The Cairo Gyro

The tag line of my blog says I should be writing about food too. I totally avoided this topic the past year mainly because it was the cause of a lot of sickness for me and it was easier not to think about it! Nevertheless, I will finally look back at the things I ate the past year and share with you some of my experiences and lessons learnt.

Lesson #1: Don’t drink the water

It makes you very, very sick. I stuck to Aquafina bottled water (you can buy it by the carton, 12 bottles for 16-20 LE) until I was able to stomach other brands..even Egyptian mineral water takes time getting used to. When people ask me if it’s worth them coming to Egypt to study for a month I usually tell them no. That’s because from my experience and the reviews of those around me, everyone usually ends up sick their first month here and you need to give yourself some time to adjust. It’s not likely you’ll be well enough to study intensely for such a short period of time if you’re sick the whole way through.

Lesson #2: Do not eat at small Egyptian joints on the side of the road

I had the worst case of food poisoning ever from one of those places. It felt like someone was carving up my insides with a knife and it took me a full 6 days before I was recovered. If you happen to be near Serag mall however, there is a small Ta’miyyah (Egyptian Falafel) joint next to the Juice Bar across the road. That’s safe to eat at, I’ve had Ta’miyyah sandwiches there many times and have never been ill, alhamdulillah

Lesson #3: Keep track of your food spendings

If you’re like most foreign students, you’ll go crazy with all the halal fast food places in your first month(s) but soon enough you’ll realize that it’s far to expensive and unhealthy to carry on like that for the remainder of your stay. When you go shopping, remember that things like fruits and vegetables are cheaper to buy from the side of the road (just soak and scrub them at home and you’ll be fine insha’Allah) whereas everything else can be found at the grocery stores like Mahmal, Spinney’s, Awlad Ragab (Ragab Sons), and Metro Mart

…To be continued (insha’Allah)