Food in Egypt

We were definitely spoiled right off the bat by the wonderful feasts put on by Ashraf’s and Gigy’s families. But we have found some other delicious Egyptian food in small restaurants and road-side stands along the way. Most common is the falafel and fu’ul, which is fava beans. Also common is what are referred to as salads and these are various dips such as hummus, yogurt salad (like tzatziki), tahini, and soft cheese mixed with fresh tomatoes (my favourite). This is served with fresh, warm pita bread.

In more touristy areas it is not unusual to find pizza, but the Egyptians make a better version of it called pie, which is a thin layer of dough wrapped around various fillings and baked. Depending on what’s inside, this can be either an entrée or a dessert.

Fish is common and inexpensive on the coast: red snapper, grouper and calamari are caught here. However, our most adventuresome dish by far has been camel stew, which we experienced on the felucca. Tasted a lot like beef so it wasn’t my favourite but Kevin enjoyed it. This fine meal is featured in the photo on this page.

Black tea is very common and is consumed at all times of the day. It is made with loose leaves that just settle to the bottom of your cup. Nescafe is available for the foreigners and the only other coffee available is Turkish coffee which is really strong and tastes even worse than Tim Horton’s, if that’s possible. As this is a Muslim country, alcohol is not served in all establishments but where it is we have found that Stella is a good local beer and costs only $1 CAD for a ½ litre bottle. We’ve completely given up on finding a good red wine. Everything we’ve tried has been too sweet to drink.