnight.
Restaurants and Snack Bars
For current information about the best restaurants, the expatriate community is an excellent source. The magazine Cairo Today includes monthly tips and publishes an annual dining guide. Menus are in both Arabic and English except in Alexandria, where they are in Arabic and French. In most hotel dining rooms, both traditional Egyptian and international dishes are available.
Many smaller, Egyptian-style restaurants specialize in basic meat and fava-bean dishes. They are simple and inexpensive but suitable only for adventurous travelers. Servers speak little English, so use your phrase book. Throughout Egypt, small shops dispense the Egyptian version of fast food. Most of these shops in major cities are clean and offer quick, inexpensive, and nutritious meals, if your insides have adapted to local food.
Shopping For Food
The easiest way to stretch your food budget is to patronize local stands and suqs (markets), buying fresh fruit and vegetables you can eat raw. The prices (fixed) are usually posted in Arabic. Since there is no bargaining, you can point to what you want, indicate how many or how much, and pay. Most vendors and small storekeepers are scrupulously honest. Small local grocery stores occupy nearly every street corner and sell canned goods, preserves, bread, cheese, and soda pop at government-fixed prices. Bakeries supply various types of bread and pastries at fixed prices.
Local Cuisine
Egyptian food reflects the country's melting-pot history. Local cooks using local ingredients have modified Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian traditions to suit Egyptian budgets, customs, and tastes. The dishes are simple and hearty, made with naturally ripened fruits and vegetables and seasoned with fresh spices. Food in the south is closely linked to North African cuisine, more zesty than the food of the north—but neither is especially hot.
The mainstay of Egyptian diets, aysh, or bread, is available in several forms. The most common is a pita type (a flat bread) made either with refined white flour or with whole wheat. French-style baguettes are also available. Ful, fava beans cooked in a variety of ways, is another staple.
Salads are typically made with ingredients selected from various foods such as greens, tomatoes, potatoes, eggs, beans, and yogurt. Western-type salad bars have come into vogue in larger cities, and for a few pounds you can make a whole meal of the fresh produce.
Rice and bread form the bulk of Egyptian main courses, which may be served at lunch or dinner. For most Egyptians, meat is a luxury to be used in small amounts, cooked with vegetables, and served with or over rice. Meat dishes comprise most restaurant fare.
The mixed-vegetable casserole or stew called torly is usually made with lamb or beef, onions, potatoes, beans, and peas. To make Egyptian-style kebab, cooks season chunks of lamb in onion, marjoram, and lemon juice and roast them on a spit over a fire. Kufta is ground lamb, flavored with spices and onions, which is rolled into long narrow patties and roasted like kebab, with which it's often served.
You can order grilled chicken, firaakh mashwi, in a restaurant or buy one already cooked at streetside rotisseries. Hamaam (pigeons) are raised throughout Egypt, and when stuffed with seasoned rice and grilled, constitute a national delicacy. Egyptians serve both freshwater and saltwater fish under the general term samak. The best fish seem to be near the coasts (ocean variety) or in Aswan, where they are caught in Lake Nasser.
Fruit and vegetables include burtu'aan bedummoh (pink oranges), which have sweet, red pulp. Tin shawki is a cactus fruit that appears in August or September. Buying fruits on the street is safe as long as you can peel them, but beware of watermelons—they may have been injected with water (which can be contaminated) to increase their weight.
Egyptian pastry or pudding desserts are usually drenched in honey syrup. Baklava (filo dough, honey, and nuts) is one of the most famous. Most restaurants and many homes end meals with fresh fruit.
Beverages
Bottled water is available in all areas frequented by visitors. Both large and small bottles are sold on the street and from ice buckets at most antiquities sites. Be sure the cap is sealed. Tap water is safe in most metropolitan areas.
The fresh fruit and vegetable juices (asiir) available at small stalls throughout Egypt are delectable treats. The shopkeepers blend the fresh juice and small amounts of ice and sugar water, then strain this mash into your glass.
Developed and popularized in the Middle East, the drinking of ahwa (coffee) remains a national tradition. Local coffeehouses cater to men who come to drink coffee, discuss politics, play backgammon, listen to music, and smoke the hukah (water pipe). Egyptian coffee is made from finely powdered beans brewed in a small pot. As the water begins to boil, the grounds float to the surface in a dark foam; the ahwa is served in the pot and poured into a demitasse. Heavier grounds sink to the bottom of the cup and the lighter ones form a foam on the surface, the mark of a perfectly brewed cup. Sip carefully to avoid the grounds at the bottom. Specify the amount of sugar at the time you order, because it's sweetened in the pot.
Devout Muslims do not drink alcohol, but beer, wine, and hard liquor are available in bars, restaurants, and some grocery shops.
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