Restaurants, Inns and Taverns That Never Were: Some Reflections on Public Consumption in Medieval Cairo
By Paulina B. Lewicka
Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 48, No. 1 (2005)
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Abstract: The article shows that, contrary to a commonly accepted assumption, no public consumption facilities such as restaurants, taverns or inns existed in medieval Cairo. This was caused on the one hand by the Egyptians’ faithfulness to their own ancient practices and their indifference to pre-Islamic influences of foreign origin, and on the other by the Cairenes compliance with the ordinances of the legal sources of Islam. These two factors led to the results described in the article because they complemented each other, as Islam was rooted in the same ancient social and cultural tradition as Egypt.
The secondary literature dealing with the architecture, history, and social life of the Near East has introduced considerable disorder into the vocabulary concerning the gastronomic culture of the medieval Islamic world. The problem involves terms like “restaurant,” “tavern,” and “inn” that, used by contemporary authors in reference to certain commercial establishments and private spaces of the area in question, do not always conform with historical reality and thus cause some confusion in our knowledge of many aspects of the social history of the region. This applies to the Egyptian capital as well. The aim of the present study is to correct various misunderstandings and simplifications regarding premises of public consumption that allegedly functioned in medieval Cairo. This will be done by showing that in fact none of the institutions mentioned above existed in the city and by explaining, at least partly, why this was so. Since the problem is particularly interesting in a comparative context, it will also be discussed by way of collating developments in other cultures. Naturally enough, many of the problems dealt with below did not concern the Egyptian metropolis exclusively, but the Islamic world in general. For this reason they will sometimes be referred to in this wider framework. Similarly, many patterns and conclusions applied to Cairo will be valid for other urban centers of Islam as well.
Restaurants, Inns and Taverns That Never Were: Some Reflections on Public Consumption in Medieval Cairo
By Paulina B. Lewicka
Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 48, No. 1 (2005)
Abstract: The article shows that, contrary to a commonly accepted assumption, no public consumption facilities such as restaurants, taverns or inns existed in medieval Cairo. This was caused on the one hand by the Egyptians’ faithfulness to their own ancient practices and their indifference to pre-Islamic influences of foreign origin, and on the other by the Cairenes compliance with the ordinances of the legal sources of Islam. These two factors led to the results described in the article because they complemented each other, as Islam was rooted in the same ancient social and cultural tradition as Egypt.
The secondary literature dealing with the architecture, history, and social life of the Near East has introduced considerable disorder into the vocabulary concerning the gastronomic culture of the medieval Islamic world. The problem involves terms like “restaurant,” “tavern,” and “inn” that, used by contemporary authors in reference to certain commercial establishments and private spaces of the area in question, do not always conform with historical reality and thus cause some confusion in our knowledge of many aspects of the social history of the region. This applies to the Egyptian capital as well. The aim of the present study is to correct various misunderstandings and simplifications regarding premises of public consumption that allegedly functioned in medieval Cairo. This will be done by showing that in fact none of the institutions mentioned above existed in the city and by explaining, at least partly, why this was so. Since the problem is particularly interesting in a comparative context, it will also be discussed by way of collating developments in other cultures. Naturally enough, many of the problems dealt with below did not concern the Egyptian metropolis exclusively, but the Islamic world in general. For this reason they will sometimes be referred to in this wider framework. Similarly, many patterns and conclusions applied to Cairo will be valid for other urban centers of Islam as well.
Click here to read this article from Marlboro College
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