This three part post is a comprehension practice about the Libyan cuisine and some of the main الرئيسية/popular الأكثر شهرة dishes الأطباق in Libya. The blog posts of the last two weeks provided a transcript of the clip in both regional and standard Arabic. There were also some questions for you to answer and check your comprehension. In this week’s post, we’re are going to study the same transcript but in English. You will also be introduced to several important/useful words and vocabulary that appear in the clip.

The clip (see below) which this comprehension task is based on comes from a popular Egyptian talk show called Sahibet Al-saada صاحبة السعادة that is aired on CBC channel. The clip is a short report about a Libyan restaurant مطعم ليبي in Cairo القاهرة, owned by a Libyan lady سيدة ليبية .

Some of the most popular Libyan dishes are: ‘Bazeen’, Couscous with onions, or as we call it: ‘Couscsy bil-busla’. There is ‘Rishda’ and all the dishes that have onion sauce in them, such as rice, pasta and vermicelli.. all these are made with onions. The base is different but the main ingredient is the sauce (onion-based) and the meat. All this is called (with onions).

With regards to appetisers, we have many appetisers, or what is known as the light food – light: ‘MaHaaši’, ‘Al-ʕusbaan’ – similar to ‘Mumbaar’ – in Egypt –  and ‘Mxadda’: it’s a cannelloni sheet stuffed with chicken and cheese. We also have chicken ‘kibbeh’.

The Libyan cuisine is characterised by its different taste. All people think it’s similar to Bedouin food, or the coastal style, or the Italian or the Spanish food. It’s correct that it’s a mixture of all those cuisines but it’s unique. It has its taste that is different from anything else.

The turnout time is approximately between 1pm to 7pm. Then, there’s breakfast in the morning. And in the evening, there’s some demand but mostly for sandwiches.

The kind of customers we have are.. we could say 70% of them are Libyans, because they know the taste they are after. And 30% of them are a mixture of: Egyptians, Lebanese people, Jordanians, Syrians, and foreigners.

There is a great demand on the Libyan food by the Egyptians, especially those who have a background on it. And that who tries it once, tries it again. Most people from different nationalities like this food. When they try it for the first time, they are usually a bit reluctant, but if they try it once, they never forget it.

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Useful vocabulary/phrases

مفردات – عبارات مهمة

Here are some words (in vernacular Arabic) that appear in the clip. There is also the English translation to each one of those.

زي ما نقولوا نحنا

As we call it

وكل الأكلات اللي بالبصلة

All the dishes that have onion sauce in them

الصلصة

Sauce

المقبلات

Appetisers

ما يعرف ب

What is known as

فراخ – دجاج

Chicken

الناس كلها

All people

مختلف عن

Different from

وقت الإقبال

Turnout time

فطار

Breakfast

بالذات اللي

Especially those who

عندهم خلفية بيه

have a background on it