Food and Entertaining 203many of the smaller cities, these are the only places, except
restaurants associated with hotels, to get prepared food.
Since many, many eating places in Egypt are open-air or
in buildings with doors and windows open, again you may
not fi nd the shiny, disinfected cooking surfaces people
have come to expect in many parts of the world. Only the
bigger cities have chain restaurants or four- and fi ve-star
dining facilities.
Better restaurants and hotel kitchens are usually quite
clean and sanitary. Great care is taken, especially due to
concern for tourists, to maintain safe food handling and
preparation in these establishments. If you are particularly
nervous about ‘getting germs’, it is probably best to limit
your eating out to these types of places, at least at fi rst.
Egyptians everywhere pride themselves on hospitality and
high quality service. Special care is taken to ensure table
settings and foods are attractive, clean and pleasant to the
senses. Courtesy is a given.
One of the many street vendors seen throughout Egypt.