Guess How Much I love You

You know how some people's love is proportionate to the amount of food they offer you? Well, in my case, my love seems to be measured by the ORIGIN of the food I give.

I was busy putting the final touches to a pizza I made to take along for lunch at a friend's house. I poured a good glug of olive oil. BabelDad interjected: "That's olive oil from Algeria! You must really like those two friends of yours!". Actually, yes, I do.

You see, this is not JUST olive oil. This is extra virgin oil extracted from one batch of olives coming from a single olive producer in a small village of Kabylie, that my parents bought for me from a long-time family friend, that my mother poured in a plastic bottle, wrapped and secured the day before we took the plane back to England, knowing she would not see her daughter and granddaughters for another year.

Likewise, that is not just couscous. That is semolina grains that my mother watered, rolled, steamed and laid down to dry on the roof terrace under the warm spring sun of Algiers, counting the months and days till our arrival.

Food is really charged with emotion, isn't it?

Food, Glorious Food!

Today, I have literally been cooking up a storm, an international one for that matter: I am making a sticky gingerbread, Thamthunt (Algerian bread) and a veggie Lasagna.

Gingerbread

That's what happens when I'm hungry. Reason: I am fasting. I am making up for a couple of days I missed during Ramadan in August. The BabelDad is fasting too, out of solidarity. He makes fun of me. He says I am a cheat, as I choose the shortest days in the year to fast - sunset is at a measly 3.55 compared to the 10pm+ during summer.

Thamthunt

I tried to enlist BK3's help to keep her busy. But no, whisking eggs and weighing sugar are not good enough tasks for a two-year old. She absolutely needs to stir the hot treacle mix and flatten the bread with dirty hands! (rest assured, I did not let her).

Here I am trying to finish the Bechamel sauce, and tidy up the kitchen before fetching the older two from school. By now, BK3 is running wild, taking the pepper mill apart and climbing on the worktop.

Lasagna

Then, while I put the peanut butter jar in the fridge, her little voice goes:
"Maman, zidee khobz maa beurre de cacahuètes" (mum, more bread with peanut butter).

I was struck by the clarity, fluidity and length of this Franco-Arabic sentence.

What a joy to witness multilingualism developing for the third time in our house!

Food Terminology

If you are new to the UK, be prepared to be confused at mealtimes. Lunch, dinner, tea, supper, luncheon, which one is when?

Algeria and France

In Algeria, the main three meals are called qahwa (coffee, whether you drink it or not), ftour (for midday meal, which also designates the evening meal to break Ramadan fast!), 'acha (the evening meal, similar to the word desingating the evening prayer).

In France, they are petit déjeuner, déjeuner and dîner.

In both Algeria and France, the midday meal is the most substantial one. When I lived in France, we used to have a two-hour midday break, encompassing a two or three course meal at a restaurant, plus coffee once back at work.
The customary Friday couscous in Algeria is infallibly served at midday, just before the Friday prayer.

Germany

When I first visited BabelDad's family in Germany, I literally starved during the day. I had to sneak out for a pretend walk in the fresh air at 2pm, only to ravenously gulp down a Döner Kebab. The main meal of the day in Germany, you guessed it, is the evening one. I made up for the lack of sustenance during the day by eating huge amounts of bread and cheese at frühstück, and loads of cake in the afternoon.

Northern England

In the UK, mealtimes can get a bit confusing. Be careful when you make an appointment with a plumber at dinner time, or tea time. If you are from a southern background like mine, you would naturally think dinner time is about 8pm and tea time about 4pm. Well, you would be surprised by the plumber turning up unexpectedly at noon or 6pm instead. Dinner in these necks of the wood is the midday meal. Tea is the evening meal, which in the UK is quite early at 5.30pm to 6pm.

So what's supper? Apparently, it is another evening meal, a couple of hours later than tea, for posh people (...), or for parents who have put their children to bed and now can enjoy a child-free meal. Note: we do have family meals in our house, at 6pm, but boy do I understand those parents who forego tea with children for a quiet supper!

And if you are wondering what the English call the drink tea time, there isn't a name, because you can enjoy a cuppa any time of the day. Off to have mine in my £10 porcelain mug. Because drinking tea for me has become one of the most frequent and enjoyable activities of the day.