Fava Beans: Egypt's Favorite Street Food
Fool: The Egyptian breakfast and street food star, cooked as sprouts in a unique afternoon dish
Fool (fava beans) me twice
Fool has a unique place in the Egyptian food culture, because of both how flavorful and how filling it is. It takes a very long time to be digested, one doesn’t hunger for hours, and workers can sustain the long days without the need a lunch break. Fool is also a perfect food for the Ramadan predawn meal sohour, before fasting for the whole day. It combats the bangs of hunger for many hours, till it’s time to break the fast.
Keeping sustenance
Fool is consumed by millions of Egyptians every single day. Its cheap and has a high caloric content. Eating a fool plate on the fool cart in the morning, or picking two sandwiches on your way to work, is how many can afford sustenance.
Fool and Ta'meyya typical Egyptian breakfast (2019-04-10) by NawayaNawaya
Fool in a myriad of ways
Once prepared, fool is prepared served in myriad of ways: fool with butter, fool with ghee, fool with olive oil, fool with flaxseed oil, fool with milk or cream, fool with yogurt, fool Alexandrian spices, fool Mahlawy, fool with eggs, fool with sausages, fool with white cheese, crushed fool with Tahini. Fool is often accompanied by Ta’meyya, the deep fried Egyptian falafel made from the same fava beans. But that’s another story.
Making pickled lemons (measfar) (2020-09-16) by NawayaNawaya
Special fool toppings
Each fool cart, fool shop and household has their own favorite toppings that give their food dish its unique flavor. Cumin and lemon are prevalent in them and probably because they aid in the digestion of the hearty/ heavy beans. Some people add dill or parsley, or chopped tomatoes, onions, others add pickled lemons, or cooked tomato sauce with garlic.
Ingredients and side dishes of the fool cart (2019-05-07) by NawayaNawaya
Breakfast cart: fool medames
Fool medames, the Egyptian broad beans that define Egyptian breakfast is the king of all Egyptian foods since ancient times. It is cooked in special tight necked pots on a slow fire overnight, with a ratio of tomatoes, red lentils and lemon that give its sauce a unique gravy-like consistency.
A vendor and his street stand (2019-10-20) by NawayaNawaya
Afternoon cart: fool nabet in Assiut
Fool medames is not the only way to cook and eat the fava beans. Another popular way is to soak the beans till they start to sprout, creating fool nabet, sprouted beans. While fool carts close around 11 am, a man in Assiut sets up shop to serve the sprouted beans, for the afternoon fool lovers.
Afternoon cart: fool nabet in Assiut
Fool medames is not the only way to cook and eat the fava beans. Another popular way is to soak the beans till they start to sprout, creating fool nabet, sprouted beans. While fool carts close around 11 am, a man in Assiut sets up shop to serve the sprouted beans for the afternoon fool lovers.
Fattat fool nabt served with a lemon on top (2019-10-20) by NawayaNawaya
After 2pm: fool nabet fattah
Using old shamsi bread pieces, the fool nabet is served as a fattah. In a small temporary street side kitchen, Am Ibrahim, a man in his late 50s prepares the fattah ingredients and feeds hungry clients starting 2 pm. His clients sit on makeshift boxes he lays out for them.
Boiling the fava beans to make a stew (2019-10-20) by NawayaNawaya
Soak, sprout and boil
To prepare sprouted fool beans, they must be soaked several days in advance, before they are boiled. The fool nabet when boiled is seasoned just like meat with spices and herbs and creates a thick tasty broth.
Adding tomato sauce tot he dried bread soaked in fool nabt (2019-10-20) by NawayaNawaya
Fuelling up
Fool me twice: fool for breakfast, fool for lunch, having both you are guaranteed to feel full!
Curator: Laura Tabet
Research: Dalia Basiouny, Ahmed Dream
Photography: Michel Hana, Ahmed Dream, Ahmed Montaser, Omar Alrzzaz
