I have been getting quite a few questions from vegetarian friends about what I ate in Egypt. Since I had taken a decent amount of food pics, I thought I’d make a blog post of it.
First up, being a vegetarian is not hard in Egypt. There are plenty of vegetarian options beyond salads. However, I didn’t find too much Indian food. So, yes, if you are looking to eat Indian vegetarian food there, the options might be a bit less.
However, there is plenty of Egyptian vegetarian food, which is exceptionally delicious. I heartily enjoyed everything I sampled there and have come back a few pounds heavier and with a healthy eating resolution.
I tried a lot of different foods and am sharing some of the foodie highlights here.
Kushari
Kushari or Kosheri is genuinely delicious, cheap, and filling. I lived on this while in Egypt.
This dish is made of lentils and chickpeas, layered in a bowl with rice, macaroni, and crunchy caramelized onion, with a spicy tomato sauce drizzled over it. OK, it’s not spicy like in Indian spicy, but it’s still delicious. I had this multiple times while in Egypt, and each restaurant makes it slightly different.
Ful medames
Ful medames are broad beans cooked with oil, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. You eat this with pita bread and onions with some pickled vegetables and rocket leaves on the side.
Dawood Basha
This dish is not vegetarian, but Snubnose feasted on this multiple times, so I had to share. These are small balls of kofta (ground lamb or beef with parsley and onions). This is cooked in a thick tomato sauce. You can eat this with rice separately. Some places served this on the rice itself and garnished with pine nuts. Snubnose just inhaled all this in, not even bothering what the meat was.
Umm Ali
This type of bread bursting with raisins and sometimes nuts, baked golden brown. Whenever I found the vegetarian option wasn’t looking too interesting, I’d opt for this Umm Ali. Generally, Egyptians are very fond of their bread, and there was plenty of bread options everywhere – even a delicious puri bread that looked and tasted a bit like our Indian puri. I found this puri bread served mainly in Indian restaurants with our curry.
Karkadeh
This is a herbal tea made of hibiscus and sweetened with sugar. You can ask for it served hot or chilled with ice.
Egypt has a strong cafe culture. Quaint cafes dotted the landscape through all the cities we visited. And it quickly became a practice where we would go to the nearest café and hydrate after seeing any attraction. The cold hibiscus tea was a winner, but the mint tea and Turkish coffees too were excellent throughout.
Other foods
Egyptians love their grilled vegetables, I think. Everywhere we went, we got heaping platefuls of them.
I had this eggplant in a tiny Nubian restaurant in Abu Simbel. The eggplant was delicious, and it became a safe option to try at other restaurants as well.
This plate of grilled vegetables was served over rice and was my first meal in Egypt (at Le Meridien Pyramids hotel)
Another popular dish is a kind of lentil soup.
This tastes kind of like a dal soup. Perfectly edible and suitable for vegetarians. I found it a tad bland.
There are plenty of fruits and vegetables everywhere in Egypt. There were tons of melons, and the guavas were delicious. We frequently bought guavas and apples as snacks for the long bus rides between places. You can also order salads at restaurants.
For desserts, there are several options, both western and eastern. A few times, I tried something labeled an oriental dessert on the menu. This is a vaguely Indian kind of sweet and quite tasty.
Hopefully, you have now got an idea of the kind of food on offer in Egypt. If you still have a craving for Indian food, there are Indian restaurants in Cairo and Luxor. We ate there too, and the Indian food is reasonable if not authentic.
I am trying to say that if you want to visit Egypt, go without any worries about food. There are enough options to cater to a vegetarian palate. Keep an open mind and enjoy the variety they have on offer.
The prices are pretty good too. We went to traditional sit-down restaurants (not high-end or low-end), and the prices ranged between Rs.500/- for a plate of kosheri that is filling for one person to lesser than that for the sides. There are also plenty of street food options, although I was a bit hesitant to sample them, and I can’t speak for their quality.
I hope I have answered all your questions when it comes to food. Feel free to send me an email or drop a note in the comments if you have any questions.
Happy eating!
