2011夏中東行 E A T - 中東

圖文版網誌請點選以下連接
http://blog.yam.com/yipin/article/40516817

Just watched three short films about "Move", Learn", and "Eat." Three guys travelled in 11 countries using videos to record what they feel about travelling. I have to say that travelling is a way to deeply understand the culture of different countries, and experiencing exotic living style such as eating may help us to integrate into these countries. Therefore, I'd like to share some special experience including food that I had in this trip. (I have said that English is not my native language so it's
difficult for me to express what I want to describe. However, I'll try my best!)
(之前才剛看過一隻短片, 它用了Move, Learn 和Eat做為它的題裁, 是三個年輕人旅行了十一個國家, 用影片記錄了旅行的真實感受, 事實, 當一個背包客, 可以深度瞭解不同的國家, 而旅行當中的飲食, 更是一種很容易融入異國文化的方式, 因此, 我想要在這裡, 用食物來分享我所認識的中東)


Due to the religious issue, Muslims are not allowed to eat pork. Thus, lots of meals made by chicken or beef can be found in those middle-east countries. That is, the eating habits of those Muslim countries are similar. Here is the chicken and rice I ate with Sherry, the Chinese lady I met in Palmyra, Syria. Syrians are good to make the roasted chicken although I felt generally the chicken meal they made were not juicy enough. However, less fat may be a strategy to keep healthy.
(因為宗教的原因, 穆斯林是被禁止食用豬肉類的製品, 所以, 在中東大部分的肉類餐點, 都是使用雞肉或是牛肉. 而在中東國家的飲食習慣又非常相近, 底下這張照片, 就是我跟我在敘利亞的Palmyra遇到的一位在敘利亞學阿拉伯文的中國女生Sherry一起吃的一頓晚餐, 是雞肉與飯的混合, 敘利亞的食物很常使用雞肉入菜, 包括像底下的這個烤雞就是一個例子, 我覺得這個烤雞餐太乾, 不夠油,也許不夠油膩正是為了要使人們保持健康嗎?)

In addition to roasted chicken, Salad is usually served in traditional middle-east food. As what you saw on this picture, they mixed cucumber, green peppers, and tomatoes with some light sauce composed by vinegar and almond oil. Actually, you can find lots of almond trees in Syria or whole middle-east countries because this specific plant could adapt the water-deficient season.
(除了烤雞之外, 傳統的中東食物的前菜是沙拉, 就像在下面這張照片裡的沙拉一樣, 中東食物中的沙拉大多是混合小黃瓜, 青椒, 和蕃茄再沾上由醋和橄欖油混合的醬汁. 事實上, 橄欖油的成份來源橄欖樹並不需要大量的水源即可生長, 這也是為何可以在中東的食物上發現橄欖油的原因)

Here are the some "bread"(I don't know the exact name in English.) Syrians or people from this area eat this bread for their breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Generally, they wrap this "bread" with other food such as chicken, rice, or vegetable in this meal. I always drop some sauce or food all over the table. Just too difficult for me.
(這張照片是一些中東很流行的大餅, 在敘利亞甚至可以說是整個中東地區的阿拉伯人, 都習慣吃這種餅當做是早餐, 中餐, 或是晚餐, 通常他們會用餅捲起來包裹一些雞肉, 米, 疏菜當做是一餐, 對我來說這種吃法真的很麻煩, 我總會落了一些醬汁或蔬菜的葉子到桌上)

I stayed in a hostel managed by an extremely warm family in Damascus. Janet, the lady who made the breakfast for me, treated me like her son. Though she couldn't speak in English (I couldn't speak in Arabic neither), she cooked some special Syrian food like the one shown follows.
(我在大馬士革住的Hotel是由住在大馬士革的一家人經營的, 幫我們煮早餐的敘利亞媽媽Janet總是對我像對他的兒子一般, 雖然她不大會說英文, (我也不大會說阿拉伯文), 煮了一大堆食物給我吃)

(This is the leave covering some rice with almond sauce for the breakfast)
(這是阿拉伯人的傳統食物, 用煮過的葉子包裹沾有橄欖油的米, 當做早餐來吃)

