Among the Arabs of the 7th century, meals were not served one after another like separate courses: a leather cloth or carpet (sufra) was spread on the ground, and bread, dates, milk, and the hot dish were placed together. Everyone ate with the right hand from the common dish, using barley bread as a spoon. Hospitality (diyafa) was sacred: feeding the guest and the traveler was a duty of honor. In Fustat, the capital founded by Amr, this Bedouin sufra was enriched with beans, vegetables, and fish from the Nile.

The date, the sugar of the desert, binds the whole meal: it is eaten alone, melted in drinks, or crushed into the traveler's porridge. Samn (clarified butter from sheep or buffalo milk) flavors meat and bread. These two gifts of the desert and the oasis followed Amr from Mecca to the banks of the Nile.