Jenyfer Matthews

I was chatting with one of the Egyptian ladies I work with at the library a while back and she was trying to convince me that it was less expensive to live in the US than in Egypt. Her reasoning? She declared that one US dollar was the same as one Egyptian pound but you can buy a lot more with a $1 US. That’s true, you can buy more with $1 US, but only because the current conversion rate is 1 Egyptian pound = $0.18 US. In the end, I think she was talking more about per capita income and percentages of income spent on living expenses rather than straight conversions, but no matter how I approached the subject she wasn’t convinced so I gave up – with her.

Instead, I will present some examples from my grocery bill here and let you decide. I’ve said it before, but one of the things I love most about living in Egypt is the produce. Each new season brings with it a delicious new assortment of tempting fruits and vegetables. Right now we have pomegranates, strawberries, and citrus fruit as well as new carrots and potatoes. Best yet? It’s all so affordable there’s just no excuse not to eat well.

(1 Kg is 2.2lbs)

cherry tomatoes : 0.75 kg for 9 EGP ($1.64)
10 bananas: 1.2 kg for 11.40 EGP ($2.07)
5 mandarin oranges: 0.61 kg for 2.77 EGP ($0.51)
5 clementine oranges: 0.54 kg for 2.43 EGP ($0.44)
5 Gala apples: 0.97 kg for 17.06 EGP ($3.11)

I didn’t buy strawberries this go round, but they generally cost about $1.50 for half a kilo. And this is shopping in my “upscale” expensive neighborhood shop where I’ve been told the prices are at least 1/3 higher than they are elsewhere. It boggles my mind to think things could be any cheaper. Is it any wonder I suffer from sticker shock when I am in the US all summer? I have never been able to get this much fresh produce in a store in America for so little money.

I was thinking about it the other day and I not only eat seasonally, but I cook seasonally. When the weather turns hot I don’t want to bake anything or even think about eating a steaming bowl of soup. I want light, easy food that is also going to keep me cool.

Yesterday, inspired by the bounty of fresh tomatoes in the shops, I made a big pot of gazpacho. Today I bought some fresh cilantro so I can make some salsa to go with bean burritos. Not sure what the rest of the week holds, because in addition to the weather, I’m trying not to buy too much food since we are leaving for our summer vacation next week. No point in stocking up the cupboards for the ants. The menu might become sort of strange as we draw nearer to our departure date and are trying to finish up a bit of this and a bit of that.

What do you like to eat when the weather is hot? I could use a little inspiration…

That is the main message of a wonderful book I read over the weekend called IN DEFENSE OF FOOD by Michael Pollan. It’s a quick read in just over 200 pages, and it’s really eye opening in that it shows you what’s right in front of your face: that scientists have been trying to identify components in food that are good for us without considering the food as a whole or its (or our) place in the food chain. Ever noticed that health advice keeps contradicting itself? And what the US food industry itself gets away with is practically criminal in the health claims it slaps on the processed creations they produce.

In most ways, he was preaching to the choir with me as a reader, but I too fall into what he calls the “nutritionism” trap by being overly focused on this or that vitamin. I don’t actually spend much time seeking out nutrition information, though I am interested in the topic, it seems to just seep in by osmosis – no wonder with how much money and research is poured into the topic by the US food industry. Most of Pollan’s suggestions for eating were commonsense: eat more vegetables; to the extent you can, eat and shop locally (farmer’s markets); shop the periphery of the store to avoid the bulk of the processed foods; and spend more money and time in eating quality whole foods as an investment in health since many of the big “western diseases” such as diabetes and heart problems can be traced back to diet. Though the focus of the book was on the American diet, it would still be of interest to non-Americans given how pervasive the American diet has become around the world over the years.

I did particularly enjoy the vindication that butter was given over margarine. I switched years ago because since I don’t use that much anyway, why not have flavor over a stick of chemicals that doesn’t even melt on toast? Seems I was right.

