Yemeni Customs (table manners)

If you like dining for an hour or two, Yemen is not the right place for you. Food is usually consumed in as little time possible.
Lunch is the main meal and breakfast and dinner are similar. All meals can be had in restaurants. There, the food is ready before you order, so you never have to wait long. Some restaurants only serve one kind of food, like salta. Cafetarias or small restaurants for breakfast have only beans and eggs on the menu, and sometimes maybe liver. These places are exclusively for men. Women can eat in bigger restaurants with a family section. These restaurants often have rice, meat, chicken, salta, and salad on the menu for lunch although some have a little more choice.
While most restaurants have tables to eat at, the majority of the population prefers to eat on the floor, which is done at home. A mat or piece of plastic is spread out and the dishes are placed on it. Yemenis don't have separate plates for each person; everyone eats together from the dishes in front of them. Bread, spoons, or simply your fingers (of your right hand only) are used to pick up the food. Whoever has eaten his fill says "alhamdulillah", gets up, washes his hands, and then sits down a little away from the people who are still eating, sipping from a glass of tea. A guest will be encouraged to eat a lot to show hospitality but can also get up whenever he desires. Although everyday food is often simple, a guest will most probably be served special dishes like meat, chicken, bint-as-sahn (a sort of layered bread with honey), or shafoot (bread soaked in yogurt and zahaweq). When a guest visits a family for a meal, the men and women eat in different rooms.