A Traditional Lunch

The men and women gather in separate rooms (2 living rooms). Sometimes there are servants who present juice or water before the lunch starts. When lunch is ready, the men head there first and eat while the women wait a while. If there is a buffet, the men help themselves then sit on tables or on the ground where a long stretch of carpet is covered with a light plastic sheet. The women soon join in, or wait a while until some of the men have finished.

There is a lot of social activity during eating, a lot of people talk, make jokes and have seconds as well. Usually after the person is done, they thank the hosts for their kindness and wish them well, and proceed to wash up and head back to the living room. Sometimes the women eat alone, and them men alone, or sometimes they eat together but in the end they go back to their designated living rooms.

Usually sweets, desert, coffee and tea are served. Sometimes even, someone passes around offering a perfume; 3oud, mai ward (rose water), and even incense.