Among the Arabs of early Islam, meals are not eaten at a table but around the sufra: a large piece of leather or cloth spread directly on the ground, upon which communal dishes are placed. People sit in a circle, eat with the right hand from the shared dish, and begin and end in the name of God. There is no starter-main-dessert service: bread, dates, milk, and on feast days, meat, all arrive together. The sufra of the governor of Egypt, more abundantly filled, mingles the austerity of the Arabian desert with the abundance of the Nile.

The date is the beating heart of this cuisine: food, sweetness, currency, and campaign provision. Combined with samn (melted and clarified butter that keeps without refrigeration) and milk, it nourishes both the Bedouin and the sailor of the fleet. Where medieval Europe uses honey, Arabia uses the date.