I had some extra energy today so I made yakhnit or traditional Arab stew. I pulled the recipe from one of those in-flight airline magazines. I used white beans from Saudi Arabia, tomatoes from Italy, chicken from Brazil, spices from India and I bought them all at our local grocery. To give you an idea of the wide range of food from other countries, I’ve seen Gala apples from South Africa, Lebanon and Washington, USA sold here. Funny thing is they all cost less than in the US and tasted just as good.
I used to go to Riyadh to do a lot of my grocery shopping, but I have transitioned away from that habit because it is about a 350 mile drive one-way. Our store here has good beef from Australia, but also a much larger selection of mutton and chicken. They also have camel, which I used in a beef stew last week when there wasn't any beef offered. Camel looks like nice red beef and tasted pretty much like beef to me. The fact remains though, if you want Mexican food, pizza, Burger King, McDonald's, Cinnabon, Cheese Cake Factory, or any other western food supplies, you’ve got to go to Riyadh.
By the way – the yakhnit was just like your mother’s!
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