IN THE MIDDLE EAST

It was the end of the 80’s and beginning of the 90’s. Looking back at the country, I remember a socialist structure of the culture. We ate potato chips that were made by a government based factory. Most of the foods in the pantry were made by government owned corporations. Life was not the same indeed, breakfast became oil and Oregno or thyme herbs spread on pita bread (zaet wa zattar); a genius culinary combination someone discovered by accident. Sometimes we would place this sandwich in the school bag which made the school bags smell oily throughout the year. In school we had a system of outdoor cafeteria where we walk around the school campus standing on a long line for the one or two guys who were selling kaek (sesame bread). The days of nagging were long gone, food in those times were in less availability. We can only dream of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My father stayed behind in Michigan working on his PHD in Western Michigan University, he was on tight financially budget. My mother found a job as an accountant with the department of treasury which paid seventy Jordanian Dinars a month, which is equivalent to 100 U.S dollars. We stayed with my grandfather who taught us to live within our means.

My weekly allowance was twenty five cents, used for my school meals. Don’t let twenty five Jordanian cents fool you, the sesame cookie cost five cents and it was quite large according to my size being seven years old, one sesame cookie had blessing in it to your tummy and gave joy to the heart. Coming home from school, we didn’t eat our supper immediately. My sister and I arrived from school an hour before our mother came back from work. Without TV dinners available then and Microwaves were not common in that part of the world. It was our duty to make and help in the food preparation, we made tomato and cucumber salad. Making supper is one of the things I appreciate in my childhood as it tough me lot about responsibility. When my mother comes back from work, she cooked with many shortcuts techniques. I learned strategies of preparing meals. I remember most of what we ate was rice with beans or side sauce that we mixed with rice, by the time rice was done cooking the meal is ready. As soon my mother gets home, she chops onions, fry them in oil with frozen cilantro, she chop large quantities of cilantro, then place them in a bag in the freezer, and using chicken stock cube, seasoning, can tomato paste, add chopped potato or beans whatever vegetable were having for dinner. Then add water and allow simmering until well done. We rarely had meat or fish. Sometimes we use to prepare supper using cooked rice and mix of with yogurt. This is one of my favorite and still is a favorite childhood meal.

Many people in that community and mostly people with low salary can not afford excessive eating. The society was based on living within our means and surviving. When someone asked me “why do we eat” my answer in the United States was “to be full” but in Jordan it was “to live”.

There was a neighborhood store within walking distance, and that's where we went everyday for simple groceries and house needs. The store owner name was Abu Majed, we called him Uncle Majed. He opened a store that is barely enough for one man to fit inside. It was basically food storage room with a table and an ancient measurement weight scale. His small store was part of his house which he made into a mini mart. Most the time we won’t even step inside because there isn’t enough room to move around. On our way to the store, we were on the look-out for the small juice cartons thrown on the ground. We could step on them with force to make them pop, the same time I always wondered about the children who collect soda cans for a living, I guess it’s worth the time for the amount of scrap aluminum they collect.

Most of the candy cost a penny each, the small Jordanian unit is called Qirsh, and I often would choose five different pieces of gummy bears. The candy in a glass containers and Abu Majed had to pick out each piece as we asked for it. Some snakes available at the time were the colored animal gummy shapes, pillow gum (still sold today, its Mistika gum shaped like a pillow), candy cigarettes, toffee with color print that we use to place saliva and stick in on our arms. Also there are the almond coated with sugar (Jordan almonds), and let not forget the chickpea covered with sugar which we called Qdameh. I really don't remember any candy I didn't like! The cheapest candy that time was the ½ penny gum ball in the store which I craved after watching Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Bodyguard” episode where Tom notices a bubble gum machine. He shakes, throttles, and nudges the machine to obtain two gumballs, then covers one of them in glue. So as to get Jerry to eat the other piece of gum, the cat sits down and draws attention to himself chewing his piece. The manner in which Tom methodically enjoys his gum, he allures and entices Jerry to makes him hungry for a piece. YUM! ​