2) 23.03.08It is interesting that a lot of research has been done into the how many thing are associated with taste and smell. I believe that there has been quite a lot of study into how olfactory impressions are the most reliable triggers for memories and emotions.
To understand why this entry is about tastes and smell, know this:
The Berlin air is generally very clean, in winter it acquires a quality that can only be described as crisp and light. In summer, by contrast it fills up with the sweat, sticky smell of pollinating trees and the musk of a clean river covers the city in a wet, humid blanket.
Cairo air is very heavy by comparison, smelling of ancient dusts and spices. It also smells of cooking, cars, and yes, twenty million people do smell like human beings. Lots and lots of them.
When young, a friend and I had a name for it. We called all those persons stacked on top of each other " Eau du Caire". The consistency will change, depending on which area of the area of the city you are walking through, acquiring a note of mud in Azhar, a bouquet of maaasel (shisha tobacco) in Wist-el- Balad, a topnote of fruit, a whiff of stone and dust in the City of the Dead, of perfume, of spice. But everywhere this lingering smell of many, multitudes of humans.
So unlike Berlin.
For instance: Our Zamalek garden, has always smelled of mangoes and Frangipani to me, even in the off-season. This garden, in one of the greenest parts of cairo has always smelt of inedible guavas, of grass, clover and the neighbours AC to me.
Compare this to Berlin, this cacophony of intermingling, interwoven smells. The park I live next to, the Goerlitzer. The sheer volume of smell makes the carefully planned and slightly rundown park feel sterile. The only discordant notes are the smell if fresh dog droppings, and in the summer, the smell of roasting meat. The people don't smell here, of course. The only noticable smell comes from the children's zoo within.
Egyptians also smell. It is a city smell, filled with all the abovementioned. Not unlike the Earthy African smell, however not quite as clean. `Of course, these are Cairenes. An Alexandrian or an Aswani would smell different. The men: Hairgel, sometimes perfume. Deodorant is not in clear evidence. The women a bit fresher.
Everyone smells of their sweat, even in winter, this subconscious note lingers over the city.
Learn also of Koshari: Possibly an Indian invention, it was originally (possibly) given to diarrhoeretic soldiers to calm their bowels by he British army. This is conjecture, but I do know of an Indian dish called Kishri, composed of rice and lentils, which might have formed the base for the glorious starch explosion that is Koshari.
We have the rice, and we have the lentils. To these add small penne and, depending on where you have it, bran or wheat spaghetti. Top it off with tomato sauce, lemon, humus, vinegar, hot sauce (shatta) and, most importantly, roasted onions. You add more shatta, vinegar, onians and garlic sauce, depending on personal preference. That is the Egyptian version of this dish.
It is also one of those items of Arab Fast food which never made it into the Falafel shops and Doeneries of Berlin. For me, this means I have had to forgo this particular pleasure for about two years now. I even moved in to my current fat because of the promise of abundant Koshari. There used to be a Sudani who made a very respectable dish of the stuff right across the street from me. Two weeks after I moved in, his shop had been bought by Palestinians, who, in spite of my regular protests stick to more the more conventional Falafel and Shawerma.
Thus deprived, my delight was great when we went to what our cap drive called the Koshari Mall, Abu Tareqs in Sharii Maarouf, one of the original, famous makers of the stuff. Upon arriving, we ascended to the second floor, whre one has a great view of the mechanics from across the street. We ordered two respectable (albeit not too respectable) plates, seasoned it and got down to buisiness. It actually brought tears to my eyes.
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