Egyptian Food

Egyptian food is famous for its appetizers, called mezza. There's several kinds of dips, like hummus, tahina, and babaghanoush all served with freshly baked pita bread for dipping. There's also stuffed grape leaves and fallafal and a variety of salads and cheeses. You can make a whole meal out of hot and cold mezzas alone.

For main courses there are all the usual suspects - "mixed grille" is common with grilled chicken, beef and seafood, and kebabs, and kofta which is like a spicy meatball kebabs. And there are delicious "oriental pastries" what we would call danish or stuffed croissants. Everything that I have had so far has been great. I've enjoyed it all.

One thing interesting that I learned is that Egyptians have breakfast - typically foul and bread (a bean dip like refried beans and pita bread) - then they have small snacks all day and have a big "lunch" at 5 pm after work and then "dinner" again much later in the night 9 - 10 pm. My stomach has not yet adjusted to this time frame. Tourists and foreigners eat whenever we want.

Yes, there are the ubiquitous American fast food chains - KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc. But none of these can compare to the uniquely Egyptian fast food "khousary." Khousary is this delicious concoction of pasta, rice, lentils and chick peas served with tomato sauce and those fried onions you thought were only good for that green bean casserole at Thanksgiving. The picture does not do it justice. You have to trust me on this one it's really a filling, delicious and satisfying meal. And you can get a huge plate of khousary, cold mezzas, and a pepsi for 5LE - that's less than $1.

I’ve already become friends with my khousary-man. There are 3 to choose from within walking distance of my apartment, but I’ve already picked out the best one. I’ll be saving a table for visitors.