via Sceneeats
Egypt is known for its mouth-watering foods, mainly because we excel in cooking them up so well. In fact, Egyptians cook to capture everyone’s hearts with food and only food. Because of so many yummy dishes filling up our stomachs on a daily basis, we as Egyptians have a special bond with food, which we don’t even understand.
Food elevates our mood a thousand times. Happy? We eat. Sad? We eat. Going out with friends? Guess what—you’ll pick somewhere with excellent food, so you can eat as much as you’d like. At this point, you surely see our point; we just LOVE eating at any given opportunity.
The Egyptian Connection to Food
In Ancient Egypt, there was no such thing as hunger. Yes, that’s actually true! Everyone had the privilege of having decent food. It was unlike today’s climate, where food sources aren’t as affordable and available. Ancient Egyptians loved to eat absolutely everything, which was passed down to us throughout many generations. And, here we are now!
Even though we’re pretty fond of food, there are specific types that we’re known for because we’ve perfected these dishes that fill us with joy and warmth. Examples of these dishes can be found in stuffed vegetables, which we’ll eat at any given chance because “mahshy is life”, and kushari, a national dish—social class does not matter when it comes to food because if it’s good, we’re eating! Our personal favourite traditional dish, though, has to be the molokhia, which is so ingrained in our blood that it can be traced back to Ancient Egypt. And, yes, the pharaohs used to eat molokhia, too.
via rawimagazine
How Food Affects the Egyptian Mood
At this point, you might think that we exaggerate our love for food. But you’d be far from being correct. Food fills our stomachs, yes, but don’t you think about how much we use it as a comforting crutch? Think about it. Even when we’re not hungry, we’re eating. That has become such an ingrained fact of life that food is now associated with good company as well as mood swings, though we’re not sure of the causes behind that second association. All we know is we begin every outing by asking ‘where are we going to eat?’, or by supporting our sad friends with comfort food.
Egyptians also tend to see food as being defined by the weather and seasons. When it rains, our mothers’ first instinct is to make some delicious lentil soup. Sometimes, they even predict the rain, so they’ll cook lentil soup beforehand. When it’s the first of Ramadan, all Egyptian families eat mahshy and duck—it’s just tradition.
