I'm Going To Egypt On Holiday - How's The Food ?

By Author: Stuart Cheese
Total Articles: 41
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In my capacity as the UK Director of Operations for One World Tours Limited, I am often asked all kinds of travel questions. One that regularly comes up is food and so if you are planning a trip to Egypt, here is some information that may be handy to have

Firstly, it's not exciting, but lets talk water. Only drink bottled water. Even in hotels and restaurants, the water can be dodgy and therefore the golden rule is to only drink bottled water. This is easy to do of course, but do keep a couple of thoughts in the back of your mind. It's not just drinking were water can end up in your system. Ice is something people often overlook and don't forget, ice is just frozen water. Salads are another thing to think about. Salads are of course very unlikely to be washed in bottled water. So again it's something to think about

On to the good stuff, lets talk food.

Firstly food in Egypt is very inexpensive. You can get both western and eastern dishes and there is literally everything from traditional Egyptian home cooking to, yes you've guessed it MacDonalds. A note here though is that the MacDonalds in Luxor has probably ...
... the best view in the world for any fast food restaurant. The top floor overlooks Luxor temple and although I am not sure as to what the pharaohs would have made of it, it really is a stunning location.

So basically we can split your dining into say three categories.

The first is international cuisine. Most of the hotel restaurants serve a full range of international meals such as Italian, Chinese, American etc and the prices will be very competitive compared to eating in western restaurants. You will find alcohol is expensive though. Breakfast is usually served in a buffet format and you will fine cereals, sweet breads, fruit juices and a full range of cooked foods like bacon, mushrooms, eggs etc

Next local cuisine. This is really inexpensive and very good indeed. You can expect to pay about ¼ of the price of a western meal. If you are travelling with a tour package, then your guide will be able to point you in the direction of a good local restaurant. If you are travelling independently then your hotel concierge should be able to do similar.

Finally fast food. Yes it may be arguably the scourge of modern living. But for some people, they at least know what they are getting and of course generally the kids love it. In all the major cities of Egypt, Like Cairo, Luxor etc you will find Macdonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King and KFC. So if that's what you like, you'll be sorted and for the record you will also find that even fast food in Egypt is far, far cheaper than you would pay for exactly the same dishes ins a western fast food restaurant.

So to sum up, food just will not be an issue whatever it is you personally like to eat. My advice though, is if you are adventurous, try a local restaurant just once during your stay. The food is superb and it really is an experience to taste the local delicacies.