Fool — That’s Ful Medames
Dancing Elephants Press Book Prompt Motivation
I had a desire for ful, pronounced “fool.” A delectable combination of stewed beans, seasoned and served with fresh vegetables.
My first encounter with ful was at the Shepheards hotel in Cairo. I was on a bucket list adventure, and I was with an Egyptian friend and his wife. This was an adventure for all of us, a chance for him to show his wife the extraordinary monuments of Egypt and for me to have an adventure that I had hoped, wished for and wanted for what seemed like forever.
The dining room of the hotel overlooked the Nile. It was a large dining room with white tablecloths. grand chandeliers and sparkling silver. Every morning a sumptuous buffet was set out serving everything from eggs, freshly prepared omelets, fresh yogurts, pastries, warm croissants and more. The ful was set on a separate table near the floor to ceiling windows that faced the Nile.
Two uniformed waiters were stationed by the ful table. It was kept warm in a silver chafing dish. The table was laden with a wide variety of vegetables, ripe luscious tomatoes, cucumbers that snapped, parsley that was greenly fragrant, some mint, and the piquancy of fresh lemon.
I selected my vegetables with the encouragement of the waiters who declared that ful must…
