Those who are familiar with Frank Herbert's famous novel Dune will notice his analogy for the spice, and the surrounding struggle for it, with the crude oil of the Middle East. The novel is symbolic about the dependence of the West on the oil, and the power struggles to control this valuable resource.

But what is not so obvious to the average Western reader, is the sheer quantity of terms that Herbert borrowed from Arabic and Islamic culture, old and new, and incorporated them into his novels.

Some traditions or customs just vanish over time. Once you are 30 years or more, you start to see this for yourself, reminiscing over how things were like when you grew up, vs. how they are now.These are examples of societies evolving right before your eyes.Let take a few examples from Egypt, related to cooking for example.

I am fond of antiques, heritage, and the like. The real collector in the family is my mother. Throughout her life, she was an avid collector of antiques from various parts of the world. Here are some samples of things that were collected from various places over Egypt of the previous decades.

These pictures will give you an idea on what we like. They were taken by a (now old) Minolta Dimage Digital camera.

Click on any picture to see a larger image.