#mansaf

Mansaf / Jordanian Rice Pilaf (Vegan-Adaptable)

Poet: Tamim al-Barghouthi

Era: Modern (2023)

Text:

نباتية من بلاد الشمال … لبشرتها لمعان السمك A vegan maiden of northern clime, Her complexion is that of a sardine’s shine! ومن حقها أكل ما تشتهي … ولكنها تشتهي لي ولك Her due right is to eat what she craves, And yet she craves — for your behalf and mine! وتغضب أنَّا أكلنا الحنيذ … وكادت تنادي علينا الدرك She raged that we ate roasted meat, And nearly called us the guards to dine! فقلت لها إن كل امرئ … وكيل على ما أتى أو ترك So I told her, “Each soul stands for its deeds, Whatever it does or else leaves behind. وشعبك يأكل مال اليتيم … وكحل الحريم ونجم الفلك Thy folk devour the orphan’s bread, The kohl of the wives, and the stars that shine! ويشرب خمسين بحراً ويظما … ويبلع حيتانها بالشبك They drink fifty seas and yet thirst even more, Swallowing their whales in nets like brine! بكرشك هند وأمريكتان … ودمعك يجري لتيس هلك In your gut’s an India and both ‘Mericas, Yet weepest you for a dead goat’s decline!? ومصر وسودانها والعراق … وحيث سعى جمل أو برك And Egypt, its Sudan and Iraq — And wherever a camel had knelt to rest! سنام الجمال وخبز العيال … وثلج الجبال وطين البرك The hump and the loaf and the mountain’s snow, The marsh’s clay — all thine possessed! وكم ليك من بلد كاللُّبان … وآخر مزدرد لم يُلك How many lands thou’st chewed like gum? How many more thine throats compressed? بياضك هذا سواد دماء … تخثرن في مئتي معترك Your whiteness this, it’s curdled blood — Two hundred battlefields confessed! وجسم القتيل يغطيه ليلا … ن هذا ينافس ذا في الحلك The slain lie wrapped in twin dark shrouds, Each night with night contends for rest. دم ذو نجوم يغطي السماء … وليل بحد السلاح انسفك Their star-spattered blood dost veil the skies, Their swords spilled manifest darkness. فلولا دمي راية لم تطر … ولولا دمي مَلِكٌ ما ملك For without our blood, no flag had flown! Without our blood no king would reign! وحين تمدون سلك الحدود … فما بين جسمي وجسمي سلك When you stretch your thin border’s wire, It cuts through bodies and mine uncontained; فهٰذي القصور وسكانها … لعمرك ملك لنا مشترك Thus these palaces and their proud folk, By oath! Are our common wealth and pain! وسيد عبد يظل قروناً … يقول له: أنت عبد، فشك A slave’s master may yap centuries Telling him “O slave!” So he strains. وأدرك قوته فاستدار … وحدق في ربه فارتبك Sensing his strength he turned and he faced His “lord” and so the latter enstrained; وقام من القيد حراً جميلاً … بحد الحسام احتبى واحتبك He then rose from chains free-born and fair, With the sword’s blade unsheathed, unrestrained! ففي شاطئ المتوسط كوم … تراكم من ألف قيد وصك On the Mediterranean’s shore there lies A thousand chains and contracts that strain. وفي الغد لن يحمل اللاجئين … بل الجنَّ يا صاحبي والمَلَكْ Thus the ‘morrow shan’t carry refuge, Rather jinn and angels, no longer profaned! فيا ذهباً من قيود العبيد … لنمض إلى من سبى أو سبك O gold once forged from slaves’ old chains, Let’s march to those who forged and who feigned! وقالوا: انتهكتم حدود البلاد … بلادكم دمنا المنتهك They said, ‘You breached our borders and lands!’ Rather your land is our blood when profaned! أرى عالماً بعد طول انتظار … رمى بعباءته واشتبك I see a world, at long last having woke, Its cloak of fear and its slumber away’d.” فقلت لصاحبتي: هونيها … فإن قام قائمها لم يرك So I told her, ‘Be calm, O my dear, When the uprising comes, do abstain. وتاجك مال اليتامى اخلعيه … وتوجتها بجميد الكرك This crown of yours of the orphans’ wealth, rid yourself! I crown thee now with Karak’s jamid, unstained! أظل دم بعد لم تسفكوه … فلا بأس أن تحملي منسفك Is there blood you’ve yet to spill? No harm then — carry your mansaf again!’”

