Home » Travel » Arab Culture » Arabic Food and Arab Hospitality

Arabic Food and Arab Hospitality

© Aida Hasan

Arabic food and Arab hospitality can be somewhat of an overwhelming experience to first timers. My advice to anyone invited to a good old-fashioned Arabic meal is simply to wear loose fitting clothes. For, Arabic food is flavorful, diverse, and plentiful, but above all it will be offered to you relentlessly by your hosts. Even when there are no more buttons to unbutton, the offers to eat just a bit more keep coming. Regardless of how well or how little I knew my hosts, I have never been to an Arab home where I have not been kindly coerced into eating above and beyond what I am capable of eating. The very same occurred to guests at my own home when I was growing up. My mother followed the customs of her own mother - to feed your guests before you feed yourself, and to feed them well. My grandmother, I am told, had always stored food away that was to be offered to guests only. Yet this is not unique to my family. Great cooking, variety and abundance of food, and an insistence on good eating is found throughout the Arab world and in most Arab households. It is the Arab way of cooking and traditional hospitality.

Arab Hospitality Defined

For Arabs, hospitality lies at the heart of who they are. How well one treats his guests is a direct measurement of what kind of a person she or he is. Hospitality is among the most highly admired of virtues. Indeed, families judge themselves and each other according to the amount of generosity they bestow upon their guests when they entertain. Whether one's guests are relatives, friends, neighbors, or relative strangers, they are welcomed into the home and to the dinner table with much the same kindness and generosity. Arabic meals are more often a festive, warm and casual experience than they are formal. The guests are made to feel right at home, and to sample everything offered. In fact, most Arab hosts feel that they are failing in their role as host if their guests have not only tried all courses of the meal, but have also eaten more than is normally comfortable. The importance of hospitality to guests is something a visitor to an Arab home must understand. For the visitor who does not overeat may be seen by the host as a guest who is not showing proper appreciation. Again, this would cause the cook and/or host to feel that he or she is not fulfilling their duty. A meal is usually ended with the word sahtayn which means two healths to you, and this again emphasizes the importance of plentiful and healthy eating to the Arab people.