Paper short abstract:

This paper is a turn towards the notion of culture and food as an “art of living” and as a way for men to engage with everyday family living.

Paper long abstract:

This paper is a turn towards the notion of culture and food as an "art of living" and as a way for men to engage with everyday family living. I make two central arguments. The first is that food creates a core social bond between men and their household and community. The second is that food serves to overturn the Muslim Arab masculinity slot, since it marks or mediates men as active and practicing nurturers. What makes food such a powerful arena of masculinity in Egypt? How does food construct men's terrain of nurturing and relationships?

I hope that this exploration into what food should and can do in men´s daily practices opens up interesting questions regarding gender and the anthropology of food in the Middle East.