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Egyptian Flavors
| Article
# : |
19781 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1991 |
1,575 Words |
| Author
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Kay Shaw Nelson
Food and travel writer Kay Shaw Nelson has written for
numerous magazines and newspapers, including Gourmet, House
and Garden, Washingtonian, and the New York Times. The author
of thirteen cookbooks, she most recently published A Bonnie
Scottish Cookbook. |
Pursuing the lore of Mediterranean cooking has led me to almost all of the countries surrounding this enchanting sea. No country, however, has proved more rewarding for exploring culinary history than Egypt, situated strategically in the northeastern corner of Africa.
I, like most travelers, originally visited Egypt to see the fabled historic sights: the Pyramids, Sphinx, Valley of the Kings, Luxor, Abu Simbel, Karnak Temple, treasure-laden tombs, and magnificent mosques. While enjoying these awesome wonders I also took time to learn about Egyptian cuisine. Today's dishes have ancient roots.
Dough Of Ramses III
We know a great deal about Egypt's ancient foods and cooking from drawings and engravings found in tombs and temples. Details from the tomb of Ramses III (1198-1166 B.C.) show men kneading dough with their feet and making cakes of bread sprinkled with seeds.
Egypt's remarkable records tell us that bread--the word for bread is iysh, which means life--was made in more than thirty different shapes. They included the flat, round loaf now commonly called pita, still a staple food in Egypt. The first leavened loaves are believed to have been created in Egypt as well.
Sweetened doughs or cakes, treasured as food for the gods, were devised by combining honey, dates and other fruits, spices, and nuts with the dough, which was baked in the shapes of animals and birds. Another treat was candy flavored with aromatic spices and sesame seeds. Rich sweets still abound. Today sesame seeds are used whole in breads and pastries; they are also ground to make tehina, a paste with a pleasant, nutlike flavor that is used as a primary ingredient in dips and sauces.
The early Egyptians were accomplished agriculturists. They cultivated pistachios, pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts, still popular food today. From their orchards came apples, apricots, grapes, melons, quinces, and pomegranates.
Egyptians have always been devotees of vegetables. Ancient gardens featured lettuce, peas, cucumbers, beets, beans, herbs, and greens. Pharaohs cherished mushrooms as a special delicacy. Boiled cabbage was eaten before drinking bouts to prevent getting drunk. Herodotus records that the slaves who built the Great Pyramid at Giza were kept going on "radishes, onions,
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