Culture الثقافة: Food!

A fun topic, since I enjoy cooking and appreciate unique tasting food, I decided I'd mention the food here. I didn't take pictures of food but uploaded some photos of some of the below-mentioned dishes.

Jordan does not claim many unique dishes, however there is the number one national dish worth mentioning: Mansef. For the nationalistic Jordanian, Mansef is national symbol, held close to the heart. It consists of rice topped with pine nuts and/or almonds, parsley or other green garnish, lamb cooked in It is often eaten traditionally the Bedouin style, with the men standing around the tray, one hand behind their back and the other to grab a chunk of meat and rice, made into a ball and with the tip of the thumb 'popped' in the mouth. In Bedouin tradition, it is common to sacrifice a sheep especially for the guest. Also, as a gesture of honor to the guest, the guest might be offered the head of the sheep, including the brain, eyes, tongue and any other part (cooked of course). In all of my experiences in modern-Amman I have not seen or heard of such situations. However, if I'm lucky someday I will get to visit a more traditional Bedouin family.

Another major dish in Jordan (as a result of the major Palestinian population)is the dessert Knaffe (Kanafa). It originates from Nablus. It baked mixture of either fine or rough flour/water mixture with a lot of butter or oil with sweet cheese in the middle with a very sweet sugar-rose water syrup on top. Many people enjoy to tell you where you can find "the best Knaffe", although in my experience it all is very tasty.

Other traditional Arabic food that you will find throughout the region are: hummus (ground chickpeas, tahina/sesame paste, oil and sometimes other stuff), foul (pronounced 'fool', which is ground up falava beans with oil, lemon and other stuff), tabouleh (parsley salad with lemon juice), falafel (friend ground up chickpeas and spices). You can also get all sorts of fast food items such as burgers, fried chicken sandwiches, french fries and of course the Western Fast Food places are located all over. Amman will be getting a Chili's soon and already has major names such as: McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Popeyes Chicken, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Papa John's and many more.

No matter what food