Egyptian cuisine goes back 5000 years to the time of the pharaohs. The pyramid builders survived on a diet of onions, garlic, coarse bread and beer. Beer is now mostly out of the picture, but those other basic ingredients, supplemented by tomatoes, okra, eggplant, favas, lentils, pasta and rice, still form the foundation of Egyptian food today. Meat has always been spare for Egyptians, given the small sliver of grazable land either side of the Nile. But dairy cattle provide a variety of farmer-style cheeses, and dishes using domesticated pigeon are favorites.
Typical Egyptian Dishes
Egyptian Recipes
Try these recipes from Egypt.
(Middle Eastern spiced meatballs)
(Egyptian pasta, rice and lentils with tomato sauce)
(Egyptian slow-cooked fava beans)
(Middle Eastern chickpea and sesame dip)
(Egyptian slow-cooked eggs)
(Middle Eastern roasted eggplant dip)
(Middle Eastern sesame-lemon sauce)
(Egyptian fried fava bean patties; see Falafel recipe)
(Egyptian braised squab stuffed with cracked wheat)
(Middle Eastern lemonade; see Lemonade recipe)
(Egyptian pocket bread; see Pita recipe)
