Saturday, June 19, 2010

A Mealtime with the Bedouin Family

When Mark and I were on the top of the Grand Canyon view, we met a Bedouin family who offered us to have brunch with. We met Hawda the father and his wife with their son Mutla who were so accommodating. The wife was cooking food when we arrived. She was sauteeing the tuna and corned beef and grilling the big round eggplant. As I watched her, I took a video of her cooking.

They usually take their breakfast around 10am. It could be near lunch and after breakfast. They typically drink milk in the morning. They gave me Bedouin tea to drink and we started eating the food. We had kubus and dipped this into the viands and eggplant. We had a nice talk with Hawda. He shared to us his experiences being a military man. They trained in the desert and told us that to find water he has to feed the camels with salt in order to make them thirsty and eventually look for the oasis or water. He just follows the camels in their search for the oasis to get some water too. It was very clever. He also related that the king is also a member of the Bedouin and visits them. Many foreign dignitaries and prominent people visited their place.

Bedouins are people of Arab ethnic group who were born and raised in the desert or mountain wilderness. They were previously nomadic. They live in black tents or caves. There are a number of Bedouin tribes. In Jordan alone, there are so many tribe groups that include Al Adwan, Beni Sakhr, Al-Tarabeen and many more. Bedouins are well known to practice folk music, dance and poetry.

We ran out of kubus and Hawda called the girl on the other mountain to give us extra kubus and instantly delivered it to us. As a sign of sharing, I gave my apple to their child. It was a nice experience to dine with the Bedouin people and experience a different culture. We thanked them for such a wonderful experience before we left.