Via Scoop Empire

We have so many cultural foods that just have “Egypt” written all over them, such as koshari or molokhia. These foods have ancient stories that might not make sense at first, though they quickly do when we hear them a second time. More notably, some of these stories are shockingly funny, and we know how hilarious Egyptians can be! So let us tell you the background stories of our favourite dishes from Egyptian cuisine.

Molokhia

One of our signature foods has quite the intriguing backstory! Around 3600 years ago, the Hyksos invaded Egypt. They wanted to show their power over Egyptians by forcing them to eat the molokhia, which was supposedly poisonous. The Egyptians didn’t only eat it and survive, but they also thrived after having more of this delicious plant and discovering its benefits. No wonder some people gasp when they cook it, right?

Umm Ali

This dessert might be sweet, but it has a really messy and violent background story. As some of us know, Shajarat Al-Durr was Sultan Aybak’s second wife who hated her husband’s first wife, known as Umm Ali, and his son Ali. There were some intense issues between the wives that resulted in Umm Ali ordering her maids to kill Shajarat Al-Durr by beating her with clogs! It is such a horrifying death, isn’t it?

Anyway, Umm Ali was in a festive mood and decided to order her cooks to create a new dessert and distribute it all over Egypt. Therefore, this delicious dessert was named after her and her infamous revenge story.

Via YouTube

Koshari

Did you know that the idea behind koshari, the most Egyptian of Egyptian dishes, actually came from India? Back when Egypt was making trades around World War I, there was this Indian dish of just rice and lentils, which was called “Khichdi”. Egyptians liked it and went creative by adding fried onion, vinegar, cumin, and chilli sauce! Frankly, we will be forever grateful for this touch of creativity and adaptation!

Sawabe’ Zainab

Let’s go back to 1260 AD! When Baibars, the fourth Sultan of Egypt, defeated the Mongols, he wanted to celebrate by giving away sweets. The lady who baked this tasty dish was called Zainab. So now we all know who the famous Zainab is and why we are eating her “fingers”.