LENT AT THE HOLY MONASTERY AT MOUNT SINAI:A cuisine-journey through the centuries.

LENT AT THE HOLY MONASTERY AT MOUNT SINAI:

A cuisine-journey through the centuries*

Greek cuisine prepared in the middle of the desert by Bedouins, with Egyptian ingredients and influences from local cuisines of Greece, in the shadow of Mount Sinai.

By author Nikoleta Makryonitou

Photos: Christina Georgiadou, Nikos Karanikolas

The Sinai Peninsula has always been one of the most important crossroads in the world, a meeting point between two continents, Africa and Asia, a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It represents Byzantium, Asia, Africa, the whole world. A dry place, barren, but also rich of cultures, a busy historical passage. A small dot of Hellenism, although cut off from the rest of the world.

The monastery's food is also an amalgam with a long history, just like its fascinating monuments. The recipe book has been documented over the centuries, with the recipes that fathers brought in their luggage from Greece. The cuisine of Sinai is the Greek traditional cuisine, embellished with the peculiarities of the places of origin of the monks. The location, of course, plays a decisive role. The available Egyptian ingredients of each season and surely the "hands-on" and "exotic" approach of the Bedouins, who are traditionally the cooks in the monastery, shape the physiognomy of the kitchen. Here, miles away from [Greece], the cuisine of our country is prepared, the same at its core but different in its manifestations. …

Days of Lent in Sinai

During the first three days of Lent, i.e. Monday to Wednesday, the monastery remains closed and empty and strict fasting is imposed, so the refectory does not open at all. On those days only uncooked food is allowed, such as tomatoes, dates, rusks, nuts. The three-day strict fast applies only to Great Lent.

On Wednesday, the oilless fast begins. They eat immediately after the Divine Liturgy, at 2pm, usually emollient vegetarian soup, fruits and dates. In the following days, the fast continues, so oil, mollusks and seafood are not allowed. Oil is used in food only on Saturdays and Sundays, which are the days when wine and oil are permitted. The exception is Holy Saturday – and the only Saturday of the year when olive oil is not consumed. 

There are only two days of fish allowed at the Sinai monastery during Lent. It is the day of the Annunciation and Palm Sunday – unless these days happen on very close dates, in which case they have fish only one of the two. These days oil, mollusks and fish are allowed. (During regular days, the fathers of the Sinai Monastery can consume everything except meat, of course.) ...

Seven days full of cooking and prayers

The week we spent in the monastery, our routine started unceremoniously at 5 in the morning, rather late, considering that the fathers were already awake by 3 am. We walked from the guesthouses, a few meters outside the monastery, crossed the old olive grove and passed the walls pushing the heavy Justinian door, saying good morning to Nasser, the porter. We attended the morning service and then gathered in the archontariki, the reception room where the fathers welcome their guests. We took our coffee and a black Bedouin tea mixed with local herbs and served sweet. In charge of the serving was Abadir, a tall and shy Bedouin with his head and eyes lowered, kind and affable. ...

At 12 o'clock we had a Fellowship

In the middle of the day, at exactly 12 o'clock, the fathers gather at the refectory for lunch. In monastic life, the communal meal is a meeting place, a material and symbolic place, considered a continuation of the Last Supper and the Table of the Apostles. In the Monastery of Saint Katherine, the building of the Refectory was built in the early 13th century. It is by that date the oldest frescoes inside are dated. The east side is adorned by frescoes of the Hospitality of Abraham and the Second Coming, the former relating to the site, the latter reminding the fathers of their eschatological destination. 

The food of the day is served on wooden tables, in the middle there are also various flavorings, water, wine, cheese (if it is not a fasting day) and bread, yogurt and/or fruit at the end of the meal. On the counter at the edge of the Refectory there are bowls with salads, fresh or cooked, the main dish if you want extra helping or some other food that happens to be available that day.

One of the fathers of the Brotherhood, different every day, reads from the pulpit lives of saints, excerpts from the Gospels, patristic speeches related to the feast of the day, etc. The hall is also filled with joyful sounds of silverware and scattered whispers, the experience helps visitors to relax, time flies softly, slowly.

Lunch time at the Refectory is one hour... Conclusion: Food that monks do not like, ... usually that which is not prepared well, will not be eaten. Food is an act of love towards our brothers, the fathers explain, it must be cooked with much care. Either way, nothing is wasted in the monastery. Remaining extra food will be stored for another hour or shared. In the end: the gathering of dishes in chorus, everyone will put a hand to tidy up the table. The Bedouins omnipresent, noble, silent, ensuring that all will be in good order. ...

We also cooked something, as a minimal offer to the fathers: green beans in olive oil, the same and different from those of our country. These green beans with cinnamon, orange, coarsely chopped tomato and Bedouin sweet potatoes changed our perspective at once: we looked from afar at a dish of our daily lives, made with love and Sinai way, and we left behind - hopefully - a recipe that will be included in the recipe book of the monastery.

* For the complete article, please go to Gastronomos Magazine: https://www.gastronomos.gr/topikes-kouzines/sarakosti-stin-iera-moni-oroys-sina-mia-koyzina-taxidi-stoys-aiones/191770/

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On fasting days, baked potatoes with tahini lemon are one of the main dishes. Some of the examples of other Lenten dishes in the Monastery: vegan soups, Tahini makarona with sauce and grated nuts instead of cheese, fasting pizza, baked noodle with vegetables, stuffed bell peppers with rice and vegetables, lentils, Monastic saganaki with shrimps, Lenten rice pudding with coconut milk, etc.

See here 24 recipes from the Holy Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai: https://www.gastronomos.gr/syntages/i-monastiriaki-koyzina-toy-oroys-sina-24-syntages-apo-to-archaiotero-monastiri-toy-kosmoy/142195/