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North African Food: Camel Meat

Camels Traditionally Used for Milk and Meat in Many Countries

May 17, 2008 Debbie Kwiatoski

Like the Buffalo, the Yak or the Reindeer, Camels have long been prized by Middle Eastern traditional peoples, not just as transportation - but as food.

Camels are an integral part of traditional life in the Middle East. Like many animals in folk cultures around the world, every part of the camel was - and among some Bedouin tribes still is - important to the continued existence of the group, as a source for food, among other things. Of course, these iconic “ships of the desert” were essential as transportation across vast stretches of barren wilderness. But every single part of the camel was used by traditional groups.

Camel Milk for Cheesemaking and Drinking

They were a source of milk, both for drinking and for cheesemaking. Their meat was eaten; their hides were processed for leather and their wool was woven into blankets, rugs and clothing. Their bones were used as a substitute for ivory – and even their dung was dried and burned for fuel.

Richard Trench, a traveler and writer, wrote about his experiences in the Sahara back in the 1980s – and in “Forbidden Sands; a Search in the Sahara (Chicago Limited; 1980), he chronicles the ways in which camels were being relied upon both for transportation and for food.

Camel meat, he explains, was often dried in long strips and packed for journeys through the sands. Each evening, as the campfires were lit and prayers were recited, a dish of rice and the cooked meat was prepared. Here is how he describes the dish:

“The menu was stark and simple: rice and cooked dried camel meat. The cooking was simpler still. The mean-looking pieces of camel meat were soaked in water and then thrown into the cooking pot with some oil, to fry. Rice and water would then follow.”

"El Soupe"

The stew that resulted was called simply “el soupe” and was eventually heaped into a common bowl. The caravan would sit together and eat communally from that bowl – deftly using only their right hands to scoop up the mixture and roll it into loose balls that were popped into their mouths…it was/is no mean feat to accomplish this with any neatness or dexterity, as French wryly observed.

The meat both he, and many others, have described as being greasy and tasting something like beef – but heavier. The younger the camel, the more tender the meat.

Today, camels have become much rarer in the Middle East, diminishing their usefulness as a food source, although the meat is still imported from North African countries like Somalia and Morocco and is still available in the traditional Souks, especially during Ramadan, when an evening meal is permitted.

The copyright of the article North African Food: Camel Meat in Middle Eastern Cuisine is owned by Debbie Kwiatoski. Permission to republish North African Food: Camel Meat in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.