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3rd and 4th Graders enjoy middle eastern feast
Rudi Alabbadi and Natalie Thomson
On Friday, May 7, the 3rd and 4th grades from The Grammar School enjoyed a Middle Eastern lunch prepared by Rudi Alabbadi of Walpole. A mother of two children at the school and a native of Jordan, Alabbadi invited the students to her home as an extension of their Egyptian studies this spring. She traveled to Boston to purchase most of the ingredients for the meal, and also used special spices that she had brought from Jordan.
Alabbadi commented on the similarities in diet throughout the Middle East. She described how she spent several days preparing the food for the occasion, which included more than a dozen dishes made with rice, eggplant, chicken, salad, spinach, bread, nuts, and dried fruit, as well as assorted cookies and baklava for dessert. Though all the food was part of her family's normal fare, she explained that usually they would eat only one of the courses at a meal. Favorite dishes for the students were cheese pie and cheese and chicken rolls, and they all agreed that it was "a really, really delicious lunch."