(This is the Syrian dessert. It contained some jelly things and a slice of banana. Very sweet!)
(這個則是敘利亞的點心, 像是果凍一樣, 裡面卻有著新鮮的香蕉, 好甜啊)

The most well-known dessert in Syria especially in Damascus is Ice cream. There is a small souq, meaning market in Arabic, in front of the Umayyad mosque. Noel, my hostel manager, strongly suggested me to taste Syria-style ice cream, and I couldn't understand the reason until having one.
(在敘利亞最有名的點心就是大馬士革的冰淇淋了, 在大馬士革的歐馬亞清真寺前的市集裡有個很有名的冰淇淋店, 在我住的Hostel裡工作的Noel極力推薦我一定要到這家店裡嘗嘗它的冰淇淋)

(This was the ice cream store. They seemed busy all the day.)
(這是冰淇淋店, 看起來一整天大家都很忙)

Here is the ice cream. It was vanilla flavor and super sweet like other Syria dessert.
(這就是香草口味的冰淇淋了, 和其他的敘利亞的甜點一樣, 都非常的甜)

The most surprising thing for me was the ice cream decorated with green nuts from Pistachio. My mom told me that the nuts of pistachio is expensive. However, the reason why the ice cream was still extremely cheap (50 syrian pound approximately 1 USD) may be lots of pistachio grown in Syria.
(最讓我意外的是這個冰淇淋上居然有著綠色的開心果, 我記得我媽跟我說過開心果在台灣是很貴的, 但在這裡, 只要花50敘利亞鎊, 相當於一元美金, 就可比吃到有著大量開心果的冰淇淋了, 可見敘利亞真是個產開心果的國家)

Visiting Souq was an exciting experience for me. Noel asked me if I want to visit the real souq in Syria at my last day in Damascus. Thus, we went together to the real souq for local people instead of tourists. It's so huge. There were lots of stores selling different nuts and fruit.
(對我來說, 拜訪市場是一件非常有趣的經驗, 在我住的Hostel工作的Noel在我在敘利亞的最後一天, 就問我要不要跟他一起去大馬士革市場買東西, 我們去了一個不是觀光客會去的市場, 到處都是Local的敘利亞人, 我看到了好多的商店賣著不同的果子和水果)

In summary, I have to say "Syrian is my most favorite country because of the cheaper food, warmer people, beautiful landscapes, and the old history." (Brazil was my most favorite country before visiting Syria, Sorry Marcello, haha)
(結論就是, 敘利亞是我旅行到現在為止, 我最喜歡的國家了, 因為敘利亞有便宜的食物, 壯麗的風景, 古老的歷史, 和最重要的, 溫暖的人情味!)

Compared to Syria, I don't like Lebanon at all. The most important reason might probably be the price of everything especially the food (I like to eat!). The price of Shawarma (沙威瑪), one of the popular food in middle-east country, was four fold expensive in Lebanon than in Syria (Syria: 1 USD for one, Lebanon, 4 USD for one). Therefore, a poor backpacker traveller like me had to save money to avoid the desire of eating. Fortunately, Xiaobei, the Chinese student from Syracuse University, I met in
Beirut, found a restaurant with high quality but low price and also with "Air Condition" (This is essential for me at noon time). The Lebanese food was served as buffet (all you can eat). Here is the picture of some food I ate. The cauliflower was great. It was fried and grilled with sour sauce. However, other food there was yucky.
(和敘利亞比起來, 我則是一點也不喜歡黎巴嫩, 最重要的原因可能是因為高昂的物價, 尤其對於我這個愛吃的人來說, 食物的高物價是不能忍受的啊. 一個沙威馬在敘利亞大約是一元美金, 在黎巴嫩卻要四元美金. 因此對於像我一樣的貧窮背包客為了要省錢, 只能不斷地刻制自己想吃的欲望. 幸運的是, 我在貝魯特遇到了一位中國的背包客少白, 少白現在在美國的Syracuse University唸建築碩士, 她找到一家非常便宜又是吃到飽的傳統黎巴嫩食物的餐廳, 而且那家餐廳還有冷氣喔, 這對於在盛夏的中東旅行的我們是非常重要的. 底下這張圖片就是我們吃的食物,
那個白花菜是榨過又沾上酸酸的醬, 還不錯, 但其他食物都不大好)

