[Sca-cooks] Medieval Arabs Ate Sandwiches, Too

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

For those following Arab cuisine:

Members of academia.edu can view the abstract for this, but not much  more:

Medieval Arabs Ate Sandwiches, Too: Bazmaward and Awsat for the  Record 
(abstract)
by Nawal Nasrallah
More Info: pp. 373-392
Publication  Date: Sep 2013
Publication Name: Travelling Through Time: Essays in Honor of  Kaj Ohrnberg 
(Studia Orientalia vol. 114)

So here it is:
 

MEDIEVAL ARABS ATE SANDWICHES, TOO:
BAZMĀWARD  AND  AWSĀṬ  FOR THE RECORD

Nawal Nasrallah ABSTRACT:
This article surveys the extant medieval  Arabic record of the sandwich, 
impressively extensive
and varied, to  controvert the dominant western view that the sandwich was ‘
invented’  in
eighteenth-century England. Brick-oven spongy and crusty breads and thin  
malleable varieties were used by Arab cooks to make sandwiches, called  awsāṭ
  and bazm āwārd 
. These sandwiches were popular snacks  purchased from the food markets, 
and offered as hors d’oeuvre before the main  hot meal. The medieval Arab 
sandwich was not an isolated accomplishment: its  lineage and
culture can be seen in the evolution of some of today’s  widespread 
sandwiches, such as  shawirma
, in whose dissemination  Middle-Eastern immigrants were a key factor. 
Immigrants from Sicily, where the  Arabs ruled for centuries, transmitted the 
sandwich culture to other shores, as  far away as New Orleans, whose national 
sandwich is the muffaletta , said to be  of Sicilian origin. The article 
further provides the missing Arab link for this  popular ‘Western’  sandwich 
by outlining its Arab origin, including its  name.
 

Jim Chevallier
www.chezjim.com

Les Leftovers: sort of a food  history blog
leslefts.blogspot.com