What to Eat in Egypt in 2026: The Best Food and Drink

Egyptian food is the most ancient in the world in the sense that its foundations — bread, lentils, beans, and the specific Egyptian combination of spices — have been essentially unchanged since the Pharaonic period. Ful medames — fava beans slow-cooked until tender, dressed with lemon, garlic, and cumin, eaten with baladi bread and an egg — is the Egyptian breakfast that has fed the country for 4,000 years and is still available from fuul carts before dawn. Koshari — the layered street food of lentils, macaroni, rice, fried onion, and spiced tomato sauce — is the Cairo fast food invented by the Italian and Indian workers in the late 19th century, absorbed completely into the Egyptian food identity. Ta'amiya (the Egyptian falafel, made with fava beans rather than chickpeas, brilliant green inside, served in baladi bread with salad and tahini) is the sandwich that Cairo eats for breakfast. Sugarcane juice pressed at roadside stands, hibiscus (karkadé) cooled or served hot, and the specific Egyptian café culture (ahwa) running on extremely sweet, cardamom-heavy coffee extends the drink culture. That's where it gets good.