History of Arabic ice cream: “Booza” Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Aug 10, 2020
Do you know that there’s a unique Arabic version of the ice cream المُثلّجات we know and eat today? The Arabic ice cream is called بوظة BooZa and it started in a specific city in the Middle East. El-BooZa is a type of frozen dessert نوع من الحلويّات المجمّدة that was made for the first…
The story behind this Egyptian Proverb Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Aug 7, 2020
In today’s post, we’re going to learn a new Arabic proverb مثل (شعبي) عربي and study its use and the story behind it. >> The proverb, which is in Egyptian Arabic, is as follows: ماتروحش تبيع المية في حارة السقّايين Ma TruH-š Tbeeʕ il-mayya fi Hart is-sa2ayeen *Literal meaning المعنى الحرفي Don’t sell…
Letter of the Week (و) wow Posted by yasmine on Aug 5, 2020
Moving on to our twenty seventh letter of the Arabic alphabet (و), we will look at various words beginning with (و) along with more culture/language related facts. Let’s begin with looking at your basic forms of the letter و. Initial و, as in the word “واحِد” meaning “one”. Medial ـو , as in the word…
Hajj Pilgrimage “الحج” amid pandemic Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Aug 3, 2020
Last Friday, Muslims around the world celebrated Eid Al-Adha عيد الأضحى – an islamic holiday that marks the end of Hajj season موسم الحج. It was not only the celebration of Eid was affected by the CoronaVirus pandemic, but Hajj was too. Hajj pilgrimage, which is one the pillars of Islam أركان الإسلام and a journey that…
Traditional Arabic Dessert: Zalabya زلابيا Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jul 31, 2020
Today, I would like to share with you the recipe of Zalabya/ Zalabyeh وصفة الزلابيا, a traditional Arabic dessert نوع من الحلويات العربية التقليدية that is known across the Arabic world, but specifically in North Africa where it’s also called Zlabya. It can be considered a type of sweet pastry نوع من المعجّنات حلوة المذاق…
Letter of the Week (ه) haa Posted by yasmine on Jul 29, 2020
Moving on to our twenty sixth letter of the Arabic alphabet (ه), we will look at various words beginning with (ه) along with more culture/language related facts. Let’s begin with looking at your four different forms of the letter ه. Initial هـ, as in the word “هَواء” meaning “air”. Medial ـهـ , as in the…
Two Arabic proverbs about Food Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jul 27, 2020
This post focuses on two very popular proverbs مثلين مشهورين جدًا in spoken Arabic. Both are related to the topic of food موضوع الطعام. The intended meaning of both of them is positive إيجابي. While one is a prayer دعوة/أمنية to the “eater”, the other is considered an advice نصيحة. Below, a detailed explanation of…