Fuul Rejection
It was nearly noon and I hadn't had breakfast and was craving fuul--outdoor, aluminum saucer street fuul, specifically. I was on Hoda Shaarawi by Felfela downtown and I headed towards the makeshift fuul stand/station some meters past Ka7lawi (or Afifi to those in the know), the kibda and sogo2 guy (sausages and garlic-chilli stir-fry liver).
The requisite loose crowd was gathered around the fuul stand and around the dining zones that flank it (meter square plywood boards on rusty barrel-tops). There seemed to be more clearing than eating going on, and one man was violently throwing cupfuls of water into what looked like the salad bucket. I noticed that the guy behind the counter was mashing up a seasoned batch of beans in the large transit bowl so I went and stood before him. He looked up and made a quick sun-rises-sun-sets swipe with his hand and said "7amdollah" (Praise be to God) and promptly returned to his seemingly strenuous task.
I asked him, "7amdollah 3ammatan, walla 7amdollah amshi?" (7amdollah in general, or 7amdollah thus I should leave?)
"3ammatan emshi," he said, without looking up (in general you should leave). I said "mashi" (fine) in the most dramatic victimized voice I could produce and walked back to Afifi's for undesired kibda.
Update: Post has been edited, based on Forsoothsayer's comment.
The requisite loose crowd was gathered around the fuul stand and around the dining zones that flank it (meter square plywood boards on rusty barrel-tops). There seemed to be more clearing than eating going on, and one man was violently throwing cupfuls of water into what looked like the salad bucket. I noticed that the guy behind the counter was mashing up a seasoned batch of beans in the large transit bowl so I went and stood before him. He looked up and made a quick sun-rises-sun-sets swipe with his hand and said "7amdollah" (Praise be to God) and promptly returned to his seemingly strenuous task.
I asked him, "7amdollah 3ammatan, walla 7amdollah amshi?" (7amdollah in general, or 7amdollah thus I should leave?)
"3ammatan emshi," he said, without looking up (in general you should leave). I said "mashi" (fine) in the most dramatic victimized voice I could produce and walked back to Afifi's for undesired kibda.
Update: Post has been edited, based on Forsoothsayer's comment.
posted by Gayyash at
5:04 PM
3 Comments:
mish fahma...why did he turn u away?
By
Forsoothsayer, at Mon Mar 27, 07:41:00 PM GMT+2
fuul was finished. i was too late. i guess i should find some way to make that clearer. merci.
By
Gayyash, at Mon Mar 27, 07:43:00 PM GMT+2
This is better than all the arm-chair babbling about the Arab world that line the shelves of European bookshops these days. Salvation is in the details indeed and you observe them brilliantly!Looking forward to reading your first novel...
By
Anonymous, at Wed Jul 19, 03:48:00 PM GMT+3
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