Food Resources and their Transformation - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 133

of fermented drinks, soft or relatively so,
musts and beers. The term nabī , for
example, most often denotes a true wine
made from dates (very potent according
to pre-Islamic poetry), or from various
berries, but—with reference to the nabī
consumed by the Prophet—the religious
texts stress the non-alcoholic nature of
this drink, which was lightly fermented
(or, rather, exposed to the sun for only a
few hours, according to the definitions of
the texts themselves), in order to prevent
any other interpretation of this term in the
context of the biography of the Prophet.

fication that Ahsan attempts to conclude
from a very partial reference of adab that
this drink was invariably soft or even non-
alcoholic; however, apud al-uzūlī, op. cit. ,
who accurately reflects life in mediaeval
Egypt, various kinds of fuā were sweet-
ened to a considerable extent. Mā aīr ,
literally “barley water”, when fermented
becomes “barley beer”, of which a special
variety exists for the nights of the month
of Ramaān. Asimā = liquid, syrup, but,
since one of the recipes mentions the pres-
ence of yeast among the ingredients of
this drink, it must presumably be a vari-
ety of sweetened beer and not a simple
syrup as it is usually translated (for the
Egyptians, according to al-uzūlī, both
the term and the recipe of asimā often
replace those of fuā ). Certain physicians
are inclined to define fuā , made of bar-
ley or rice, as a relatively soft drink, when
compared to real intoxicants, but for the
jurists, the mediaeval experts in Islamic
law, this drink brings up some difficult
legal questions.

ii. Beers
In fact, beers were well-known in the
civilisation of that time. For example:
1. Mizr ; al-Afahsī calls mizr by the name
of nabī al-ura , “beer” of maize or of
sorghum, while “beer” of wheat is called
in Egypt, apud al-Afahsī, atīā ; as for
barley beer, mā aīr, see below under
the heading fuā . 2. āa ; the revived
use of this term in this century, in place
of the more widespread borrowing bīra
(= modern beer). Mā aīr and asimā , see
below. 4. Boza , see towards the end of the
article. 5. Fuā , the long and narrow ves-
sels which, among their others functions,
were used for the preparation or storage
of this “beer”, were the kīzān (sing. kūz ).
The kūz , often fitted with a handle is fre-
quently mentioned and described in Ara-
bic literature. However, Goitein translates
kīzān as “bowls”, a sense which the word
possesses in certain dialects.
There existed numerous kinds of fuā :
they are mentioned in culinary literature,
among sauces and drinks. The sense of
“beer” is clearly evident when the text
describes the fermentation ( yamar, yaūr )
of this drink. In addition to the references
given above concerning the fuā , it could
be sweetened and flavoured with fruit
(the mediaeval equivalent of “shandy”
or almost so; it may thus be with justi-

iii. Milk
The same works of culinary art also
provide a wide range of recipes of which
the primary ingredient is milk, but it may
be assumed, judging by the method of
preparation, that in the majority of cases
the references are to sauces accompany-
ing food rather than to drinks as such. In
fact, without refrigeration, it was not easy
to preserve milk, except with the addi-
tion of preservative elements, e.g. salt, or
allowing it to curdle. In fact, ever since
the pre-Islamic period the Arabs were
well aware of the importance of milk as
a nutritive element, with numerous terms
denoting its varieties and properties and
verbs and adjectives used to identify the
stages of curdling ( rāib = clotting, for
example), and it is thus that numerous
pages are devoted to milk in the lexical
literature. The pre-Islamic Arabs were