I migrated to Australia from Egypt over five years ago. I am now an Australian citizen but in my heart and through my love of home cooking, I will always be Egyptian.
Unfortunately, my parents and brother are in Egypt and my wife's family are located across Australia. So just my wife, my four-and-a-half year old daughter and I make up a very tight family unit of three.
Almost every night, we have dinner together as a family at home with a freshly cooked meal. My wife and I live in Canberra, close to our workplaces, so there is less of a commute and a bit more time to spend on meal preparation. I believe that when you cook at home, you know what is in your food. I also find that when our daughter helps us to cook and is involved in making her own meal, she is more inclined to eat it. This is a big help for parents of fussy kids.
I think a lot of the nutritional problems we have today comes down to the fact that we don't have the time to cook meals at home.
Cooking at home means we spend a lot less money on takeaway. We even make our own pizza, as we can't find a decent Lebanese halal pizza place [where we live]. We also make our own burgers with all the trimmings instead of ordering home delivery or take-away.
I think a lot of the nutritional problems we have today comes down to the fact that we don't have the time to cook meals at home. That affects our relationships as it impacts our ability to spend time, cooking and eating, with our loved ones. It also impacts the healthy choices families make about food.
Memories of home cooking, Egyptian-style
My belief in the value of cooking at home stems from my Egyptian upbringing, where sitting down to eat a meal at home was central to the culture, and functioning as a strong family unit.
Up until I was married and lived overseas, I would always eat dinner with my parents and brother at home. Some days, we’d have extended family come around from Cairo to have dinner at our house, because mum is an exceptional cook.
Looking back on my days growing up in Egypt, I really enjoyed spending a lot of time in the kitchen with my mum. She gave me a love and appreciation for food that I wouldn't have otherwise had. Mum’s cooking also made me appreciate the value of fresh ingredients and how important it is to spend time preparing quality meals at home.
Every dish she made was always created by hand, from scratch. She would grind the spices herself, pick out the stones from the rice – as we would get our rice straight from hessian bags from the farms – and spend hours making stuffed vine leaves.
Even now, back in Egypt, mum still does not have a microwave because she wants to prepare her meals fresh.
Kushari or Koushari is an Egyptian dish of lentils, rice, pasta, chickpeas with tomato sauce and crispy onions. (Getty Images) Source: iStockphoto/Getty Images
Passing on tradition
These days, my wife and I share the cooking to make a variety of dishes from different cuisines at home. However, I really enjoy making Egyptian food. I want our daughter to feel more connected to her Egyptian roots. Being located far away from family means that we need to make an effort to help our daughter grow and feel connected to her extended cultural heritage, no matter how far we are from Egypt.
To cook authentic Egyptian food, we buy many of our ingredients at a special cultural grocery store. I can often spend one to two hours cooking the entire meal.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are often the main ingredients used in Egyptian dishes, and there’s a heavy emphasis on vegetarian and vegan meals.
We usually eat fish, grilled meats and chicken as a protein, and always include a number of salads with legumes or pulses as an accompaniment.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are often the main ingredients used in Egyptian dishes, and there’s a heavy emphasis on vegetarian and vegan meals.
The Egyptian way of eating is a bit different to the traditional Western way. You graze and spend time eating meals, so you feel full for most of the day. For instance, some nights or for breakfast we may have foul (fava beans) which is a dish that's cooked with spices, garlic, lemon, oil, salt and pepper, and served with a number of sliced vegetables (onion, cucumber, tomato, coriander and feta). We can also serve this with an omelette and Lebanese bread (as it is hard to find authentic Egyptian bread in Australia).
Cooking and eating meals together, as a family, is so important for our health and sense of social connectedness.
My go-to Egyptian dishes to make at home for my family are:
- bamiya – okra that is blended with garlic, capsicum, coriander and spices until it forms a soupy texture.
- molokhia – this dish is made with Egyptian spinach (also referred to as ‘Jews Mallow’) and is a vegetable-based meal with a soupy consistency.
- Egyptian rice – cooked with seasoned fried pasta.
- kofta – grilled minced meat.
- grilled chicken with potatoes, tomato, carrots and spices.
- koshary (or kushari) – made of vegan rice, lentils, chickpeas, onions, pasta and tomato sauce.
Cooking and eating meals together, as a family, is so important for our health and sense of social connectedness.
I understand time is a luxury many cannot afford but if you can, families should try to spend time enjoying a meal together. Use that time of day – where you are preparing food and cooking – to laugh with each other as a family and make something beautiful, healthy and delicious while you spend time with those you love.
Everyone has to eat so it's always better to do it together.
