الغذاء الجيد في الأردن

Well it has been about a month since I have been in Jordan and I figured that is a good amount of time to describe some of the food that I have eaten.  The main staples for food are rice and some form of bread usually pita bread.  A typical day of eating consists of me waking up to breakfast that usually consists of an egg (either fried or hard boiled), lebona (a sweet yogurt), butter, jelly, vegetables, bread, oil, and seasoning to dip the oiled bread into.  This meal does not have silverware but instead you use the pita bread, break into pieces, and grab the food with the bread.  The lebona is really tasty and I could eat plain because the fact that it does somewhat remind me of sour cream, and so I feel like I should have grown up here so I could have eaten it more often.  Lunch I eat at campus either at the cafeteria or at one of the places around the university.   The cafeteria food is decent and I usually get rice (I don’t get tired of this staple food), hummus, pita bread, lebona, salad (not a green leaf salad), chicken, soup, and sometimes dessert.  I don’t eat all of this on the same day but these are usually the options they have available on a daily basis.  The salad is basically cut up vegetables with a slice of lemon.  It does remind me of Pico de Gallo (not spicy though) and typically I mix it in with the rice.  This food does feel me up and only costs on average about a dollar (sometimes less or more if I get a dessert).  If I eat off campus the food I typically eat are falafel sandwiches, or schwarma.  Falafel is a vegetarian sandwich where chick peas are mixed together with spices and put on bread (pita or sub bread) with usually hummus and tomatoes.  These sandwiches cost thirty cents each.  Schwarma is a type of meat that is also made into sandwiches.  It’s hard to explain with words but Schwarma sandwiches consist of the meat being sliced up and put into the sandwiches, usually with a sauce and pickles (this being the most basic with the price going up by adding more to the sandwich).  A typical price of a basic Schwarma is about sixty cents.  Around campus there are American fast food places such as Mcdonalds, Burger King, Popeyes, Pizza Hut, and Subway, but I avoid these places because they are more expensive and I came here to try other food.  There are other places around campus that serve pizzas, chicken sandwiches, fresh smoothies with good fruit, and just about anything one would want to eat.  Dinner I do eat at home and after saying hi to everybody, I put my bag down, and then I am sitting at the table eating.  Dinners do vary each night but with majority consisting of rice, vegetables, and a little bit of meat.  The dinner in the picture that I did post the other day is called‘malfoof’  ملفوف.  For this dish the rice is rolled up into the brown looking thing which does also have a small amount of meat.  Plus on that night I had the salad mix, pita bread, and a soup that was basically like a chicken noodle but with no chicken. ملفوف  is actually the first dish I had the very first night I was at my homestay.  On another occasion I had this dish and Lebanon was also on the table so I was dipping the ‘malfoof’ ملفوف into the lebona.  Other dishes that I have had include spaghetti (not much flavor to the sauce), rice and chicken, rice and beans, chicken sandwiches that were deep fried (only American type dish) with homemade fries, and rice with various types of soups.  After eating dinner I usually go on the patio and talk about my day; however, after a short time I am presented with a plate of fruit and or vegetables.  This change daily to include: banana, cucumber, apple, grapes, fig, pomegranate, tomatoes, rhl (a fruit grown in Iraq), orange, and other types that I can’t think of off the top of my head.  Than shortly later I am presented a glass of shaee (tea), which I also do get with every breakfast.  Now this tea is not from tea bags but is a legitimate good tea.    

Now these dishes are the common dishes that I eat on a daily basis but I have also had some of the specialty dishes that are unique to Jordan.  The main dish of Jordan that every Jordanian knows how to cook and loves to eat it is called “mansaf.”  This is the picture with the huge plates sitting on the table on the patio.  This happened to be during a big party and so they were feeding fifty people, and that is only half of the food with the other half still in the kitchen being plated.  So “mansaf” basically is rice with lamb spread out around the dish topped with almonds and pine nuts.  On top of all of this the juice (a dairy product) that the meat is cooked in is poured over the top of everything.  I ate this the traditional way at the party which goes as follows.  After being put together including the sauce poured all over the top, the plate is put on a table.  Standing around one platter is about six to seven people.  You reach in with your right hand (it is rude to eat with the left hand) and grab a piece of the meat off the bone and put it on some rice.  With this meat and rice you proceed to roll it into a ball.  This is where having a lot of sauce does come in handy.  Once in a ball you put it in your mouth and continue with another piece.  During this process the host is walking around pouring more sauce onto the platter so that way it is easy to roll into balls.  Once done you do go and wash your hands.  Another interesting fact about mansaf is that is proper to leave the head of the animal in the center of the plate.  This is done as a sign of respect to the guest.  You might be able to see that in the picture that they all had the heads in the center of the plate, and though this does seem like it would ruin your appetite in fact it does not.  “Mansaf” was good to experience but I am glad it is a special type meal because of how unhealthy it is to eat.  Unhealthy because the fact that the sauce they kept pouring all over the rice is basically the fat off of the animal.  Another popular dish is called 'maglooba'   (upside down).  It is named this because it is rice cooked with various vegetables that once done the pan is turned upside down for it to come out onto the plate.  The picture I posted of this dish is a big helping because this is when I was up at Aljoun with the school project.  In fact both times (two weeks ago and yesterday) in Aljoun after working at the school this is the dish we were served.  After working we head to a local persons house and eat what they cook which both times have been 'maglooba'.  It is also served with various side dishes to include chicken, salad, lebona, vegetables, and other typical side dishes that accompany Jordanian food.   Both times in Aljoun have been my favorite meals because that fact that in the smaller villages such as Aljoun they put more and different types of spices than in Amman.  After these meals we are given 'shaee fea nanna' (tea with mint).  One can get this anywhere in Jordan and is quite common to have tea with fresh mint leaves in the tea itself.

These have been the food that I have eaten at my house or at other people’s houses but I also have been to some famous restaurants in Amman.  First one is named “hashems.”  Everyone knows where “hashems” is located (downtown Amman) and is basically a small little place that only serves a few items.  These items are: falafel, hummus, fuul, pita bread, tomatoes, and onions.  Except for falafel sandwiches (usually eaten on the go) that is all that they serve and all of this only costs about 1.75 Jordanian dinars.  A neat story about Hashems is that the King does eat there and the first time he was there he told the owner (the guy sitting by the register) that he wants what the locals eat.  The owner replied in a respectful way by saying that is good because that is all that I do serve.  Another famous place in Amman is known as “Reem Cafeteria.”  This place is located on the second circle (a traffic circle) and is always busy.  It does not matter at what time of the day, and in fact both Hashems and Reem I believe are open twenty-four hours a day.  At Reem they only serve sandwiches that are: a roast beef type meat, grilled onions, tomato, and a sauce in a pita sandwich.  The other night I had two and that filled me up.  Not sure on the price because I did not pay but a local Jordanian friend did but I am sure it does not cost much.  This place is also known by everyone in Amman and like I mentioned earlier is always busy.  So basically when it comes to these restaurants, if one wants falafel you go to Hashems, but if one wants meat you go to Reem Cafeteria. 

 Here I have mentioned my typical day of eating along with some other famous places in Amman, but there is so much more to try.  I will keep trying different dishes and other places in Amman.   Plus there are desserts that I will wait to describe another time too.  Classes are starting to pick up with papers starting to be due. I will describe university and school stuff in an upcoming post.  Need to head to class so will write latter.   إن شاء الله