Notes:

This is part of a larger Arabic work by Tamim al-Barghouthi available to view on YouTube. The poem is part of the rhymed prose story he composed.

The context of the poem is that the main character, al-Harith ibn Hammam, writes a letter to Tamim while the former was in exile in the modern age. He met with an African migrant to Europe (the "Northern Clime". It can also be the United States or Canada) and a white woman of the area. She was vegan, he was not. The trio went to an Arabic restaurant. Our protagonist ordered shawarma, the girl ordered vegetables, and the African ordered mansaf. When the mansaf was placed upon the table, the girl shrieked and began sermonizing about veganism and how eating animals is oppression, and persisted despite al-Harith explaining how Arabia is arid and has little edible greenery, such that if any of his (Arab) forefathers walked this lady's path, they'd have perished. The woman persisted and when she ended up slighting against Islam, the African and the protagonist got angry, so he took his companion's mansaf and chucked it at her before reciting the above poem.

The word mansaf (Ar: مَنْسَف) refers to a wonderful southern Levantine dish done best by the people of Karak in Jordan. The dish is described by al-Harith ibn Hammam in the prose before the poem as follows (translation my own as well):

Now, to the uninitiated: al-Karak, in the blessed lands of the Levant, is a country famed for its mansaf; and it is — may God bless you! — mountains upon mountains: layers of lamb and rice piled upon flatbread wider than cloaks of the mountains, vaster than deserts and their dusty dunes. Were a horse to carry it, it would return counted as a turtle entombed! It is heavier than the stubborn heretic, yet man, nonetheless, devours it standing and crescentic. Among them, it ranks in cuisine as the Great Pyramid among monuments — to be called simply “lamb with rice” is injustice, for it is far too majestic. They crown it with a yogurt-sort named  jamīd — a marvel of the Creator’s creation, nay, a marvel among marvels! Craved alike by the full and the famished, and eaten only by the boldness of fingers, unblemished.

Linguistically, the word mansaf does also refer more broadly speaking to that which removes or uproots. The entendre in the poem is that al-Harith ibn Hammam made the vegan lady carry her own uprooting, ie: her own fall from grace after being uprooted from power. Alternatively, it could be read as al-Harith saying, "no harm then, carry the consequences of your actions again!" with said actions being uprooting people from their homes like in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, etc.

There is obvious political satire and commentary here. The moral of the story is not that veganism is an inherently bad idea, but rather that the individual in the story propagating it refused to hear other views that were born from other contexts, and thus shamed those of the differing view.

My main curiosity is why the heck a vegan would go to an Arab restaurant, as our cuisine is full of meat. But alas. The moral is in the political commentary, not the whimsy common to this genre of Arabic literature. The whimsy and silliness is what makes it funny.

al-Harith ibn Hammam mentions, after the poem, the following:

The Rich History of Jordanian Mansaf: A National Dish

This is a whitewash of the real story, which I discussed in 2014 based on an article in Jordan's Ammon News:

According to the article, some historians say that the name of the dish comes from the root NSF which means "blowing up", "blasting", "destroying." A legend is told of an ancient "Arab" Moabite king from 885 BCE, Mesha, who asked that this dish be created as a way of expressing his animosity towards the Jews, whom he knew were planning to betray him. Mansaf is made of lamb cooked in a yogurt-based sauce and is not kosher because of the Jewish prohibition of eating meat cooked in milk. Therefore, the article claims, the dish was originally created to insult Jews.

The article says that the king of Moab created the dish as a "declaration of his people's hostility to the Jews since 885 BC. " His people enthusiastically responded, "knowing that this is nothing but a declaration of hostility against the treacherous Jews."