Bedouin Desert Dining Etiquette

After dinner, a huge fire of corncobs, or sticks and camel dung, is lighted in the tent, about which we gather and enjoy the after dinner cup of coffee and a smoke, and, should we be in the mood, talk. The Arabs have one excellent point of etiquette. Talk for talk’s sake is not expected. Ever ready for a yarn, they eagerly respond should you wish to converse, but the luxury of silence is not denied if one’s mood be thoughtful. 

Life in the Desert –

The Arabs are Abstemious and said to Enjoy the Luxury of Silence

“In the Desert With the Bedouin” is the title of an article in The Century, written and illustrated by the English artist, R. Talbot Kelly. Mr. Kelly says in his article: 

Desert life induces habits of abstemiousness. Rising with the sun, a dish of cumis, or mare's milk, and a small cup of black coffee are the only refreshments generally partaken of. The day is spent following one’s pursuits, and, with the exception of an occasional cup of coffee aud some very light “snack, ” one has no meal of any kind till after sundown. One quickly becomes accustomed to long fasting and abstinence from any form of drink, and the simple dinner at night is more keenly enjoyed in consequence. 

Though plain, the food is excellently cooked, and usually consists of a huge tray of rice, over which is poured a dish of semna, or liquid butter. Round the tray are pigeons stuffed with nuts and spices, and the pyramid of rice is surmounted by a lamb or kid, frequently cooked whole. Boiled beans, and perhaps a few fresh herbs, appear occasionally, which, with the usual flat loaves and a large dish of ris-bil-laban, or boiled rice pudding, complete the meal. Salt is seldom seen—a distinct privation—except on the first day of your visit, and drinking water is often scarce. 

After dinner, a huge fire of corncobs, or sticks and camel dung, is lighted in the tent, about which we gather and enjoy the after dinner cup of coffee and a smoke, and, should we be in the mood, talk. The Arabs have one excellent point of etiquette. Talk for talk’s sake is not expected. Ever ready for a yarn, they eagerly respond should you wish to converse, but the luxury of silence is not denied if one’s mood be thoughtful. 

The idea of a fire in one’s tent may strike some of my readers as a superfluity, but the nights are often intensely cold, and after bathing in the sun all day, with the thermometer at 90 to 100 degrees in the shade, the sudden fall of temperature to little above freezing point is very trying, and, in spite of fire, blankets and a thick ulster, I have frequently been obliged to go outside and run about in order to restore circulation to my half frozen extremities. –Humbolt Times, 1897

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