By Student Researcher Isabel Weiner, EPIIC 2014
After a rather tiresome journey from NYC, Sarah and I were finally reunited at the airport in Cairo. We went back to our apartment in Zamalek (a cool island neighborhood in Cairo) and we ordered in from an Egyptian restaurant called Taboon. They had delicious falafel sandwiches, hummus, and sambousik, as well as grape leaves (which kind of tasted weird and bitter). As I unpacked, Sarah updated me on all that had gone on since she arrived a few days prior.
After pushing through the jet lag, Sarah and I began compiling our contacts for our research and started calling and emailing people for interviews. We mostly work at a cafe near our house called Vivant, which has delicious shisha and tea. Our Egyptian friends occasionally stop by to check on us and have given us excellent advice on research contacts.
Today, we ventured out of our neighborhood to Dokki for Yemeni food. I ate at this restaurant a bunch of times when I was living in Cairo over the summer and remembered the food being absolutely delicious. We almost missed it as we were driving by because they reconstructed the entire front since I was last there. Once we realized it was the same place, we went inside with our three friends and order multiple Yemeni dishes: we had a whole chicken with rice, roasted vegetables, fowl with eggs, and chicken with mixed vegetables. They also served us lentil soup with lemon slices and plates of cucumbers and tomatoes at the beginning of the meal. The food came with giant circles of bread (the size of a tires) and we ate everything with our hands and shared from the giant pots on the table. The attached picture is of Sarah and our friend Omar (who normally looks happier) eating some of the delicious food.
We’re now sitting down to do more work and look forward to starting another day tomorrow!
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