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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 February 1999 Issue No. 417 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 February 1999 Issue No. 417
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Readers' reads
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Sir-There are two new books about Egypt on the market which I think your readers should know about.The first is The Last Khedive of Egypt (memoirs of Abbas Helmi II), translated and edited by Amira Sonbol and published by Ithaca Press. This is a unique book in that we have a khedive addressing us verbatim and giving us a different account of himself and events in Egypt other than that given by Lord Cromer.
In his book Abbas II, Lord Cromer, not amused that Abbas thought that he was the rightful ruler of Egypt rather than himself, paints an unfavourable picture of the khedive. His successor, Sir Eldon Gorst, treated Abbas with respect on orders from London, while Kitchener was out for his blood on account of his criticism of the way the Egyptian Army was British officered.
Abbas emerges as a nationalist patriot and an "Egyptian" rather than a "Turk". This should make a good read.
The second book is The Egyptian Upper Class (Between the Revolutions of 1919 and 1952) by Magda Baraka, also published by Ithaca Press. This again is a first of its kind and should prove a good read.
Mamdouh El-Dakhakhni
Alexandria
Nationalise La Casetta
Sir-I read Peter Snowdon's restaurant review of La Casetta (Al-Ahram Weekly, 4-10 February) with great interest -- especially his companion's remarks on Nasser's role in the demise of Egyptian-Italian cuisine.While no doubt we still have much to learn from the Nordic races (I myself have at least one grandmother who hailed from Sweden), I feel that it is incumbent upon us not to forget our Arab roots. In this context, I should like to point out a little known fact. As I discovered on a recent business trip to Egypt, Gamal-Abdel Nasser himself used regularly to eat in the building which formerly stood on the site of La Casetta's present-day Maadi branch, throughout the year 1947-1948, along with Abdel-Latif Baghdadi and Hassan Ibrahim, when it was home to Hagg Mahmoud El-Kebabgi.
Perhaps in tribute to this great Arab leader, and in order to preserve the reputation of Egyptian cooking from the scorn of the unbelievers, it would be possible to nationalise the La Casetta -- first the Maadi branch and then, later, if this were to prove a popular move, the rest of the chain?
Then perhaps your reviewer would think twice before slandering their good name.
Abdel-Karim Jonas
Milwaukee
US
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