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Upper Egyptian (Sa’idi) Foodways

Regional

⚠ THE SA’ID IS NOT THE DELTA AND SA’IDI ARABIC IS ITS OWN VARIETY. Upper Egypt — Beni Suef, Fayoum, Minya, Asyut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan, running south up the narrow valley — is hotter, more conservative, more agricultural and poorer than the north, with a large COPTIC population in Asyut, Sohag and Minya and a documented tribal social structure. The food is plainer and more maize-based: AISH SHAMSI, "sun bread", a thick sourdough leavened by wild yeast and proved in the sun on straw trays, which is an Upper Egyptian bread and quite unlike Delta pita; DUKKAH, the crushed nut, seed and spice mix eaten with bread and oil; FATTA, layered bread, rice and meat broth, strongly associated with feasts; lentil and bean stews; sugarcane and its juice, the valley’s cash crop south of Minya; dates from Aswan; and molokhia. ⚠ FAYOUM, fed by the Bahr Yussef into Lake Qarun, is a depression oasis rather than a valley province and is recorded as such.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Sa’idis community documented
  • Copts community documented

Languages: Saidi Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Coptic

What is recorded

  • Upper Egypt is recorded as a distinct food region with its own Arabic variety, Sa’idi, and a large Coptic population in Asyut, Sohag and Minya. Aish shamsi, a thick sourdough proved in the sun, is documented as an Upper Egyptian bread distinct from Delta pita. Fayoum is recorded as a depression oasis fed by the Bahr Yussef rather than a valley province. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • related to Cairo Foodways documented

    Cairo is the country arriving in it; Sa’idi cooking is one of the kitchens migrants brought.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.