Our Meals
From Memoirs of an Arabian Princess: An Autobiography by Emily Ruete, 1888.
From: 1844 C.E. To: 1888 C.E.
Location: Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Memoirs of an Arabian Princess: An Autobiography by Emily Ruete, 1888.
We had two meals a day, as I have mentioned before. About nine a.m. we all met in the great saloon to kiss our father's hands. As a rule our brothers and nephews, even those who were married and who lived out of the house, shared our breakfast during the time our father lived in town with us. I do not remember, however, that he ever went out to take a meal with any of his sons or anyone else.
The dishes were all arranged and placed by the eunuchs on the long sefra (dining-table). This sefra is made of wood, and looks somewhat like a billiard-table, only ours was twice as long, a little wider, and about three inches high, with a ledge of about a hand's breadth running round its sides. We do not have separate dining-rooms, and the sefra is carried into the gallery at mealtimes. Though we had some foreign furniture, such as couches, tables, and chairs, and sometimes wardrobes (my father's apartment contained a great deal of European furniture, which was more for show, however, than for actual use), we took our meals after the Eastern fashion, and sat down on the floor upon carpets and mats.
Precedence was strictly observed at table. My father always took his place at the upper end of the sefra; next to him, on his right and left, sat my elder brothers and sisters, and the little ones (above seven years) took the lower seats. The fashion of taking people in to dinner is not practised.
There was always a great variety of viands, often as many as fifteen dishes; rice dressed in many ways. Of meat and poultry, mutton and fowls were liked most. There was fish besides, and Eastern bread, and all kinds of sweets and dainties. As all the dishes are placed on the table beforehand, there is no attendance required; numerous eunuchs stand at some distance, drawn up in line to carry out special orders. Their services were mostly required by my father, who would send in portions to the smaller children who were not yet admitted to table, or to sick people. At Bet il Mtoni he used to make me sit in a place where he could reach my plate. We had the same food as the grown-up people, but it was always a pleasure to us to have our dishes selected by him, and he himself greatly enjoyed doing so.
On sitting down to table, everyone said in an undertone, but quite audibly: "In the name of the merciful Lord," and on rising, "Thanked be the Lord of the universe." My father always sat down and rose first.
Clean plates were not handed to each person as is the custom in Europe, but the various dishes (with the exception of rice) were served up in small plates, symmetrically arranged along the sefra, and two people could always eat out of one plate.
Drinks were not taken at meals, but after them sherbet or sugared water was handed round. There was no talking, unless someone was specially addressed by my father; the greatest silence prevailed, which was very pleasant. Neither flowers nor fruit were placed on the sefra.
Shortly before and after each meal male and female slaves, smartly dressed, handed round basins to wash our hands. As a rule we used our fingers to eat with—knives and forks were deemed superfluous, and they were used only when European guests were entertained. Meats and fish were chopped up small beforehand, and we had spoons for all liquids. The upper classes perfume their hands after the washing, to remove any traces of the viands.
Fruit was never taken at meals, but either before or some time after. Each person had a certain quantity of the kinds in season sent to her rooms.
Half an hour after breakfast and dinner coffee was served by eunuchs in those well-known little Oriental cups in gold or silver casings. The coffee is very strong, boiled down to syrup, and filtered quite clear. It is taken without sugar and milk, and nothing is eaten with it, except, perhaps, a very finely chopped "areka" nut.
Coffee is always poured into the cup immediately before it is taken, and as the pouring out requires some skill, there are but few servants who can be selected for this office. The neat coffee-pot of tin, with brass clasps (china is never used), is carried in the left hand, and one of the little cups in its casing (called sarf) in the right one of the servant who pours out the beverage, an assistant following with a tray of empty cups and a large pot to fill up from. If he finds all the company still together, his work is quickly done, otherwise it is his duty to seek out each person.
It is well known that coffee is highly valued in the East, and great care is devoted to its preparation. The quantity each time required is roasted, ground and boiled immediately before use, that it may be quite fresh. Neither the surplus of roasted beans nor the boiled coffee is ever kept; what remains is either thrown away or used by the lower servants if they like.
The second and last meal is taken every afternoon at four o'clock precisely, and nothing more is served after the same until breakfast next morning, except coffee and fruits.
Ruete, Emily. Memoirs of an Arabian Princess: An Autobiography. D. Appleton & Company, 1888.
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