MENA men say the darndest things....

[Aymsgirl 0]

Tarik won't eat mac n cheese either! IT's so weird! I mean, I know it's not gourmet food but 'comon!

He also thinks Cottage Cheese it strange and won't eat it. He doesn't like oatmeal or cereal (unless it has crackers, yogurt and milk in it).

He always wants Kefta! Kefta and Potatos. Kefta and Bread. Kefta and Rice. I always make a veggie with it (to try to add some green to the meal) and here comes the mayo!

When I was in Morocco I got used to people giving me food with their hands. I did notice however, that the sanitation is less than stellar. Rinsing a cup means it's clean. wiping a spoon (if it was used) means it's clean. I thought that was gross and funny because everything else was spotless! The maid got stains out of my white clothes, making them look like new! My husband took/takes 3-5 showers a day, but they don't clean glasses...

Hmm....

LOL, this the funniest thread! ..... and oh I agree! My husband takes 2 or 3 showers a day also... but I must say, hes a very clean man.. I have seen men here in Egypt, OMG... I can't even repeat the dirtiness I have seen... men will sit on the floor while eating a meal, and just out of the blue start to bite their toenails.... come onnnnnnnnn.. or pick dirt out from underneath their nails while your trying to eat. anyway, not to change the subject.. sorry about that !

When I first came here, my sister in law made fish... and there were so many bones in the fish.. I didnt want to eat it, so she took my piece and started picking the fish off the bone for me.. and putting it on my plate, and I mean, I didnt mind.. .she had clean hands, but it just strike me as odd... cuz we don't do things like that in America ( usually )

and my husband hasn't made it to America just yet... Im curious thou to see what he will and will not eat... I doubt he would eat Mac and cheese thou.

and if he cant eat something with bread or rice, im sure he wont eat it lol

OMG, disgusting about the toenail biter!!! My husband is very clean with his body as well.

I forgot to add that Aym sometimes adds salsa to his chicken noodles. I think thats weird but the weird things was when I came home and found him eating bread with whip cream on it...you know cool whip! LOL.

Jill, do you have a Golden Corral around your hometown? My husband is in love with that place!! He likes to argue his way to it every time. He exclaims there is no place where you can pay that kind of money and get food from anywhere in the world...yadda yadda yadda...yuck! Sometimes chicken tastes like the roll and salad you are eating there. He went back and told everybody in Egypt about the buffets here and how he is in love with them.

[amal 4]

hmm ohh so many

hubby won't eat mac n cheez coz he hates all pasta..ALLLLL pasta

his accent is adorable and I love hearing new words. He usually says "we need to clean the gravel of the cats"

we always reverse the "c" , "ch" , and "k" so we say..chuch for cook and cheep for keep ... cheese for keys

the term "i keep you in my eyes" is used to kind of say what your troubles are, are mine as well.... sort of... like saying they love you soooooooooooo much

mine runs around singing "led led chaif eno" all the time and it cracks me up.

[ya falaha! 0]

Uck yes semnah (ghee) is nasty. Especially semnah balady that has an extra nasty taste and smell. We don't use them here but my inlaws cook everything in it and large quantities of it. When I visited the inlaws they took extra care to not put too much semnah in the food. My FIL did not like that, lol. My husband does love to cook everything in butter. Including meat. Do we really need the extra artery clogger? I'm really sensitive to oily/buttery foods so I get sick when it's too oily.

Hubby eats mayo on everything. He went through the salsa phase for awhile. Refuses to eat Mac and Cheese and I have no idea why. He will not eat cereal or oatmeal but does eat a lot of bread and cream cheese or honey. What about Ghee? Does anybody cook with that stuff? It smells like an oily mess and my arteries burn from seeing it. He loves warm milk and also the first time I had warm milk with tea I actually like it.

We just had dinner the other night at an Arabic family's home and I almost got sick when I saw the women taking the pieces of meat off of the plate and putting them back on the plate of food she was saving. She also asked me if I wanted to try some fish and picked it off of the fish and gave it to me with her bare hands. Also, when Arabic company comes over or we go to their home we sit in the floor and eat.

[PnA 0]

Tarik won't eat mac n cheese either! IT's so weird! I mean, I know it's not gourmet food but 'comon!

He also thinks Cottage Cheese it strange and won't eat it. He doesn't like oatmeal or cereal (unless it has crackers, yogurt and milk in it).

He always wants Kefta! Kefta and Potatos. Kefta and Bread. Kefta and Rice. I always make a veggie with it (to try to add some green to the meal) and here comes the mayo!

When I was in Morocco I got used to people giving me food with their hands. I did notice however, that the sanitation is less than stellar. Rinsing a cup means it's clean. wiping a spoon (if it was used) means it's clean. I thought that was gross and funny because everything else was spotless! The maid got stains out of my white clothes, making them look like new! My husband took/takes 3-5 showers a day, but they don't clean glasses...

Hmm....

