The New Indian Express ·
The Bazaar of Flavours
On a warm, sultry afternoon in Cairo, the old city is alive with the smells, sounds and colours of food. In its labyrinthine lanes, vendors scoop fragrant cumin, peppercorns and cinnamon into paper bags as shoppers haggle over green plums and bright yellow limes. Along historic Al-Muizz Street, a bread seller pedals slowly through the crush, balancing a broad wooden tray piled precariously high with whole-wheat loaves on his head. From nearby eateries comes the irresistible scent of ta’ameya—Egypt’s crunchy, fava-bean falafel—fresh from the fryer.
Cairo is not a city where history sits behind glass. Here, it is kneaded into bread, stirred into stews and spooned into bowls. “A food tour here is equivalent to eating your way through centuries of Egyptian history,” says Mostafa Omran, a local tour guide. “We still eat so many dishes that go back to the times of the pharaohs.”
Egypt’s story is usually told through its pyramids, temples, tombs and dynasties. But there is another way to read it—through its kitchens.
