Gateaux

Our fridge is full of this stuff. It's one of those things I associate with Egypt, because Egyptians seem to love it. Or at least I always thought they loved it. Personally I can't stand it. It's a dessert that I can't find one single redeeming quality for. It doesn't look good, is extremely fattening, makes the consumer nauseous and on top of that tastes really bad. Yet every single visitor we've had so far, without exception has not failed to produce a box of the stuff. One uncle brought the identical box twice!

The real irony is that the visitors, the same ones who bring the stuff, refuse to eat it themselves.

There must be a reason for this absurdity.

So, with my limited research opportunities here on my dial up connection I did what every self respecting researcher would do. I looked it up in the dictionary. It said:
noun ( pl. -teaux pronunc. same or |-ˈtōz|) a rich cake, typically one containing layers of cream or fruit. ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from French gâteau ‘cake.’

Makes sense, it does seem like one of those overindulgent atrocities Egyptians are so good at copying from the French, like the furniture. I doubt the French themselves are as obsessed with it as the Egyptians. And why do Egyptians call it gateaux in the first place? It seems to be a theme. They love anything that comes from abroad, no matter how ridiculous it is, and they have to call it foreign names that most people don't even understand.

A pair of slippers are apparently called "sabeau"... or something I can't spell. What exactly is wrong with shibshib? isn't that a perfectly meaningful word? Menus say hot chocolate written in Arabic script... and here I always thought the original word for the drink made from coco beans was cacao.

Why swap the original for a fake? Why are we so proud of anything that comes from outside and treat this place so badly. Why replace the farmers' fresh produce markets with French chains of supermarkets and then smoke in them? Why is it people here think it's acceptable to open a can of drink and without a thought just drop the lid on the ground where they stand?
Doesn't that sort of behaviour hurt them? It hurts me.

Just once I'd like to meet someone who appreciates this country for what it is and respect it. Someone who calls things what they are, in the language they are speaking in... and just once I'd like a visitor to bring some nice Egyptian desserts instead of fake French cakes that I didn't even want to try in France.