LOL, this the funniest thread! ..... and oh I agree! My husband takes 2 or 3 showers a day also... but I must say, hes a very clean man.. I have seen men here in Egypt, OMG... I can't even repeat the dirtiness I have seen... men will sit on the floor while eating a meal, and just out of the blue start to bite their toenails.... come onnnnnnnnn.. or pick dirt out from underneath their nails while your trying to eat. anyway, not to change the subject.. sorry about that !

When I first came here, my sister in law made fish... and there were so many bones in the fish.. I didnt want to eat it, so she took my piece and started picking the fish off the bone for me.. and putting it on my plate, and I mean, I didnt mind.. .she had clean hands, but it just strike me as odd... cuz we don't do things like that in America ( usually )

and my husband hasn't made it to America just yet... Im curious thou to see what he will and will not eat... I doubt he would eat Mac and cheese thou.

and if he cant eat something with bread or rice, im sure he wont eat it lol

OMG, disgusting about the toenail biter!!! My husband is very clean with his body as well.

I forgot to add that Aym sometimes adds salsa to his chicken noodles. I think thats weird but the weird things was when I came home and found him eating bread with whip cream on it...you know cool whip! LOL.

Jill, do you have a Golden Corral around your hometown? My husband is in love with that place!! He likes to argue his way to it every time. He exclaims there is no place where you can pay that kind of money and get food from anywhere in the world...yadda yadda yadda...yuck! Sometimes chicken tastes like the roll and salad you are eating there. He went back and told everybody in Egypt about the buffets here and how he is in love with them.

Yes, we have a Golden Corral in San Antonio.. and right about now, I would love to be eating a big ole plate of it LOL

Im sure once my husbands see's the buffet's there, he will go crazy! We do have McDonalds, Hardee's and Pizza Hut and a few other American places here to eat, but they r quite costly for an Egyptian salary. so I don't get to eat there often. Egyptian's eat very simple, alot of vegetables with salsa, rice, bread, soup and pickled vegetables... nothing fancy.... oh, and beef and chicken, fish, and rabbit.

and I have to agree about the Samnah.... YUCK!, I call it Lard.... its horrible... all Egyptians use that to cook with. even myself, because I don't know any other way to cook without it... unless I use butter, which is a tab bit better than Samnah.

I spoke to my mother on Easter, and she was telling me, she cooked Ham, corn casserole, dressing, green been casserole, sweet potatoes, rolls and like a green salad that she makes .. it absolutely made my mouth water, I miss that food so much.

[Aymsgirl 0]

Tarik won't eat mac n cheese either! IT's so weird! I mean, I know it's not gourmet food but 'comon!

He also thinks Cottage Cheese it strange and won't eat it. He doesn't like oatmeal or cereal (unless it has crackers, yogurt and milk in it).

He always wants Kefta! Kefta and Potatos. Kefta and Bread. Kefta and Rice. I always make a veggie with it (to try to add some green to the meal) and here comes the mayo!

When I was in Morocco I got used to people giving me food with their hands. I did notice however, that the sanitation is less than stellar. Rinsing a cup means it's clean. wiping a spoon (if it was used) means it's clean. I thought that was gross and funny because everything else was spotless! The maid got stains out of my white clothes, making them look like new! My husband took/takes 3-5 showers a day, but they don't clean glasses...

Hmm....

LOL, this the funniest thread! ..... and oh I agree! My husband takes 2 or 3 showers a day also... but I must say, hes a very clean man.. I have seen men here in Egypt, OMG... I can't even repeat the dirtiness I have seen... men will sit on the floor while eating a meal, and just out of the blue start to bite their toenails.... come onnnnnnnnn.. or pick dirt out from underneath their nails while your trying to eat. anyway, not to change the subject.. sorry about that !

When I first came here, my sister in law made fish... and there were so many bones in the fish.. I didnt want to eat it, so she took my piece and started picking the fish off the bone for me.. and putting it on my plate, and I mean, I didnt mind.. .she had clean hands, but it just strike me as odd... cuz we don't do things like that in America ( usually )

and my husband hasn't made it to America just yet... Im curious thou to see what he will and will not eat... I doubt he would eat Mac and cheese thou.

and if he cant eat something with bread or rice, im sure he wont eat it lol

OMG, disgusting about the toenail biter!!! My husband is very clean with his body as well.

I forgot to add that Aym sometimes adds salsa to his chicken noodles. I think thats weird but the weird things was when I came home and found him eating bread with whip cream on it...you know cool whip! LOL.

Jill, do you have a Golden Corral around your hometown? My husband is in love with that place!! He likes to argue his way to it every time. He exclaims there is no place where you can pay that kind of money and get food from anywhere in the world...yadda yadda yadda...yuck! Sometimes chicken tastes like the roll and salad you are eating there. He went back and told everybody in Egypt about the buffets here and how he is in love with them.

