Emirati Culture Photo Essay

@fatma2013f

Hello Everyone! My Name is Fatma Mohammad I am student of Dubai Women's College, Bachelor in banking and financial services. I chose "Food From Our Maid" to be my topic as since month ago we got a new Maid and I was interested to know more about their customs and traditions. what interested me while we were talking about their tradition food that they cook pancit in the birthday parties because the noodles means to them the long life. she told me about her favorite meal which is pancit and she added that pancit is the term for noodles in Filipino cuisine and this noodles introduced into the Philippines by the Chinese . she stated that there is different kinds of noodles that commonly served at birthday celebrations However, the interesting thing that she told me that her birthday is on 6th of Jan. Therefore, I suggested to interview here while she is cooking pancit, celebrate her birthday and document this occasion I hope that all of you enjoy these photos which shows the preparation way of cooking pancit

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Initially, I was stressed to start with this project because it is the first time for me to take photos and write an essay about them but once I decide what to photo then I feel that it is not difficult like I thought. I have learnt how to sequence photographs in a series of events and write the story behind them. In addition, I have learnt little about editing photos and how to use my imagination in taking photos.

This is our Maid, her name is Mary and she is from Philippines. I took this photo while I was interviewing her, she looks some what shy however she was happy to talk to me and telling me some information about their culture

In this Picture, Mary is picking up this kind of vegetable which is the first time I use in cooking. It is called soyte and it is used as one of the Pancit ingredients

Snow beans is another ingredient that Marry needs to cooking Pancit . I take this photo while she was getting a some pieces of beans because beans has the green color that add life to our dish

Here Mary is busy packing the stuff that she bought from the co-operative society to cook the pancit. The cashier looks curious to know how a local family is buying pancit’ ingredients. while I was waiting at casher counter, listened the casher telling our Maid “its nice that your employer like to eat Pilipino food”

This yellow noodle is named Canton, it is made from wheat flour and coconut oil, it can be mixed with vegetables or it can fry as well. Canton has more calories than bihon because it contain more carbohydrates

Bihon is very thin rice noodles made from rice flour. Mary added that they used to cook this noodles in birthday parties and family gathering as it represent long life and good health; they must not be cut short so as not to corrupt the symbolism

Soy sauce is a necessary ingredient to cook pancit. It originated in China in the 2nd century BCE and spread throughout Asia. It is a condiment made from a fermented paste of boiled soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds. After fermentation, the paste is pressed, producing a liquid.

In this photo, Mary start chopping the green leaves such as parsley, green onion to decorate the pancit dish

As you can see in the photo, Mary complete slicing onion, garlic, carrots, beans, red pepper, soy, and continue slicing the cabbage

In this Picture, my youngest daughter looks very hungry as she is sitting, watching her Nanny slicing the chicken and waiting the pancit to be done.

In this Picture, Mary is peeling and cleaning the shrimps

In this Photo, Mary fried the shrimps in little butter, salt, pepper, and some soy sauce for a few minutes to decorate the pancit at the end

In a wok, Mary heated oil and sautéd garlic and onions and then she added in the boiled chicken slices, beans, carrots, snow beans, soyted, cabbage, baby corn, red pepper. In this photo, Mary pours in water and brings to a boil. She lower heat and let them simmer for 2 minutes until tender but still crisp

Here in this photo, Mary is adding the canton noodles and stir until tender after straining the vegetable out of the broth

The photo shows family gathering and celebrating Mary’s birthday after the pancit done. As you can see she blows the candle, my yougest daughter is very happy. We enjoyed the birthday party, eating the pancit, the cake, and other sweets that we did.

Emirati Culture Photo Essay @fatma2013f - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag