Relationship between Food and Culture

Preparing and eating food habits plays important role in every culture. Food habits
serve as deep emotions vehicles, normally learned well early and mostly inculcated
effectively by adults, making them to acquire an enduring sentimental power (Albala & Eden,
2011). Food has played an important role in religion as it defines and separates one creed
from another through dietary taboos (Long & Vargas, 2005). Techniques that are used in
processing and preparing foods and the way of serving and eating it which vary from culture
to culture have important influences on familial and social relationships.
Food connects people to their culture or ethnic group, with people from different
cultural groups eating different foods. Methods of preparation, preservation techniques, type
of food eaten at different times and ingredients vary among cultures. The area where a family
live, ancestors origin influences food likes or dislikes with the food preferences resulting to
food pattern in a regional or cultural group. According to Albala & Eden 2011, Eating is a
moral act and what one eats is a reflection of their basic beliefs and values. In my
community, a home is not complete until it has been cooked in and the food smell is
nourishment for body and soul.
Asida/Aseeda is an Arab-style, high energy, extra-large dumpling that is eaten with
hands in a communal way. It’s eaten mostly during traditional events like Al-Janadriyah
Festival (Tracy, 2011). Al-Janadriyah Festival is one of the beautiful events which are built in
a heritage village built near Riyadh that reflects our kingdom heritage real picture. This
Festival is organized annually during mild weather within the first months of the Gregorian
year and lasts for two weeks. The expat visitors’ tourists and the Saudi consider the Festival
as the best occasion which recognizes our traditional heritage. It is notable that the Festival is
accompanied by cultural activities together with diverse events held inside Riyadh city.

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Traditional Saudi cuisines are prepared including, Al-Mutazees, Al-Mutabbaq, Al-Kabsah,
Al-Qursan, Al-Arikah, Al-Aseedah, Al-Ma’soub, Al-Mandi, Al-Hanith, and so on.
Asida sticks to the stomach and is eaten traditionally throughout the Arab world
including the sahel region in Africa and the gulf countries. It’s filling quality and simple
preparation would have been essential to the Saudi nomadic lifestyle which required filling
meals on the go like the Bedouins. In my community, aseeda is the favourite meal and
according to Saudi, women are the one who prepare food which is custom passed from our
ancestors. It is not difficult to make the dough and it has simple ingredients, there is a trick
when adding the flour to the boiling water, there is need to stir it quickly to avoid lumps.
Sifting the dough can also help in lump prevention.
It also requires a lot of muscles to knead the dough. This can be done by hand using a
large wooden paddle or stick. A stand mixer or bread hook may be used which takes all of the
work out of making aseed dough. The ingredients required for the dough is; 3 1/3 cup water,
¼ cup butter, ¾ tablespoon salt, ¾ cup whole wheat flour, 2 cups white flour and additional 1
½ cup water. For the meat broth, 1 table spoon oil, ½ onions, chopped, 1-2 green chilli, more
or less to taste, 3-4 cardamom pods, 1/4 table spoon turmeric, 1 table spoon salt, 3 cloves
garlic, ½ table spoon cumin, ¼ tsp. ground pepper, ½ tsp. ground coriander,1 lb. meat (you
can substitute, lamb or chicken),1 tbsp. canned tomato sauce and 5 cups water.
For the dough, a big pot is placed on high heat and filled with 5 cups of water and
boiled. Enough salt is added as this is the only chance for adding salt to the mixture. So, the
mixture is salted well so that the dough has enough salt in it, or else it will have a bad taste.
When the water starts boiling and bubbling, the flour is added to the water while still stirring.
The heat is turned off while continuing to stir. The mixture is removed from stove and
kneaded until the dough is smooth. This is done by hand using a large wooden stick on one

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hand while supporting the pot with the knees. The dough is pulled towards the kneader in a
strong quick motion using the stick while pushing it against the side of the pot to produce
smooth dough. Alternatively, a dough hook and a mixer are used to knead to smooth dough
which is quicker.
1 ½ cups of flour should be boiled in the same large pot and used to break the dough
into smaller pieces on medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes. Continue kneading for 10-15
minutes for smoother dough. When the dough is smooth, oil your hands and a plate and form
a ball with the dough placing it on the plate. By use of hands, the dough is smoothly folded
with no lumps; an indent is made in the centre using a ladle making an even circle on the
centre. The asida can be eaten sweet with ¼ cup melted ghee or butter and ½ cup honey.it can
also be eaten savoury with meat, lamb or chicken.
In our case, we made a meat broth by cooking the onion, garlic, and chilli in oil until
slightly browned. Spices are added, salt, and tomato sauce plus meat which is browned on
both sides for about 5-10 minutes. Water is added and cooked for an hour, with at least 8 – 10
ounces of liquid broth remaining. The broth is separated from the meat and onions and whole
spices through running them in a strainer. The meat is set aside with little broth that is used in
fahsa or eaten alone.
The broth can be left as thin as it is but in the family we thicken it with 1 tablespoon
flour, the broth is then added to the asseda’s centre, on its outside and on the plate’s side my
grandmother prepares it when butter is added on the edges. This is a communal type of a dish
that expresses love through sharing and eating using hands to eat the dough and deep it in the
centre sauce. The meal can be served with zahawig, hulba, quartered limes and yoghurt on
the side as additional dips. It can also be served with fenugreek (Hulba) which is spooned in
the middle. In Saudi food tradition, we use our hands to portray love, unity and togetherness,

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while seated together as a family, we tend to share ideas and to us a meal is not just enjoying
the dish, but a form of enjoying each other thus strengthening family bonds.

References

Albala, K. & Eden, T. (2011). Food & faith in Christian culture. New York: Columbia
University Press.
Deutsch, J. & Saks, R. (2008). Jewish American food culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press.

Tracy, K. (2011). We visit Saudi Arabia. Hockessin, Del.: Mitchell Lane Publishers.