Vegan Sephardic Shabbat Dinner

Tonight is Shabbat (our Sabbath begins) and I made a Jewish vegan dinner "Sephardic" Style. Our dinner may remind you of Greek or Arabic cooking and that is because my husband and his family came to the US from Egypt in August of 1966. The food that I cooked for tonight's dinner are recipes that I learned from my Middle Eastern mother-in law. Recipes included at the end of the post.

Why Did My Husband Leave Egypt?

In 1966 tension grew between Israel and its bordering countries: Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. As this tension grew and war was imminent, life in Egypt (and Syria, Jordan, Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Ethiopia) became very difficult for the hundreds of thousands of Jewish residents who were born and lived in these Arab ruled countries.

My husband was sixteen years old at the time; he was the oldest of five children. As tension grew, mobs roamed the streets shouting "death to the Jews". Like in Nazi Germany, (except this was the late 1960's), Jewish homes were attacked, Jewish businesses were nationalized by the government, bank accounts frozen and unattainable, and innocent Jewish men were being hung in the town square as spies. The Jews knew they had to leave their homes, their synagogues, their possessions, and flee for their lives. 

At sixteen, my husband was beat up on his way home from school numerous times by fellow classmates for being Jewish, his father's International children's clothing store was taken by the government, and every day in the street mobs of incited people were become more threatening and dangerous. Although my husband's family had had a nice life for many many generations in Egypt, life was no longer good or safe for the Jews in Arab lands, and if they were lucky, there were able to flee.

Where did he go? 
Since 1948, just as the Arab families fled their homes and their lives from Israel, equally as many Jews had been fleeing their homes and their lives in Arab countries. In 1966 prior to the declaration of war with Israel, My husband with his four younger siblings, ranging in ages from 1 year to 15 years, and his parents, prepared to leave. Quietly, kind of like the story from The Sound of Music, they simply disappeared on a ship out of Port Said going to France. There they had relatives who helped welcome the new stateless refugees.

Go and "Never to Return"
Although they were not allowed to take their money, jewelry, or anything of monetary value out of the country, they were permitted to go!! They brought with them clothing, family photos,  
However, their passport was stamped, "never to return" - 

It was a bittersweet time. On one hand, Egypt was the only country they ever knew- they spoke Arabic, cooked Middle Eastern food, listened to Arabic music, enjoyed the beautiful beaches, the modern city of Cairo (at the time) that was home to many a variety of ethnic groups such as Armenians, Greeks, Italians, Jews, and Coptic Christians who all lived together enjoying prosperous businesses, country clubs, and extensive social lives.

1957 at the beach in Ras El Bar in  Egypt 

On the other hand, Cairo was changing and there was no tolerance for anyone who wasn't muslim, especially Jews. Slowly they all started to flee the country. The Jewish men and older boys who did not escape prior to the war were arrested and imprisoned for many years until finally outside help was able to negotiate their freedom at quite a large financial cost. This money was raised by relatives and other Jewish sympathizers. 

In Egypt, my husband had attended a French Catholic school partly because it was a stellar education and partly because it was not safe for Jews to attend public schools where "hatred of the Jewish infidel" was taught as part of the daily curriculum.

This is a tourist boat that takes families down the Nile- The boat was called "Sudan" ... Families would get off and have picnics and then sail back down the Nile.

When did he come to the US?

I met my husband in 1970. He had arrived to New Jersey after first living in France for less than 1 year. His father had a brother in New Jersey who helped them financially settle in the area as well as a refugee organization called "Hias". In those days, government assistance was not an option nor available to refugees.

My Husband's Middle School Photo 1958
The name of the school was "College de la Salle"
It was not a college of course but a middle school ..

"Strangers in a Strange New Land"
Initially life was very hard for them in the USA. They didn't speak the language, they were a big family, and felt isolated, poor, and misplaced. However, they were determined to regain their dignity despite being stripped of everything they owned as well as their self respect.

5 years living in US- 

They arrived with very little and both parents worked 2 jobs. My husband age 18 (finishing his senior year of high school) and his brother age 14 were expected to find work on weekends and after school to help out just to put food on the table. My husband and his brother will tell you that they know first hand what it was to go without food and be very hungry. 

His family never took a penny of government assistance and today 55 years later, all five children not only learned English, but worked to put themselves through college. They now have professional jobs, and good lives. 

My mother-in-law (who is still alive) always said, " they can take away your money and belongings, but they can't take away your education."She felt that with an education, you can always start over again.  She instilled that no matter how hard they had to work to go to school at night and do without, it was the most important thing they had to do- She is now 95 and in fairly good physical and mental health.

Always Look Ahead 
Although what happened to them was unjust, they knew they could never look back and only look ahead to build a new life. They do still daydream and talk about their wonderful lives in Egypt before they had to flee.

They brought their recipes: 
Some of their greatest cherished memories is the delicious food that they ate in Egypt, the wonderful Arabic music that they enjoyed, the beach front summers that they spent at Alexandria and Rus El  Bar, and the beautiful Sephardic synagogue where they socialized and prayed. 


We Met in New Jersey
I was only 21 ( he was 23) when we married in 1972.  He was in the USA three years at the time. His mother taught me how to make many of her treasured recipes for stuffed vegetables (mach-shi) such as stuffed peppers, stuffed grape leaves, stuffed eggplant, and stuffed onions. She also taught me about lentils and making a simple, but delicious red lentil soup. She made hummus from scratch, and a wonderful lentil dish called, ma-ga-dara (also called ma-jeed-era) which is made using brown lentils, caramelized onions, and rice.

Although they did eat chicken and meat, once they came to the US, money was so scarce, my mother- in- law cooked as frugally as she could to stretch a dollar to feed a large family of seven. Many of her recipes revolved around brown lentils, chickpeas, rice, potatoes and all kinds of vegetables, sometimes stuffed with rice and occasionally meat.  Once a week on the Sabbath eve they ate chicken.

Tonight for our Sabbath eve meal, I decided to make some of the recipes that my mother in law taught me over 40 years ago. They may be frugal but they are vegan, naturally gluten free, and delicious!

Links to the recipes: 

Egyptian Red Lentil Soup

Stuffed Peppers or tomatoes (Fil Fil Mach-shi)

Stuffed Eggplant- Recipe for next week

Rice with whole cumin seed

Mehalabeya ( Exotic yet easy corn starch pudding seasoned with rose water)

Homemade Family Hummus



This post was shared on Weekend Cooking at the Intrepid Reader where anyone can share a food related post.