Cairo

[Shiewie]

Some food vendor and street market pics I took on a recent short stop-over in Cairo:

Street market in Islamic Cairo, near the Al-Azhar Mosque

Horse cart with a load of watermelons

Water jugs - these are place along the street for whoever who needs a cool drink

Street-side drinks vendor

Bread vendor near the Al-Azhar Mosque

More bread

Street cafe for backgammon, shisha and coffee / mint tea

Snacks anyone? Are these semit?

[Jason Perlow]

Did you get to go into any of the Coptic Christian neighborhoods? As I understand it, the Coptics eat a vegetarian diet like 2/3 of the year.

[Shiewie]

We went to old/Coptic Cairo to do the touristy thing to visit St Sergius Church (built on top of a crypt where the Holy family hid while in Egypt), St Barbara's Church and the Hanging Church (called so as it has no foundations and is built on top of a old Roman fortress). While we were waiting for the crowd to come out from service at St Sergius, a lady who was handing out bread at the end of service, insisted on giving us some too!

I didn't know about the mainly vegetarian diet but there are lots of typical Egyptian dishes that are vegetarian - fuul medammes, taa'miya (felafel), koshary. Didn't see any food vendors either while wandering in narrow lanes in Coptic Cairo.

[Smithy]

Did you get to go into any of the Coptic Christian neighborhoods? As I understand it, the Coptics eat a vegetarian diet like 2/3 of the year.

←

That may be overstating the case. During their Lenten season they don't eat meat or dairy, nor do they eat or drink anything at all during certain hours....after 3 p.m. until the following morning, if I remember correctly.

I have to admit, we've only visited our Coptic friends between November and April, so there may be something going on in the summer of which we aren't aware.

[Smithy]

I'm going to follow up my own answer since I've learned that my "overstating the case" comment from yesterday was incorrect. I found, on a Coptic discussion forum, a thread discussing the fact that there are 250+ fasting days per year - pretty close to 2/3 of the year's worth. I haven't followed up to see what-all the fasts are for, know how long most of them last or how they're broken. Whether most Copts follow all those fast days seems to be up for debate - but clearly, we haven't learned as much from our friends there as I thought we had!

I should also add that their Lenten season is 55 days long. I knew it was longer, but couldn't remember by how much.

[zora]

The whole Orthodox tradition seems to hinge on "fasting" at the drop of a hat. I couldn't get married in the Greek church this summer, because of a two-week fasting period prior to the something-of-the-Virgin (I'm a great convert!) on August 15th. In the Greek church, at least, the list of things you can't eat during the fasts covers, well, pretty much everything tasty you can think of, and I think the number of days a year it allegedly covers is comparable to the Coptic rules.

Edited September 27, 2005 by zora (log)