Hotels we have selected will offer meals well prepared of various styles . To eat “real,” you have to eat “street.” And Egypt is a culinary adventure. “Eating  street” as we define it, doesn’t confine itself to standup meals from cart vendors — it’s more the everyday cuisine of the everyday person in the street.

These everyday Egyptians eat well. Meats are largely grilled  or roasted, whole or minced, with lamb and chicken predominating and sometimes pidgeon. You see  a lot of cows but they seem to serve more as farm equipment than beef.

The shish kabob style is extremely popular and is served either with or without the skewers but always with traditional accompaniments: greens and  tomato salad, tahini sauce and pita bread. So you can stuff your own       sandwich if you want. Bread is always whole wheat pita, coated with coarse   ground wheat, round, fragrant and sheer heaven when hot from the oven.       Often pita plus a dipping sauce, tahini, hummus or babaganoush, makes a       fast food meal and a healthy, delicious one at that.

Egyptians have embraced the tomato and we never had one that wasn’t bursting with color and flavor. The traditional  and ubiquitous salad is chopped tomato, coriander, mint, little hot green  peppers (not jalapenos but close) and onions, coated with garlic oil. It’s  great for digestion but death on the breath. Bring mints. Other veggies  that grow well and show up all the time include beans, mostly chick pea  and fava, which are eaten stewed for breakfast, hearty stewed for lunch  and dinner and ground and pasted for tahini and hummus with great amounts of garlic.

Eggplant, mashed as the main ingredient in  babaganoush, is also used in Egyptian moussaka with a mild white cheese.   Okra, cabbage, cauliflower and potatoes show up frequently, stewed with   tomatoes and garlic. Rice is a universal constant and was consistently  wonderful, even for breakfast! The grains mix short basmati-like rice with longer brown, nutty tasting rice and we wish we could have found it to bring back.

Grilled pigeon is the acclaimed delicacy  and like any small game bird is long on flavor but short on ease of  eating. Fish of various sorts is common.

Egyptian bazaars display staggering  amounts, sculptured into colorful spice pyramids, from yellows of saffron  and ochres of curries to deep blues of powdered indigo dye. Food is  usually spices but not spicy. Cumin and salt are found on restaurant  tables.