Then, I travelled to Israel, a country with lots of controversial issue due to various races and religion. Thus, the culture of eating habit should also be diverse. East Jerusalem, the old town area, is the home town of Palestinians so Arabic food belong to Palestinians, recognized as Arabian, can be observed here. I stayed in a catholic church while I was in Jerusalem and ate dinner offered by the church every day. The cooks was Arabian and provided us lots of Arabic food. The following picture is one
of the Arabic dish, beef Kebab.
(然後我到了一個在種族和宗教上充滿衝突的國家, 以色列. 因此,飲食習慣變得十分的不同, 在東耶路撒冷, 也就是我居住的老城區, 居住了很多的巴勒斯坦人, 巴勒斯坦其實是阿拉伯人, 所以他們的飲食習慣就和其他周圍的阿拉伯國家十分類似, 我住的教堂裡每天晚上提供的晚餐就大都是阿拉伯式的食物, 像底下這張照片的食物就是一個例子, 它是牛肉做的, 被稱做"Kebab")

Kebab is one of the tradiational arabic food usually made by chicken or beef. Sometimes, several Kababs could be connected by a wood stick and roasted like the following picture.
(Kebab是一種傳統的阿拉伯式的食物, 通常都是用牛肉或雞肉做成, 有時候Kebab會被用細鐵棒或是細木棒串在一起烤, 就是下面這張照片)

I took this picture in a restaurant close to the coast of the sea of Galilee. Marcello and his wife from Brazil, two sisters from Mexico, and I travelled together in a tour. We were dropped in this restaurant by our tour guide. The tour guide suggested us to order the fish since we were close to the sea of Galilee. Here is the fried fish. Marcello, his wife, and I ordered the fried fish, and two Mexicans ordered Kebabs.
(我照的這張照片是在加里勒亞海的海邊的餐聽, 巴西人Marcello和他的太太, 以及一對墨西哥來的姐妹和我一起參加這個Tour, 我們一起被帶到這家餐廳吃中餐, 導遊強烈建議我們要吃吃看加里勒亞海的魚, 這就是我點的炸魚, Marcello和她的老婆也點了魚, 墨西哥姐妹則是點了Kebab)

However, we were extremely surprised when we got the checks. The fish meal (only a fried fish and potatoes) cost me 90 Israel Shekels (approximately 26 USD). We cannot do anything but keep complaining in whole afternoon. This restaurant apparently is for the tourist! Please don't go there.
(然而吃完後, 我們卻對餐的價錢非常的驚訝, 魚餐居然要90 以色列謝克爾, 香當於26元美金, 接著我們就不斷的對導遊抱怨, 這家店很明顯的就是家黑店)

Since the plane arrived at Cairo international airport, I knew everything should be cheaper here if I am charged as a NORMAL price. This is a country you always have to bid or bargain for the price of EVERYTHING even for stamps or using bathroom. Sometimes, purchasing food may also need to argue. After bargaining for a while, I got the food shown as follows.
(接著我來到了埃及, 從我抵達開羅國際機場的那一刻開始, 我瞭解到所有的東西都需要在購買錢殺價, 這是一個商人可以漫天喊價的國家, 連食物都是一樣的)

You can find some Kebab, some roasted chicken, some salad, etc…Arabic food looks the same. Is it right?
(底下是一些我在埃及吃的食物的照片, kebab, 烤雞, 或是一些沙拉, 阿拉伯的食物看起來都差不多, 對吧)

Makiko is a Japanese girl I met in Luxor. She always likes to try different things that she never tried before. One of the example is food. She tried Mousaaka, eggplants and tomatoes stew with chili sauce, and suggested it to me. It was the most delicious food I tasted in this trip. If you like hot food, you may want to try if you visit middle east.
(Makiko是一個我在路克索遇到的日本女孩, 她總是喜歡嘗試不同的食物, 底下這張照片, Mousaaka, 就是一個例子, 這個食物是用蕃茄搭配辣醬燉茄子, 這真是我在這趟中東之旅中吃過最好吃的食物了, 如果你喜歡吃辣的食物的話, 來到中東一定要試試這一道菜喔)




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