Reading the book really gave me a boost in my menu planning this week. One of the main things I like about Egypt is the produce. Egypt is one big farmer’s market. Though much of the produce is labeled “organic” I have no idea if anyone oversees such a label and how it is applied. But it is fresh and tasty, and we tend to eat what’s in season because that’s what they have to offer at the time (and I refuse to pay $$$ for bland imported produce, grown more for looks and portability than taste). Things are at a seasonal high at the moment with sweet corn, watermelon, plums, and grapes all available in addition to all the usual things. I spent more this week on fruits and vegetables than I have in a long time and the results so far have been tasty.

THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA by Pollan is next on my list.

I normally do my weekly grocery shopping on Sunday mornings – the first day of the new week here in Egypt. Sunday after completing my vegetable shopping, the manager asked me to sit and have coffee with him. I wasn’t in a hurry so I did. It was just coffee right? Little did I know.

He first took a bag of fresh milk from the cooler behind me and told me with great pride that it was fresh buffalo milk. Buffalo in Egypt?? He was sure it was buffalo – he even offered to have some delivered to me because it said it was so much better than cow’s milk. (I declined)

Next he pulled out a gas cylinder that was fitted with a burner ring and lit it before he bit open the corner of the bag of milk and emptied it into an aluminum pitcher for heating. As he waited for the milk to heat he directed another younger man who works there (his nephew I believe) to get us glasses and Nescafe. When the glasses arrived he put two teaspoons of sugar and a half a teaspoon of Nescafe in each small glass. After the milk had come to a boil, he filled each glass with the hot milk – very thoughtfully topping mine with a bit of the froth.

What could I do but drink it? Never having had buffalo milk I can’t really say whether it was or wasn’t really buffalo milk, but it was very tasty. And I hope and pray that the heating killed whatever microbes lurked within.

Just as I was thinking of making an exit, breakfast arrived. Lovely sesame covered bread sticks, baladi (local flat) bread and tamaeya – a fried ball made of fava beans and spices. More orders were issued in Arabic. I watched him as he ripped a piece of bread in half, dropped in four tamaeya balls and flattened them with his thumb, added some slices of tomato and a sprinkling of home-ground spice that he grabbed out of a jar with his fingers. Then he handed the sandwich to me. I ate it in spite of the fact that he’d been handling grotty money and who knows what else before he stuck his thumbs in there. It was good too.

I finally was able to make my exit. I went home and took a vitamin. I debated taking a precautionary antibiotic but so far so good…

One of the things I like most about living in Egypt is the fresh produce. I’ve gone on and on in the past about how much I like pomegranates. The season has changed and now strawberries are inexpensive and plentiful. But in addition to the strawberries I have a new love:

Raisins.

I know what you’re thinking: what’s so great about raisins? And up until this week I would have thought the same thing.

I’ve never been much of a raisin fan. It’s not that I would avoid them or pick them out of baked goods (the way my daughter does) but I never actively looked for them either. I just don’t think much about them one way or another unless I’m making oatmeal cookies or carrot cake. But it’s surprisingly hard to find a satisfying raisin in Cairo. There are golden raisins available but they are hard and dry and while they will do in a pinch for baking, they are not quite as nice as the black raisins I’m used to (Sunmaid)

When I saw the raisins at the green grocers this week, I decided to buy a package – I was sure my son would enjoy them and at a $1 for half a kilo, it was worth a try. The carton of Sunmaid raisins I brought back in my suitcase this summer was long gone. Then I tried them myself.

Best. Raisins. Ever.

I’ve never had such plump, moist, sweet raisins. Sunmaid is a shadow of raisin compared to these. Here’s where things get a little weird.

The produce in Egypt is phenomenally good but there are some things that are only available seasonally. Right now the shops are full of local strawberries and tangerines. In the spring there will be plums and in the summer there will be grapes. The upside of eating what is in season locally is that we get to enjoy wonderful, fresh, tasty produce. The downside is that we only get to enjoy things for a relatively short time each year.

