Earthenware: Keeps food hot and Yemeni heritage alive [Archives:2007/1026/Reportage]
February 19 2007
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For Yemen Times
Yemen is renowned for its rich heritage and civilization. Despite an increasingly modern lifestyle, Yemenis still maintain their ancient traditions, especially their eating habits. Most Yemenis still eat sitting on the floor and use earthenware to cook and serve their meals. This reflects their great pride in their culture, rarely trying to imitate others.
Since time immemorial, Yemenis, and more recently foreigners, use mud-based earthenware as the preferred choice without substitution, regardless of the technical demands of the modern world. Despite modern industries manufacturing kitchenware of glass, metal and copper, earthenware ranks first in Yemeni cooking.
Throughout Sana'a and other governorates, factories manufacture earthenware utensils. Many districts are known for their earthenware by name. For example, Al- Haisei (the cup-like glasses) are named for the Hais area and the Saddi Magla made in Saddah. But is earthenware as popular today as before, or are they on the road to extinction?
Hajj Ali Al-Matari, buying some earthenware commented, \”I cannot imagine a Yemeni house without a piece of earthenware
