One of the first things that may come to mind when thinking about Middle Eastern food is meat. Lamb, chicken, goat, and beef are just a few types of meat that Middle Eastern dishes commonly feature. However, it is easy to enjoy many of the popular Middle Eastern dishes and still maintain a Vegetarian diet. Vegetable dishes are a staple of Egyptian, Moroccan, and other Middle Eastern cuisine. Being frequented by tourists, Egypt has many different styles of food that are healthy and stick to vegetarian rules.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
In Egypt, meal time is never a simple matter.
Egyptians never skimp on food, and people can easily find hearty, filling meals, and many of the dishes that contain meat can be prepared without it.
One of the most popular breakfast foods in Egypt is known as Tameya. Other Middle Eastern countries refer to it as Falafel. It's a vegetarian dish made of fried fava beans and a variety of spices. It is typically enjoyed with pita bread and freshly cut vegetables such as cucumbers and carrots. Fava beans are also used in a dish known as Ful. The beans are mashed with a combination of cumin, oil, and other spices and are eaten with pita bread.
Popular dishes for lunch and dinner are interchangeable. For a long day of touring the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt offers a dish called Koshary.
This vegetarian pasta bowl is a mixture of rice, lentils, macaroni, angel hair noodles, tomato sauce, garlic, and chickpeas. It's topped with fried onions and will leave you in a food coma.
Hummus is another popular dish that many people in the west eat as a snack. However, in Egypt, it's consumed with lunch or dinner. Chickpeas and garlic are mashed together into a thick paste.
It is eaten with pita bread or chips.
Sweet treats
Sugary sweets are hugely popular in Egypt. Baklava is a buttery dessert layered with phyllo dough, syrup, honey, and chopped nuts. It is typically cut into triangular shapes for easy handling. Knafeh is another common sweet treat. This cheesecake is made from Nabusi cheese. Rose water or orange blossom water is used to make the dessert a pinkish/orange color.
Another famous dessert in Egypt is called Om Ali, which is Arabic for "Ali's Mom." Phyllo dough, milk, heavy cream, and nuts are the main ingredients in this dish. Popular toppings for this dessert include pecans, pistachios, walnuts, raisins, and coconut flakes.
Although meat is commonly eaten in Egypt, tourists can easily find dishes that fit into their vegetarian lifestyle.
