In many Arab countries, clothes are often used as a statement.
Men in most Arab countries are generally very style-conscious.
Women
One of the traditional rules is that a "decent" woman will not display her beauty to any man, except the one she is married to. This means that clothes cover as much of the body as possible.
For both men and women, showing skin is seen as a lack of style.
Men traditional clothing in the Middle East and North Africa
Women traditional clothing
Food
Tasty! It is varied. Wheat is used in bread, pastries, and is served with salads and main dishes.
Rice is often cooked with vegetables, goat, lamb, chicken or beef. Lamb and mutton are more common than other meats.
Arab recipes use beans and vegetables, including eggplant, zucchini, cauliflower, spinach, onions, parsley and chickpeas.
Food in North Africa
Like all countries in the Mediterranean basin, North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia…) offers a "sun cuisine," based mainly on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood (a wide range of fish) and meat from(lamb).
Like in the rest of North Africa, couscous is served on all occasions. It is traditionally eaten with lamb, the semolina must be very fine, and the vegetables (carrots, little white cabbages, turnips, chick peas) only lightly cooked. Depending on the season, the vegetables change.
What is North African Cuisine?
“It is a Mediterranean mix overlaid on a Northwest African Berber foundation. http://www.chefzadi.com/2007/06/what-is-algeria.html
It is varied in terms of range of dishes and seasonings,
It has Spanish, Andalusian, Ottoman, Italian, French, West African, and contemporary Arabic influences
Arab cuisine
Arab cuisine is known for flavor and its use of fresh ingredients. The staple in every Arabs’ diet is bread.
Olive oil is king.
An Arab meal is expected to have a soup, meat, vegetable stew, bread, salad, and rice or couscous. Desserts [baklawa, flan, pies] are rich and are served along with fruits after a meal.
If you are invited to a house for a meal
It is polite to take your host or hostess a gift. Flowers and pastries are very welcome. Wine is not appropriate.
Arabs Muslims are scrupulous about washing before prayer and scrupulous, too, when sitting down for a meal, in using only their right hand. Feet are also considered unclean, and as in many oriental cultures, it is deemed rude to keep your shoes on.
When invited to a house
Use of the right hand: Arabs traditionally use the right hand for all public functions — including shaking hands, eating, drinking, and passing objects to another person
Leave the shoes at the entrance of the house as a sign of respect of the house for hygiene reasons
Do not put your feet at someone’s face even after removing the shoes at the person facing you or anyone else surrounding you whether as guests or hosts
Do not turn your back to another person anywhere.
When invited to a house
It may be discourteous to ask about a man’s wife and daughters by name. Rather say: “How is the family; how are the children“;
Do not say the name of the wife outside the private setting instead say “how is the family”
When tea and coffee are served, it could be considered impolite not to take at least one cup or state at the outset that you do not drink coffee on doctor’s order to avoid offending the host.
In some Arab countries when one is finished drinking, one should oscillate the cup to signal that a refill is not desired. In North Africa you just say “alHamdu lillah, allah yaj’al albarakeh = thank you, may God bless you with more [wealth]”;
Guests
The culture stresses the importance of honoring guests and pampering them.
The host will try his best to insure that his guests are very comfortable.
Food is served in excessive quantities to insure that every guest will be fully satisfied.
The host should be the last ones to start eating as a sign of honoring the guests. Also, even if the host has actually finished eating, he will continue to act as if he is still eating until everyone else has finished. In this way, the host insures that the guests were not rushed into finishing.
