Many people in Libya did not cook in a healthy way.
Whatever they cook, all had to have tomatoes in it (except the sweet dishes of course…) There had been a recent study abt that way of cooking fm Jordan. Many Libyans went there to be treated medically. Most of the Libyans suffer fm cancer, gall stones and other sicknesses, like arthritis. Most of those go with nutrition. Most of the Libyans cook the food for such a long time that the food is completely dehydrated. Nobody ever had heard of short frying or steaming. All had to be cooked for a very long time!
That day his mother arrived with a plate of Cous-Cous. Actually I like Cous-Cous, because hers was home-made. I even once joined her to prepare it. The best Cous-Cous I had fm her. You can throw ALL which you buy in stores, you will never compare it to the delicacy there! But there were tomatoes, tomatoes again, all the veggies were over cooked the meat, she puts it in the cold water, instead of the hot one. So the meat was tasteless somehow and bore a leathery consistence. You can put the meat in cold water to cook it, then at least you can expect to have a soup stock, yet not a real tasty dish. I nearly… You know what…. Anyway, I left it to my husband. He could eat it.
You can also buy chicken, battery chicken (that was in an English book edition in 2005; hope I translated that one correctly. Actually you can also refer to animal caging). They tasted like fish and were simply awful to eat. Once Salah bought some free-range chicken. WOW, all in one; i.e. with feathers, heads and feet. His mother had to take off the feathers, it stank to the level, I had to leave, I nearly got sick. At least the chicken were very delicious. Not on the grill but later on, I cooked the grilled ones in a cream sauce. Normally the youngest sister of Salah did not like sauces at all, but this one she adored. So she even asked me how I had prepared it. I never told her, because to explain the roots of the European kitchen to her, would have taken some years. Yet she even admitted that she disliked cooking anyway… I wished I would have been able to prepare a Coq au Vin. Where to find WINE??? LOL. Maybe Aceto di Modena would do the trick? I would have to try that one. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity in all these 5 years.