Breakfast in Masyaf; Assassin's Creed question.

[ingriam]

What would someone like Al Mualim - yes, the one from Assassin's Creed - eat in the morning? Would it be something like the other Assassins would eat, or would it be something else

Comments

[burning_night]

I remember writing Malik and Altair eating a simple meal of flatbread and hot beans for their breakfast when in Jerusalem, and I vaguely remember having done a little bit of research to find something plausible for them to eat. Unfortunately I didn't go into very much detail since the line was literally just a passing mention, but I'd say flatbread might be a staple?

I also found this great quote from the 10th century geographer Al-Muqaddsasi which gives an idea of what would probably be available; "From Palestine comes olives, dried figs, raisins, the carob fruit... from Jerusalem comes cheeses and the celebrated raisins of the species known as Ainuni and Duri, excellent apples... also pine nuts of the kind called Quraish-bite, and their equal is not found elsewhere... from Sughar and Baysan come dates, the treacle called dibs and rice..."This page might be a helpful starting point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levantine_cuisine... )

[sollersuk]

I'd suggest finding out how important breakfast was as a meal in the culture in general - in contemporary Europe the meal didn't really exist. Even in later centuries there wasn't much eaten before a lot of work had already been done; one might grab a bite of something, but it wouldn't be anything that needed any preparation.

[anonymous]

Ask a Syrian. Like me. ;) Families would eat communal breakfasts of many, small dishes. White, goat or sheep cheeses (soft/semi-hard), black and green olives, pocket bread, jams (apricot's popular), strained/dehydrated yogurt garnished with olive oil and mint, scrambled eggs, zataar (thyme) and olive oil, hummus, makdous (eggplant), fool mudammas (fava beans, olive oil, garlic, spices), tsiye (chickpeas, butter, and bread), and black tea! These are all local and readily available. They're not exotic, and as for baked beans, that may bring to mind southwestern-American baked beans for your audience, so I would use more accurate terms for the food, in this case, fava beans. Precise language adds character to writing anyway, although it's strictly preference whether you use romanized Arabic or English. You may want to mention the tea sets, which are beautiful and ornate. Example. Any more questions, shoot 'em!

[ingriam]

Thanks; I definitely appreciate the extra information.

[ingriam]

What's the pocket bread called, incidentally?