heritage

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Running Head: ALGERIA FOOD FESTIVALS AS A HERITAGE OF CULTURE
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Algeria Food Festivals as a Heritage of Culture
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Running Head: ALGERIA FOOD FESTIVALS AS A HERITAGE OF CULTURE
Algeria Food Festivals as a Heritage of Culture
Culture being the way of life in most instances affects how people behave ,approach
situations and as well the kind of food they eat this because different people from different
cultures have food that they embrace as part of their culture. Food in most parts of the world
serve as an identity to many cultures thus easy to know why they value that particular food and
identify them. Food festivals enable different people from different cultures to come together and
experience the food of a certain community by tasting, trying and drinking so as to be more open
minded and think differently of the community other than the notion one may have .The author
will be focusing on how Algeria food festivals is a heritage of the their culture.
Algeria is richly blessed with culture that any visitor would love to experience. The population in
Algeria consists several ethnic groups which consist of Arabs 83%, Berbers 17%, Touareg,
European less than 1%. In terms of religion 99% are Muslims, Christians and Jewish 1%. The
main languages spoken in Algeria are Arabic being the main language, French, Tamazight and
other Berber dialects .The Algerian diet is rich in meat and meat products, in milk and in refined
sugars and this is something they embrace so much and this is what you will find in their day
today livelihood (Diaf & Khaled, 2019).
Algeria being one of the Middle East and North Africa countries is facing a nutritional transition
which is affecting quality and quantity of dietary patterns characterized by high consumption of
energy, fat especially animal products, added sugars , salty foods and low intakes of
carbohydrates, fibers, vegetables and fruits as required for healthy living. There are factors
contributing to this situation which are urbanization, persistent food and nutrition security (Diaf
&Khaled, 2019).
Historically the existence of Algerian foods was influenced by interactions and exchanges with
other cultures and nations over the centuries. The exchange products included both the land and
sea products resulting to their day today foods. Demographic movements as well as conquest
were the main factors of exchange of culture and goods thus giving birth to delicious cuisines.
There are a variety of cuisines depending on the regions and the season, but the vegetables and
cereals remain its core.

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Running Head: ALGERIA FOOD FESTIVALS AS A HERITAGE OF CULTURE
The Algerian traditions are mostly influenced by the most number of people which are the
Muslims and Arabic. Muslims embrace ceremonies and grace them with food and this why their
food festivals are so colorful and full of different types of food to eat. Religious holidays are
often celebrated with special type of foods .For the birthday of Muhammad, a holiday called
Mulud, dried fruits are a common treat. This day is celebrated as a public holiday, it
commemorates the anniversary of the founder of Islam and the proclaimer of the Qur’an. During
the month of Ramadan, Muslims refrain from food and drink during the daylight hours. Each
evening, the fast is broken with a family meal of the Quran . They celebrated this month because
Muhammed received the initial revelation. ‘Eid al-Fitr, the final breaking of the Ramadan fast,
involves consuming large quantities of foods, sweets, and pastries in particular. This clearly
shows how food is of importance in practicing the Algerian traditions and celebrating the culture
at large as well they share and among themselves and the less fortunate (countries and their
culture, 2019).
During the Algerian food festivals all the cultural symbolism are portrayed to show how the
culture blends in together with their food. Some of the Algerian cultural symbolism includes
music, religion. Visual arts and cuisines. The music ensures that the people attending the
ceremony are entertained and it as well must go hand in hand together which the ceremony at
hand. Having a large population of Muslims, religion also is incorporated at the festival in that
people and also children are taught the ways of the Quran and reminded how blessed they
are(Abdulla Fabida, 2019).During a celebration like Ramadhan there are clothes that are
observed such as loose clothes, maxi dresses and clothes with flowy fabrics, the clothes should
not reveal parts of the body .Visual arts are as well presented during festivals from the more
naturalist and more stylized paintings that may depict rulers or illustrate scenes from well-known
stories so as to make it more memorable.
Cuisines during the food festivals take up the large share since they bring out culture accordingly
by how they are prepared. Algeria cuisine is also known as maghrib cuisine representing the
region of the Saharan desert and west of Nile. The use of spices in ancient times was limited to
rich people or used for big food festivals. In 1830 along with the French invasion of the coastal
ares of Algeria along the coast the cuisine was influenced by spices and cooking methods

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Running Head: ALGERIA FOOD FESTIVALS AS A HERITAGE OF CULTURE
brought by Europeans baguettes and Cauliflower gratin are some of the heritage French left in
Algerian lands(Algeria cuisine, 2020). Some of the traditions are kept from old history
influenced by Berber, Arabic, Turkish and French tastes and they can be seen in foods like
Kebab and pastries, pasta and sweets. Spices that were used and are still in use are like cumin,
paprika, coriander, cinnamon, mint and fennel.
A common and one Algeria’s favorite cuisines is couscous with other favorites such as
shakshouka, karantita and marqa bel. Algeria as well has very tasty soups which include Chorba,
harira, djari and tchicha,this soups are mainly prepared from lamb, mutton or chicken chickpeas,
tomato, vermicelli, wheat, spices and different vegetables and legumes. The soups are popularly
prepared during Ramadan.

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Running Head: ALGERIA FOOD FESTIVALS AS A HERITAGE OF CULTURE
References
Diaf, M &Khaled M.B, (2019).Impacts of diet and food habits on Algerians consumers health.
Algerian Journal of Health Science retrieved
fromhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/333394410_Article_de_synthese_Impact_
of_diet_and_food_habits_on_Algerian_consumer's_health_Impact_de_l'alimentation_et_
des_habitudes_alimentaires_sur_la_sante_du_consommateur_algerien/link/5e974204928
51c2f52a61fce/download
Countries and their cultures :Culture of Algeria (2019) retrieved from
https://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Algeria.html
Abdulla Fabida, (2019). 12 Ramadan crafts and activities for kids retrieved from
https://artsycraftsymom.com/10-ramadan-crafts-and-activities-for-kids/
Algeria cuisine, (2020) https://recipes.fandom.com/wiki/Algerian_Cuisine