Yes, we have a Golden Corral in San Antonio.. and right about now, I would love to be eating a big ole plate of it LOL

Im sure once my husbands see's the buffet's there, he will go crazy! We do have McDonalds, Hardee's and Pizza Hut and a few other American places here to eat, but they r quite costly for an Egyptian salary. so I don't get to eat there often. Egyptian's eat very simple, alot of vegetables with salsa, rice, bread, soup and pickled vegetables... nothing fancy.... oh, and beef and chicken, fish, and rabbit.

and I have to agree about the Samnah.... YUCK!, I call it Lard.... its horrible... all Egyptians use that to cook with. even myself, because I don't know any other way to cook without it... unless I use butter, which is a tab bit better than Samnah.

I spoke to my mother on Easter, and she was telling me, she cooked Ham, corn casserole, dressing, green been casserole, sweet potatoes, rolls and like a green salad that she makes .. it absolutely made my mouth water, I miss that food so much.

Awwwww, I bet you do! I know when we would eat in Egypt at a fast food restaurant I hated it. I mean the food was good and all but I wanted some of the food they made there. I remember always craving a fountain drink. It seemed like any of the ones that were available there didn't have that carbon kick to it. You could probably try and do some of the foods your mom made. My husband will not eat cooked vegetables unless it is made with tazbeka (excuse the spelling). It drives me nuts, he will snarl his nose up at it!

[Kenza 1]

I stopped eating Mcdonalds here in the USA, but for some reason the MD in Morocco tastes sooo much better and I love it!

[MsMariah 0]

this is so funny I didn't know it was a universal mena man aversion, what do they have against mac and cheese? My husband did eat the chicken fettucine alfredo I ordered for us to share at a pizza place in Aqaba....

anyway nothing was funnier to me than when I got invited to eat a meal with an egyptian family while I was touring there, and she made pasta just for my sake. It was plain drained macaroni... which is btw what they called all pasta... macarona I had to say Yum and smile and eat the plain macaroni, lol.

My husband might die of starvation once he gets here if he won't eat any pasta. And Jill I feel for you having to eat egy style all the time. If it were me I would lose weight at least

Edited April 15, 2009 by MsMariah

[Sandrila 1]

well Thank God my husband isn't too picky when it comes to eating.

As long as there is a home cooked meal ready at night for him, he is fine.

He has his likes and dislikes and surprisingly doesn't care about eating Moroccan food or not.

I have cooked it many times but to go out for it or stress about making it is no big thing for him.

Loves mac n cheese, of any kind.

Loves brocolli too.

Anything that has onions in it or celery he literally picks every little bit out of the food. That drives me crazy.

He doesn't do too many concoctions.

Loves tuna fish too.

He won't go out of his way to make his own food. He started opening a can of tuna and putting in the mayo, but that is it.

If it is not prepackaged and ready to go or on a plate to microwave, he doesn't bother.

Yes, I remember that alot of salads had some kind of mayo type dressing on them so to replace straight mayo we use Ranch for salads.

He loves mayo but doesn't use it excessively. He also hasn't gotten into the routine of cereal yet, I keep telling him he doesn't know what he is missing and is a nice extra to add to his milk that he drinks so much of. He drinks milk more than a toddler.

all in all the man has a dangerous sweet tooth, far worse than mine

I would also add that my hubby had a problem at first with proper cleaning of dishes (god bless him for trying) and drying them thoroughly before putting them away. He is fine now.

In regards to bad habits and hygiene I have noticed there are alot of men out there just living like pigs.

There are just too many things here that are unacceptable and not going to be easily overlooked.

Edited April 15, 2009 by sandrila

[Sandrila 1]

I thought Ghee was only used in Indian cooking. I do have a can of it cuz I love cooking Indian.

Also, I didnt know so many of you in MENA were sitting on the floors when visiting there, again I thought most Asians did that and

although I haven't had to sit on the floor in Maroc, the tables were very very low.

[ya falaha! 0]

Mine likes mac & cheese and noodle roni...loves him some noodle roni, lol.

We sat on the floor and ate off of a tableya (cute short table). The inlaws own a regular dining room table but only use it for guests.

[~Jackie~ 30]

pludge was not bludge~~ I'll find out Thursday morning how it's used in a sentence

[Leyla 0]

pludge was not bludge~~ I'll find out Thursday morning how it's used in a sentence

We still don't know what he was talking about? lol

[~Jackie~ 30]

Nope lol. He asked in an email what pludge means. I was POSITIVE we had solved the mystery with bludge but when I emailed him the meanning of it he replied 'no, that is not it'

We have a chat date every Thursday at noon, so I will probe a bit more. budge, maybe ?

jJ

[Leyla 0]

:rofl: :rofl:

Nope lol. He asked in an email what pludge means. I was POSITIVE we had solved the mystery with bludge but when I emailed him the meanning of it he replied 'no, that is not it'

We have a chat date every Thursday at noon, so I will probe a bit more. budge, maybe ?

jJ

[doodlebugg 10]

last night:

me - "honey I'm just going to throw some chicken in with a salad for dinner....will you be ok with that?"

him - *pause*

*looks down at floor and shuffles feet*

"i will not die"

me - "cool!"

seriously if it's not a 4 or 5 course meal he's bummed. he's happy if it's chicken or lamb, rice, salad, side of hot peppers, bread and olives. and it all needs to be fresh or we get all mopey n sh!t.