Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Food & Drink
Yemeni food is simple but good. Breakfast usually consists of little more than a cup of
shai
(sweet tea) accompanied by fuul (a kind of paste made from beans, tomatoes, onions
and chilli) or what is, in our opinion, the world's finest scrambled eggs! Lunch is the main
meal of the day and Yemenis tuck in eagerly. A hunk of mutton is the favoured fare, or
beef, goat or chicken. Dishes are often served with a thin but delicious broth, such as
shurba wasabi
(lamb soup), a small salad and a huge sheet of flat bread (over 40 mouth-
watering kinds of bread exist in Yemen).
The dish of choice in the highlands is
salta,
a piping-hot stew containing meat broth,
lentils, beans, fenugreek (giving it its distinctive aroma) and coriander or other spices.
Add some meat and you get
fahsah
. For dinner,
fasouliya
(beans) or fuul often suffices.
Other regional favourites include
Hanid lamb
from the Tihama which is lamb wrapped in
banana leaves (or more likely just tinfoil) and slow cooked in a beehive oven.
Borma
is a
soup made of lamb meat and
kidba
is an Ethiopian-style seasoned fried liver. For dessert
tuck into some delicious
arayesi
(a traditional wedding dessert that's basically a thick
mash of fruit topped with nuts and jelly).
Meat is a luxury for the well-off, so there's usually a good selection of vegetarian op-
tions available. Apart from fuul
,
plates of boiled or fried vegetables, rice or a salad are
also offered.
On the coast fresh fish - often cooked in a traditional clay oven - provides a treat not to
be missed. Lebanese starters have made it onto many posher menus and fast-food joints
serving burgers and kebabs are increasingly common in bigger towns. Meals in Yemen are
rushed affairs with little time devoted to lingering conversations.
Fresh fruit juices are filling, healthy and delicious, but are likely to contain tap water at
cheaper stalls.
Shai
is normally hot, black and sweet, and often spiced with mint or car-
damom. For some reason the
shai
served in hotels is usually dreadful. Yemeni coffee is
not what you'd expect from the original home of
mokha
. It's a cloudy, amber and very
weak brew called
qishr
which is made from coffee husks and infused with cloves or other
spices. If it's the caffeine buzz you're after, ask for
bunn
or buy a jar of instant coffee
from any grocery store and just ask for hot water to mix it with. Various saccharine soft
drinks are widely available, as is bottled mineral water.
