Hello and welcome to Episode Twenty Three of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I'm your host, Hannah!
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The Spanish Language Book Review begins at 12:48 and ends 19:09 at
The English Language Transcript can be found below
But as always we start with Reader's Advisory!
The Reader's Advisory for Episode Twenty Three is Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. If you like Mrs. Everything you should also check out: Lucky Us by Amy Bloom, City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
My personal favorite Goodreads list Mrs. Everything is on is 2019: What Women Born in the 1970s Have Read So Far This Year.
Today’s Library Tidbit is about table etiquette in the Middle East.
In January we had series of events called “Feast from the Middle East”. In these programs we taught you to make falafel & hummus, pita bread, yogurt & labneh.
Before I go into table etiquette it’s worth defining the Middle East, because the region covers a large amount of cultures, lots of land, multiple different countries and two continents. There are a few different definitions of the Middle East. The most exclusive include the areas of Western Asia, all of Turkey, including the European part, and Egypt. The most inclusive definition is called the Greater Middle East and adds the Maghreb, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia.
Inside the Middle East, and back when civilizations were much smaller, there is a portion of the land that is known as the Fertile Crescent. This area covers a geographic area spanning from Egypt to Turkey to Iran. It was in this geographic area that grains and cereals were first cultivated and where cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and horses were domesticated. Civilization as we understand it would not exist if the Fertile Crescent did not exist.
Most of the countries in the Middle East are part of the Arab world, but not all of them, for instance, Iran is not an Arab country. Iranians are descended from Indo-Europeans. The majors religions of the countries include Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
From here on out we are going to be talk in generalizations as these rules of etiquette differ to various degrees from country to country. Always check and understand the rules of etiquette for any culture before butting into that culture.
Basic dining etiquette in Middle Eastern countries include the following. Food is often served off of a communal plate in the center of the table. To get food use only your right hand and with your fingers, or with a piece of bread, scoop up food from that plate. Never, ever, use your left hand to eat or touch food.
In some places, utensils will be used. Sometimes you may use these in the continental style (with the fork in the left hand with tines pointed downwards and the knife in the right hand), but sometimes you will only use utensils in your right hand switching out which utensils you need as needed. If you are in doubt observe how the local people eat and follow their example.
Try everything offered to you and remember to compliment the host on their food and their hospitality. If you clear your plate your host will fill it as an empty plate indicates that the guest has not been fed appropriately.
In most places wait until your host seats you before taking a seat. The oldest man in the room will be shown the most respect. They will be seated first, eat first, and in some countries, it will be expected that everyone will wait until they have entered or left a room before they themselves will do so. The rigidity of the social status and acts of deference differ quite widely in the region.
It is always a good idea to learn the basic phrases of hospitality before traveling to any region or intimately interacting with people from different cultures. Some examples include saying “Al Hamdu Li Lah” afte...
