ON BEING VEGAN IN
EGYPTKAMAL
BY JENNA
AS someone vegan in their twenties living in Egypt, I have noticed many changes in people’s behavior affected by food habits.
I was such a lucky kid whose father decided to take his children to a special green village on the Mediterranean sea for a sound childhood. There, I witnessed amazing farmers’ behavior to animals, and amazing cooking. By the time my father decided to head back to the city for a better education, I was twelve, so the transition gave me a deeper insight into the conflicted choices that people have to make. I was often asked about which I liked more between living in the city and living in a village. The real dilemma for me was my lunch turning from the village’s vegetable stew rice, to the city’s hot-dogs and burgers. Now I am a twenty seven year old running a vegan restaurant in Dahab, a small town on the Red Sea and I only decided on this ru96
FORÇA VEGAN
ral life when I realised how capitalism and globalisation both have corrupted the Egyptian diet, helping me to go vegan. The conditions I have witnessed from my childhood in a village in 90s and 2000s, to the urban life in Cairo, then witnessing economic depression leading to two revolutions resulting in everlasting political and economic unrest. All these things have helped to shape my view. “So is it easy to be vegan in Egypt?” is my most an-
swered question to both Egyptians and foreigners. The main reason for this question is people not looking deeply enough into cultures, and also what “vegan for the animals” really means. Like the rest of the world, the American diet has occupied markets with its fast-food restaurant chains, products and portions, defeating agricultural civilizations. Until the 90s, the Egyptian culture was more plantbased as meat and dairy
Until the 90s, the Egyptian culture was more plant-based as meat and dairy were considered luxurious food - then, families who afforded them twice a week were higher ‘ranked’ than other families.”
