What the Halwa...?

Oh, you think I talk about food a lot? Well don't get me wrong, I'm not a foodie, I'm just straight up greedy.

Firstly respect to me, because I just walked around the supermarket taking pictures and everyone thought I was a bit mental, but I think you'll agree, it's worth it.

So the diet here is pretty Mediterranean, maybe French Mediterranean meets Africa. And like France - people know about their yogurts. I knew I had settled in here, and I really felt like Tunisia was home, when I went home home and was in Safeways with my Mum and proclaimed loudly in the chilled section "This is all you've got?!? In Tunisia, we have aisles and aisles of yogurts!!" and it's true, it the 'Big Carrefour' there are 5 aisles of yogurts. Five. You walk down them and there are yogurts on either side. You cannot believe he flavours; pistachio, apple and vanilla, biscuit, date, peach, fig, prune, almond and all your regulars like strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, lemon...
The yogurt department at my local supermarket is a lot smaller, but it still represents, this is the Danone section:

So Harissa, the glorious chilli and tomato paste is another Tunisian culinary delight that gets a lot of floor space in the supermarket. I actually saw some in a supermarket in the UK when I was last home, in the 'world food' section, but here Harissa gets a section all of its own, floor to ceiling:

You can buy it in tins, jars, tubes... you can even buy it in bags from the fresh counter. Just make sure you have it, it's a diet staple.

So another thing that had attracted my curiosity was a product called Halwa. I had seen the laden shelves of tubs, tins and packets and had absolutely no idea what it was. I asked everyone, but everyone didn't know either. No one served it at there house, no one gave it to me... I couldn't get to grips with what it was, and why is got so much space in the supermarket.

 

So I never bought any and I just went on wondering and wondering. Until the La Marsa half marathon, where we were given a little tin in our post-race bags. The other night I sat down and tucked-in... oh my.

Firstly, how cute is the little deer on the tin? doesn't it just whet your appetite?

So the Halwa itself was like a really soft nougat, made from sesame paste. It has a bizarre texture, it's really crumbly - not just in a melt-in-your mouth way... more like a oh-this-is-a-bit-weird way...

The other types in the supermarket come with almonds or pistachios or dried fruit - I think this would be a bit more exciting, but I still can't work out quite how it's served. The other tubs are much too big for one person at once - are you supposed to just eat it straight out of the tin or tub? Or spread it on to something? Or cut it into cubes?

Guys, for you I will continue to look into this. My work here is not yet done. The adventure continues...