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yemeni cuisine

Yemeni cuisine is as surprisingly diverse as the landscape of a country I visited in its last days of stability. Although the security situation has changed considerably in Yemen since 2013, these tastes flavor a culture that’s often obscured by bomb smoke for many around the world.

The Spread

Yemeni breakfast, lunch, and dinner tables only begin like the photo below from At Hameeda, a completely woman owned and run restaurant near the city of Shibam (northwest of Sana’a). After the first course, plus some lounging, the tabletop is replaced with several new dishes.

yemeni lunch

Rice With Hawaij Spice

Common in many Yemeni foods, hawaij is a spice mix that varies but the primary ingredients are cardamon, tumeric, and cumin. Also varied is how much (if any) clarified butter is used for flavor.

yemeni rice


Shakshouka

Fried or poached eggs on a layer of tomatoes spicy enough to make your temples glow with perspiration.

shashouka yemen

Malawah

Bread heavily buttered with a touch of egg.

yemen bread yemen bread

Lahoh

A spongy flat bread served warm with a cool mixture of yogurt, cucumbers with carrots on top.

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yemen lahoh

Saltah

Yemen’s national dish, it never looked the same twice. Saltah’s main ingredient is a meat (often lamb) in a broth with the strong flavor of fenugreek – an unexpected taste that probably takes more than a few tries to acquire.

yemen saltah

Leham Segar

Minced lamb with tomatoes and onion. The okra isn’t standard but your appetite will appreciate the culinary creativity.

leham segar

Cooked Peas (Bezelye)

Those of you familiar with Turkish vegetarian foods might recognize this green pea dish with a tomato base.

yemen peas

Marak

A chicken or lamb broth soup that is tastier than its short ingredient list implies.

yemen soup

Fahsa

A variation of saltah, fahsa is cooked at much higher heat until the lamb meat slides off the bone, boiling inside a soup of garlic, onions. It is then topped off with fenugreek paste mixed with tomatoes (which is cooked separately) so you have a layer of bread dip on top of dinner. Well, at least 6% of a dinner if it’s Yemeni proportions.

yemen fahsa

Still Eating

Going through them all I had so many photos from Yemen of food I didn’t realize how much time I spent eating – all different types of food.

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yemeni food yemeni food liver

yemeni potatoes yemeni stuffed peppers

yemeni salad yemeni kebab

You’ll probably notice as well that many of the pictures a selected above are from the same meal or two to show you that Yemenis like to eat. Meals are often largest in early noon, since after 2pm most people take some time to get high on khat. I didn’t even mention the coffee a drink introduced to the world from the Yemeni port of Mocha. Unfortunately much of the coffee crops – and the potential export income it could bring in – has been replaced by thirsty khat trees.

The world’s world’s most neglected tourist destination Socotra Island, hundreds of kilometers off the mainland coast of Yemen, still remains accessible by air but for now, getting to one of the world’s best kitchens will have to wait for a distant future trip.