I understand that in fact it’s a better system – the food is fresher and tastes better. But as an American, I’m really not used to the idea of seasonal availability. In America you can pretty much get what you want, when you want it – if you’re willing to pay the price. It’s all designed to look better than it tastes and who knows where it is from, but it’s available. I admit it, knowing that I can only get things for short periods of time does create some anxiety in me. It makes me want to stock up against the day when things are no longer in season. I know that by the time strawberry season is over, I’ll be ready to move on to something else – as I was last year. I know I should enjoy what I can get in the moment because it’s hard to stockpile fresh strawberries or tangerines.

But it’s not so difficult to stockpile raisins. Which is how I ended up with five pounds of raisins in my kitchen. Weirder still is that I am contemplating buying more.

Best. Raisins. Ever.

EDITED TO ADD: I did a search on “storing fresh raisins” – which seems funny to me considering the fact that it’s dried fruit so how fresh can it be?? And it seems that refrigeration is indeed the way to go:

According to Iowa State University Extension:

Storing tips: Store in an airtight container. To prevent sugar from crystallizing on the surface,
store raisins in the refrigerator or freeze them. In the refrigerator, the raisins can last up to 1 year. They keep even longer in the freezer and will thaw quickly at room temperature.

Special tip: If chopping, freeze raisins before putting in food processor to prevent sticking.

There you have it – my justification to go completely bonkers buying raisins!

The men who work at our vegetable stand are so, so nice. They are always very pleasant to deal with and very hospitable. They love to feed me whatever they happen to have around when I drop by.

Now, out of necessity, I am usually quite cautious about where and what I eat here in Cairo. It’s easy enough to eat something that hasn’t been handled properly and then spend the next week running for the bathroom. The child of one of my neighbors has had giardia twice in the last few months. I wash my produce with either a scrub brush and dish soap or give it a long soak in vinegar and water before we consume it. I even wash my eggs in water with a dollop of bleach (you would too if you saw some of the shells! Yuck!)

In spite of all my caution, it is nearly impossible for me to reject the food offered to me by the vegetable guys. Sometimes it’s a cookie or cake that his wife made. Sometimes he shares his breakfast of foul and baladi bread (fava bean mash) On occasion he’ll pick up a piece of whatever fruit is in season to give me a taste, in an effort to make a sale.

Once he cut a plum in half and offered half to me and half to another woman who was in the shop at the same time. I took my half – in spite of having seen him polish the fruit on his galabeya and then cut it with a knife of questionable cleanliness. The other woman refused. She didn’t even take it from him to be nice to hold on to it for discreet disposal later. When she turned her back, the man made a mad face and waved her off with his hand. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings so I ate my half in front of him.

My acceptance of his food makes him happy – but it also encourages him to share more and more. I have survived my encounters with him thus far, but his week he upped the ante. He offered me milk fresh from his cow. He assured me that he had washed his hands and the cow’s udders before he milked it. He poured the remains of the milk – the last he had – into a small glass mug. There was no way for me to take it with me, and no plausible reason sprang to mind for why I couldn’t drink it. So I did.

I tried to get my husband to share it with me, but he refused, pointing out that one of us had to survive to raise the children. The milk was warm and sweet, like no milk I’ve ever had before. I asked if it had sugar added to it but he said no, straight from the cow. I had no way of knowing whether the fact that it was warm meant that it had been boiled to sterilize it or if it was the cow’s residual body heat I was noting.

I waited a few days to write this just to see if indeed I would survive. So far, so good.

Now, off to clean my balcony now that the rain has stopped. And then to prepare for the party. With six little boys in the house, I have decided it would be prudent to roll up my large Afghan carpet. Since my son requested it to be a “pajama party” I will throw a comforter out on the floor instead and several bed pillows. They won’t be sleeping over but it’s all about the proper ambiance, right?