Food has always been a cross-cultural experience, one that depends on trade routes, seasonality, migration patterns, cultural eating habits, and cooking traditions. Egypt, a historical port at the intersection of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, typifies this with its rich cuisine that draws from so many sources. But our long and varied food history is often overlooked because of the complexity and intermingling of foods from across the globe. 

Our contribution to the culinary sphere is often unnoticed because our food looks similar to that of other countries near and far. However, there’s much more at play than most people know and several Egyptian women are working to change the way the world, and even Egyptians, view our cuisine and making sure it takes its rightful place on every foodie's to-eat list.

Mennat-Allah El Dorry and How to Eat Like An Egyptian

Using her platform to educate and share her research into Egyptian food, Mennat-Allah El Dorry is the brains behind the informative Instagram page @eatlikeanegyptian. El Dorry is an Egyptologist and archaeobotanist whose research is centered around ancient foods, reconstructing ancient cuisines, and how and what exactly people used to eat in the past.

Aside from her work with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, which included recreating an ancient Egyptian offering table, El Dorry is a lecturer and educator who uses her platform to highlight her interests and work. This helps Egyptians learn important parts of their food and agricultural history, as well as how and where some of our long-held food culture and traditions originated. 

One example is the sweet and nutty tuber most commonly known as tiger nut. Popular in Nigeria and West Africa, tiger nuts (or hab el aziz in Egypt) have a long history in ancient Egyptian cuisine and up until recently were a popular Egyptian street food and snack. El Dorry is using her platform to help restore interest in it to prevent it from being lost like so many other foods and cuisines over time. 

Serving as guest editor for the sublime Food issue of RAWI, a bilingual Egyptian heritage publication, El Dorry dives into Egyptian food history from the ancient to the modern, and shares a plethora of important and delicious recipes. One ancient Egyptian recipe highlighted and recreated is the Tiger Nut Cake. On one of the walls in the tomb of the vizier and noble Rekhmire of Thebes (modern-day Luxor) is a depiction of two men making the cake-like dish. This is the closest thing to a recorded recipe from the ancient world, and we have French Egyptologist Pierre Tallet, chef Moustafa Elrefaey, and El Dorry to thank for this recipe recreation below.

TIGER NUT CAKE

Ingredients:

1 cup tiger nuts ground into a powder

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup ground dates

2 tsp honey

Oil (for frying)

Method:

1) Mix the tiger nut powder with water and form a soft dough. 

2) Divide the dough into small ball shapes. 

3) Mix the ground dates with the honey into a purée. 

4) To stuff each ball, create a small well with your thumb and fill the balls with the honey/date purée, close the gap, and shape it into triangles. 

5) Fry the triangles in oil, turning them frequently. 

6) Drain on a paper towel and serve cold.

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Salma Serry Invites You to Her Sufra

Writer, filmmaker, and food studies researcher Salma Serry runs the gorgeous Instagram page @sufra_kitchen. ‘Sufra’ means dining table to most Egyptians and is synonymous with where we lay out our most elaborate meals for family or guests. Through her platform, Serry has curated a delectable selection of foods and dishes.

Studying for a masters in gastronomy at Boston University, Serry shares divine photos of her food creations and recreations, most of which are based around traditional Egyptian and regional foods. Sharing cultural food artefacts and historical images as well, Serry is creating a living archive that preserves our food histories while also documenting how you can make them yourself.

Actively fighting against this erasure, Serry highlights important foods, ingredients, and utensils that have cultural significance. Her page is full of recipes from the SWANA and surrounding culturally connected regions, including Nubian, Sudanese, Afghani, Lebanese, and Palestinian food. Serry has a hearty and delicious Weeka recipe — a Nubian dish that centers with okra and is a personal favourite I grew up eating with my grandmother.

OKRA STEW:

Ingredients:

500 grams fresh okra / 2 cups dried ones

4 cups vegetable/chicken/beef stock

1 medium onion

1 tomato

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp coriander seed (crushed or powder)

3 tbsp oil, butter or ghee

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1) Chop the tomato, onion as well as the okra, if large in size.

2) Pour the stock in a deep pot, add in the tomato, onion and okra and bring to a boil then simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes.

3) Mince the garlic and toast it in the oil in a pan with the coriander seeds until deep-golden and fragrant.

4) Add the toasted garlic and coriander into the stew and add salt and pepper and simmer for 5 more minutes.

5) Blend and mash to your liking: you can do so by pulsing it once or twice in a blender or manually using a potato masher as a substitute to the "mifrak", if not available. (I kept it a little chunky but is typically enjoyed in a smoother consistency). 

Less and less people know about Weeka and its origins in Nubia, which is why the work Serry does is so important to connect younger generations with their food heritage and practices that often go forgotten. And as with any good recipe, Serry’s Weeka is a collaborative effort — crediting El Dorry, culinary storyteller Neema, and Nubi Youth in helping with the origins of the dish and how it is traditionally prepared.

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Bellies En-Route to the Tastiest Parts of Egypt

Mia Nezar and Laila Hassaballa are the co-founders of Bellies En-Route which is a food tour company that specializes in the most delicious and culturally important foods in Egypt. Since 2016, Bellies En-Route has put Egyptian food on the global map for both tourists and locals alike. 

Bellies En-Route also released an online cookbook jam-packed with classic Egyptian recipes, with the latest 2021 edition available here. Recipes such as Koshari (a hearty rice, pasta, lentil, and tomato sauce dish that packs a carby punch) and Basbousa (semolina batter cooked then drenched in syrupy goodness) are featured in the cookbook, which is entirely made up of family favourites and staple dishes you’d find in every Egyptian household. 

Ancient, Present, Delicious

While Egyptian food isn’t synonymous with a distinctive ingredient, dish, or just one cooking style, its long history and versatility is what makes it important to dive into and unpack. Like all good food, it’s a fusion of all the delicious things introduced by trade routes and agricultural trends — but more importantly by people and their tastes, their willingness to experiment, and preserve all the tastes and flavours that make food unique and, most importantly, delicious.

Until you can come and join one of Bellies En-Route’s food tours yourself, their cookbook, and the generous recipes shared by Serry and El Dorry are sure to tide you over!