NA'MA blessing

As young children my brothers and I were taught that food was sacred. The very Arabic word for food, NA'MA meant 'blessing', or the gift of God, and to waste it was a crime. We were forbidden to leave anything on our plate, not because it was bad manners but because food was precious and others were in need. If we saw a piece of bread lying in the street, we had to pick it up, kiss it and touch our forehead with it and then put it out of harm's way where it would not be trodden on.

 

When my mother came to visit me in England, I planned a party for her and I invited all my friends to meet her. During that evening, my mother noticed one of the guests had dropped a piece of bread. She walked towards her, bent down and picked the bread of the carpet, kissed it and touched her forehead with it, then replaced it on the plate of the guest.

 

In my childhood, when food was cooked in our house, it was a custom for a portion to be sent to the neighbours and I was often the one to deliver it. It was not considered kind or nice that they should smell the dish and not be able to taste it.

 

Up till this day, food gets passed among neighbours.

 

SAH-TAYN (bon appetite - good health)

 

Sana