Rashid was kind enough to treat me to some local Saudi food recently. Since Jeddah has been a crossroads for thousands of years most of the food here is a hodge podge mix from other nearby countries.  For breakfast we had “ful en tameez”.  This is the phonetic spelling as he didn’t know how to spell it in English and Google didn’t know either.

This common breakfast consists of Egyptian fava beans mashed up in a consistency similar to refried beans.  Accompanying the beans is bread called tamees, from Afghanistan.  It’s similar to pita bread and about the size of medium sized pizza.  A spicy mix of chilies, cilantro, tomatoes, and other goodies very similar to pico de gallo accompanies the beans and bread.

The first step is to add oil, salt, and spices to the beans.  Then add the pico de gallo mix to the beans and scoop it up with the bread.  This food is very popular with the labor forces as it tends to stick to your ribs all day.

Rashid, left, Sohel, center, and Kamran, enjoying fuhl en tameez!

For lunch I had Chicken Mhandi which consists of a full chicken, rice, and a couple of chili peppers.  Also a hearty serving, this meal had a unique flavor somewhat similar to Indian Curry.

This lunch will put hair on your chest!