Luxor4u

I have received pictures of food both bought in Luxor and in a couple of eating establishments. COMPLETELY RANK LOOKING. I think similar to when we lived there during the hot months, not enough care is taken by establishments to keep food refridgerated. I remember seeing a delivery while wating outside a Supermarket for my wife to shop. The lorry off loaded its goods of food on the pavement, the temperature was 42C, it was there for 20mins untouched, my wife came out and we went home. By time the food was taken in and put in freezers and fridges it would have defrosted and be unsuitable for human consumption. I cannot even begin to think what condition food would be in by the time it reaches Luxor from Cairo. Quick pass the Imodium!!! Ha Ha!!

Good grief!

Who’d have thought there was such a problem in Egypt.

Thanks for the heads up.

Who and why would anybody send you pictures of 'rank food ?
Sounds like a highly unstable kind of person to me..

Who2 wrote: Sun Jul 07, 2019 8:54 am Who and why would anybody send you pictures of 'rank food ?
Sounds like a highly unstable kind of person to me..

It’s not only food which suffers from the high temperatures in Egypt

I wonder when MT will stop using Egypt as the whipping boy for his own greed and inadequacies?

Ruby - Your right I don't think MT has had a good thing to say about Egypt along with Scottish Tourist who again had nothing good to say about the country.

Last year whilst on a cruise up and down the NIle I had the usual 'Egyptian quickstep' and managed to control it with local medicine. This I believe was caused by eating fresh fruit salad floating around in water. However after talking to a couple of friends about all this they told me that it's normal for boats to buy second rate food to keep the costs down and it's a well known fact that many customers complain about stomach issues. Having stayed in a hotel for 2 weeks and eaten regularly in various restaurants on the West Bank I had no stomach issues at all.

I've made numerous trips to Luxor and the surrounding area, also Aswan, El Gouna and Hurghada, and only once had a stomach upset, despite eating in 'local' restaurants, and from street stalls, as well as in hotels and more 'up market' restaurants. I've never encountered the sort of food MT has described in this, and previous posts. Some of the best meals I've had have been in restaurants where I, and usually Carrie, have been the only Europeans.

On our many adventures with Mahmood, our usual driver from Oceanus/Petra, we always ask to be taken to 'non tourist' eateries - highlights include a wonderful chicken place ( could hardly be called a restaurant) on the outskirts of Edfu, fabulous fish in a restaurant in Khargi Oasis, and great falafel at too many places to mention. Of course Mahmood has an incentive - we always buy him lunch too!!

Scottish Tourist and MT constantly complained about the way they were treated here, double prices, taxi drivers showing pornographic photo's, farmers burning sugar, I could go on and on.
Never however did they ask why, in both cases it came down, I think, to the way they treated people here and their reluctance to believe that behaving in a certain way has consequences.

crewmeal wrote: Mon Jul 08, 2019 6:20 am

Last year whilst on a cruise up and down the NIle I had the usual 'Egyptian quickstep' and managed to control it with local medicine. This I believe was caused by eating fresh fruit salad floating around in water. However after talking to a couple of friends about all this they told me that it's normal for boats to buy second rate food to keep the costs down and it's a well known fact that many customers complain about stomach issues.

Whilst I can understand the need to keep costs down. I do not believe it is in the captain/tour operator's best interest to be buying second rate food to serve to guests. Infact, I have quite often seen the boats moored along by Luxor temple being loaded and the fruit and veg was market fresh. The meat was so fresh it was able to walk onboard itself.

I would suggest there are other possible reasons for getting an upset stomach when on a Nile Cruise. It isn't all about the food.

Hepzibah, you're right! It's not always food! I was pretty sure that the bout of 'Tuts Revenge' that I suffered was caused by a dirty glass, or a glass handled previously by someone who hadn't washed their hands.

The money, very few think about washing their hands after touching those filthy one pound notes.

I have experienced all of the above from eating in hotels, eating out and being on cruise boats, in no case was the food of inferior quality produce wise, in fact Egypt has some of the best vegetables I have seen. Some will say it is drinking alcohol is the cause, others that it is being dehydrated or too long in the sun, ice in drinks etc. In the UK I never ever have any stomach upsets, I have a cast iron constitution where that is concerned. I used to live in Africa for many years and travelled in many parts of it, I drank water from canvas water coolers hung up in a tree and shared food with locals cooked on an open fire, never once did I become ill. However on every occasion that I have visited Egypt I have had some sort of stomach upset and on one occasion it was very severe and required a doctor. After the first occasion I was determined to avoid it happening again, so on subsequent visits we would only ever drink bottled water, we used to take McDonald’s sealed straws to use when drinking from a can of pop, only drank beers (from a glass) during the evenings and we were scrupulous in using hand wash gel or wipes after handling money, but invariably one or the other of us would get an upset stomach at some point.

So what is the reason and what is the solution? Quite simply I think it is down to metabolism and continued exposure. When I lived in the UK I rarely if ever had a sore throat, but when I lived in Africa I had some of the most sever sore throats imaginable, my doctor said it would be Tonsillitis although I had had them removed as a child, but after a few months I ceased to get them and have continued through my life without getting them again, but if I do it is very mild. The point here is exposure, I believe I was exposed to new strains of germs that I had no real resistance too and once I had ran the gamut of these germs I was in effect immune to them. That same principle will apply to those people living long term in Egypt, but a new visitor is very susceptible to strains of germs that would hardly bother a local or long term resident. There is no doubt that some areas of low hygiene in Egypt are potential sources of gastric problems and easy sources of infection such as handling filthy money and things like door handles and rails that can easily pass on germs to your face or mouth if touched. I now believe that although you can mitigate the risk it is impossible to avoid if your own susceptibility is high for whatever reason, whereas others will never become ill.