OPEN Repository

Welcome to OPEN - the Repository of Open Scientific Publications, run by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw, previously operating as the CeON Repository. The Repository enables Polish researchers from all fields to openly share their articles, books, conference materials, reports, doctoral theses, and other scientific texts.

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Alcohol and its Consumption in Medieval Cairo. The Story of a Habit
(Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2004) Lewicka, Paulina B.; Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw
Contrary to what the Islamic prohibition of intoxicants might imply, the alcoholic beverages in medieval Cairo were not universally scorned. The attitude towards drinking depended on the time in history and the social setting but, generally, neither the local population, nor the members of the foreign ruling elites, nor the multinational soldiery garrisoned within the city area, were avowed abstainers. Generally, different social groups drank different drinks. Particular preferences of the Mamluks notwithstanding, the city population enjoyed, above all, wine and beer, two basic kinds of alcohol drunk in the Mediterranean-Near Eastern world since remote antiquity. And, as in antiquity, but also as in Europe of the Middle Ages, the choice between them was a matter of social standing: grain beer, whose production was easier and cheaper, was generally the drink of the common people, while wine, more expensive due to its tricky fermentation and the demands of viticulture, was the beverage of the rich.
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Twelve Thousand Cooks and a Muḥtasib. Some Remarks od Food Business in Medieval Cairo
(Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2002) Lewicka, Paulina B.; Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw
The general aim of this article is to shed some light on the functioning of the industry that was to satisfy the medieval Cairenes’ alimentative needs. As most of the Western travelers who visited Cairo between XIII and XVI centuries observed, the city dwellers generally did not cook at home—they would rather use services offered by cooks in the city streets and bazaars. Indeed, since the majority of the city inhabitants did not have kitchens at their apartments, the easiest way for them—if not the only one—to get a warm meal was to buy ready-made food. Because of the constant and common demand, the offer of public kitchens was fairly rich and assorted enough to satisfy various tastes and meet various financial capabilities of the customers. The quantity of places where ready-made food was being sold night and day was shocking to foreign visitors: the number of street cooks in the city was said to reach ten, twelve, and even twenty thousand.
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True, Untrue, False? Deciphering Šāfi‘ Ibn ‘Alī’s Biography of Qalāwūn
(Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 1997) Lewicka, Paulina B.; Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw
The aim of this article is to analyze some aspects of Šāfi‘ Ibn ‘Alī’s biography of sultan Qalāwūn titled Al-Faḍl al-Ma’ṯūr min Sīrat aṣ-Ṣulṭān al-Malik al-Manṣūr, in the collection of the Bodleian Library MS no. Marsh 424. The analysis will concentrate on the question of historical truth and the author’s credibility. It will consist of studying certain parts of the work in which facts are represented differently than in other historical sources of the time.
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When a shared meal is formalized. Observations on Arabic “table manners” manuals of the Middle Ages
(Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2003) Lewicka, Paulina B.; Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw
Generally, Arabic medieval texts related to the etiquette of eating are of two categories: one includes those written by authors of theological background, and the other includes secular texts, composed by men motivated by their literary passion and civility rather than Islamic education. Thus, “Arabic” texts were not always identical with “Islamic”. The terms “Arabic-Islamic” (to designate works written by religious scholars) and “Arabic/Islamic” (when both categories are referred to) used in the present essay, are meant to mark the difference. All the compendia of Arabic/Islamic table manners (with one exception) that are of significance for the present study are spread throughout volumes that belong to various genres of literary output. It is not possible to present all the authors or their works here, as the discussed texts are too numerous and too diversified: they were written at various times between X-XV centuries by authors of different geographical, social and professional proveniences. A short presentation is, however, indispensable.
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The Delectable War between Mutton and the Refreshments of the Market-Place. Rereading the Curious
Tale of the Mamluk Era
(Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski, 2007) Lewicka, Paulina B.; Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw
At some point in XV century, or in the decadent period of the Circassian Mamluk era, certain Aḥmad Ibn Yaḥyā Ibn Ḥasan al-Ḥaǧǧār, apparently a resident of Cairo, composed a curious narrative titled Kitāb al-ḥarb al-maʿšūq bayna laḥm aḍ-ḍaʾn wa-ḥawāḍir as-sūq. In 1932-4 the work was partly translated, under the title The Delectable War between Mutton and the Refreshments of the Market-Place, by Joshua Finkel who also provided the translation with the summary of the text and extensive comments. Since that date the tale was summarized a number of times in contemporary studies and there is no need to retell its story once again. In the context of the present study it probably suffices to say that Delectable War features a conflict between two camps, each of which is represented by a significant number of personified edible goods. In other words, various meats, animal fats and meat dishes, led by the mutton-called here King Mutton-fight the camp of meat-free foods that is led by King Honey. The cause is not always clear but, according to the most obvious understanding, the prominence over all the foodstuffs is at stake, both of those in the bazaar and those on the table.

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License: Uznanie autorstwa-Na tych samych warunkach 3.0 Polska Publisher: Katedra Arabistyki i Islamistyki, Uniwersytet Warszawski Affiliation: Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw Author: Lewicka, Paulina B.
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