Cairo's Medieval Takeaway Culture
The story of how it both elevated Egyptian cuisine and extended its reach
Medieval Scene Illustration by Moustapha AshrafRAWI Publishing
During the 9th c. CE, Egypt was ruled by a certain Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, a man so extravagant, songs about his daughter’s lavish nuptials survive to this day over 1000 years after his reign. His palace kitchens produced copious amounts of food daily, and the surplus was often distributed to the public at the gates.
More interestingly, however, the palace cooks started a side business selling whatever the caliph did not order to be distributed charitably.
They prepared carry-out meals in pottery vessels, each containing the leftovers from the royal household’s sumptuous trays. The food might not have always been in perfect condition—a chicken might for instance be missing a leg or a breast—but it was excellent quality and affordable.
It also gave the undoubtedly curious citizens of the capital the opportunity to sample the palace kitchen’s many delights such as halva sweets, various kinds of marzipan, qaṭayif (pancakes folded around a sweet nut filling), and more.
A chronicler tells us that whenever anybody received unexpected guests, they simply went out and rushed to the gate of the harem palace. There, they could buy everything necessary to entertain their guests.
Clay Pot FragmentsRAWI Publishing
Mounds of Disposable Pottery
The Tulunid rulers were succeeded by the Ikhshidids followed by the Fatimids who founded the city of Cairo slightly north of Fustat in the 10th c. CE. According to traveller accounts, the Fatimid palace cooks gained widespread fame beyond the borders of Egypt. After the Fatimids came the Ayyubids, who disapproved of excess and let go many of the palace cooks who are believed to have then established their own food stalls in the city’s markets.
The culinary street food scene flourished and with it the takeaway culture. By the 14th c., historian al-Maqrizi reported that Cairenes would throw out one thousand dinars-worth of disposable items daily at the refuse mounds outside the city. These items included heaps of earthenware bowls used to serve food to customers buying their meals at the famous cookshops and food stalls in the market.
Lunch on the Go
While the poorer people would have used ceramic pots and bowls to carry their street food home, wealthier Cairenes would have used ornate porte-manger boxes such as the example we have here to eat their home-cooked meals on the go.
Fuqqa‘ – ‘Pop’ Open to Drink
The 14th-c. Egyptian cookbook Kanz al-Fawa’id fi Tanwi‘ al-Mawa’id (Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table) lists 13 recipes for this mysterious foamy beer-like beverage, and numerous others for aqsima, a variation. The lightly alcoholic drink (which was to be fermented a maximum of three days or else deemed prohibited by Islamic scholars) was occasionally made with barley but more typically with fermented wheat bread loaves, spiced and sweetened in various ways (e.g., with molasses or pomegranate, always with spices added). The term fuqqa‘, denoting the presence of bubbles, indicates that it was a sort of sparkling beverage. It was sold in portion-sized spherical vessels with a tiny spout sealed with a patch of leather. One would pierce the cover with a nail and quickly start drinking the beverage as the froth poured out. Chronicler al-Maqrizi describes how the summer favourite was sold by the fuqqa‘iyyun at their coloured marble storefronts, where one would enjoy the sight of the beautifully arranged vessels in rows on both sides of the street.
Instant Lemonade
Not only were home-cooked meals made ready-to-go, but so were beverages. Kanz al-Fawa’id fi Tanwi‘ al-Mawa’id gives us a recipe ideal for travellers in need of quick refreshment. Lemon juice is added in drops to crushed sugar spread on a marble slab until the sugar is saturated. The mixture is then left to dry, and the process is repeated three more times. In this dehydrated form, the flavoured sugar was carried by travellers who dissolved it in water to make a refreshing lemon-flavoured drink, the first documented instant ‘Kool-Aid’ in the history of beverages!
For more of what Egyptians ate (or didn't) in the Middle Ages, check out the story on forbidden foods.
Sources:
Lewicka, P. B. (2011). Food and Foodways of Medieval Cairenes : Aspects of Life in an Islamic Metropolis of the Eastern Mediterranean. Brill.
Nasrallah, N. (2017). Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table: A Fourteenth-Century Egyptian Cookbook. Brill.
