For our 19th meal, Mark took us to Egypt! (Officially, the "Arab Republic of Egypt.") This was a delicious meal and a special treat, because it was our first meal we shared with family! Grandpa Brack and Grandma Linda are in town generously watching our son while Lauren goes back to work for a few months - so it was awesome to be able to include them in this tradition.
A beautiful spread
Family! Witness the playpen in the background, haha
Koshari, the national dish of Egypt. Lovely flavorful lentils, topped with carmelized onions, on a bed of pasta, chickpeas, and rice. Talk about carbo loading...
I was obsessed with the vinegary tomato sauce that seasoned the koshari.
I ended up eating the leftover sauce plain...
The Hawawshi was delicious and filling. Pita stuffed with a "kofta-like" mixture, and served with fabulous homemade tahini.
Salata baladi with pomegranate vinaigrette. I love this style of chopped salad. For me, I didn't prefer the dressing - it was sweet with a cinnamon flavor - but it's always fun to try something new.
For dessert, Mark made us a beautiful basbousa, which Dad particularly loved. (Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of the graininess of the semolina.) Mark modified the recipe a bit to cut down on the sweetness - using only a portion of the sugar syrup. So I would be interested to try it in its original form - I imagine it might (?) be a bit more like baklava, which I think I would prefer. It was certainly a treat to look at though. And the main character in the film we watched (Black Honey, 2010) enjoyed his basbousa, so that is always really fun, to see a dish we have tried appear on screen.
No alcohol at this meal - although Egypt is not a dry country, the vast majority of Egyptians (94.9%) are Muslim, so we abstained. We did enjoy a refreshing hibiscus/raspberry iced tea.
After dinner, we watched Black Honey (2010). It was amusing and interesting, but way too long for the pretty straightforward plot, especially for this sleep-deprived family - we ended up turning it off half-way through and just googling the ending (sorry, Khalid Mar'iee!). About an Egyptian American man who returns to Egypt to do some photography work, with the goal of settling down -- and discovers his American passport brings with it a host of privileges and pitfalls.
Finally, we usually try to keep these evenings (and write-ups) pretty light, but I feel I must mention my conflicting feelings about Egypt. I always wanted to travel to Egypt -- the first job I can remember wanting, as a child, was Egyptologist -- and seeing the pyramids has been on my bucket list. Moreover, the cultural significance of Egypt cannot be overstated, as one of the "cradles of civilization." But I recently learned that sexual assault and rape are huge issues in Egypt, especially for local women, but also for female travelers. A Seattle Times article on sexual assault against travelers to Egypt here says
"U.S. officials (in the State Department’s travel-information sheet on Egypt) caution female travelers that they are 'vulnerable to sexual harassment and verbal abuse' when traveling unescorted in Egypt. In a survey released by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights over the summer, 98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women reported that they’d been sexually harassed in the country."
Pretty damning statistics, which discourage me from visiting in real-life, and dampen my enthusiasm for the country. (Wikipedia articles for more info: mass sexual assault in Egypt, rape in Egypt)
The US definitely has big problems in this area, too -- but this is no defense. As Lucretia Mott observed, "The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation because in the degradation of woman the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source."
When? January 29, 2022
Who cooked? Mark
What's for dinner? (Recipe links)
Egypt Stats
- Population: 102.3 million (a little less than 1/3 the population of the US)
- GDP: 21st in the world
- Life Expectancy: 71.8, 112th in the world -- much worse than the US, which is 40th at 78.4
- Founding Date/Age in 2022: 3150 BC (with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt), or arguably since prehistory / 5172
- Official Language: Arabic
- Rankings --
- Largest producer of dates
- Largest importer of wheat
- Largest producer of gold, AND most heavily mined country
Also, for a random fun fact -- Egypt is a transcontinental country, meaning it spans part of both Africa and Asia (via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula).
