Arab Culture

Culture of Food in Relation to the Arab World In this paper will be reviewed the culture of food in relation to the Arab world. Will be discussed how the climate, history, religion influenced on food culture of Arab World. The ways of eating and drinking, in the Near and Middle East and North Africa, have been influenced by different climatic, economic, political, and other factors. However, cultural factors are the most important, and among them especially the religious one. As most habitants of the Near and Middle East and North Africa practice Islam, the impact of this religion on the culinary traditions and practices of the majority of the Arab people will be the main focus. The cultural area of the Arab World stretches from the Atlantic

Their climate is Mediterranean in the north parts, when in south and desert regions climate is hot and dry. The next cultural area is Egypt, with the fertile soil in Nile River valley. This country characterized by Mediterranean climate in the north regions with hot climate in Egypt’s south and desert regions. Egypt is followed eastward by the Fertile Crescent, covering also the Israeli and Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. All of those countries to some extent are influenced by the Mediterranean climate and through the ages formed their own unique culinary culture. Other areas of Arab World, which are the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris—Mesopotamia, or Iraq characterized with a climate variation from the Mediterranean to the subtropical. This is an ancient cultural region with a remarkable culinary heritage. The Arab peninsula created its own cultural area with the mark of its deserts and oases. Iran also has an old cultural and culinary tradition, and its climate can be characterized as

Written language, which is used in all Arab countries has some distinctions between regions. Many different colloquial languages can differ not only between regions, but also within one region. Arab children have to learn this written (or “modern standard”) Arabic in school. Majority of Arab people nowadays are settled and live in urban areas, and only about two percent of them remain nomads. The patrilineal social organization with strong family ties is traditional for Arab World. Nevertheless, a significant differences can be found between Arabs of Morocco and Oman, regarding their general behavior and also in their cooking traditions and modern food culture. Apart from ethnic differences, religious differences have a huge impact on food culture of Arab nations. Most of Arabs are Muslims, but they are divided into two groups: Sunnis (the majority) and Shiites (the minority). In some countries, the Shiites form a majority, like in the case with Iran and Iraq. In those countries, the Shiite form of Islam is considered as the official religion. In Iraq about 60 percent of the population are the Shia. The denominational difference between Sunnis and Shiites made its impact on cultural differences in culinary