The desert of east Sudan. Photo by Sharif Baasher.

If you wander through the deserts and hot winds of Sudan, you’ll be rewarded with a collection of richly spiced and lemon-laced foods, and even cooling cucumber and yogurt salads [Recipe].

You’ll recognize many dishes traditionally enjoyed by the Sudanese from our previous Global Table meals, such as ful medames (also enjoyed in Egypt), kofta, and basboosa (beloved throughout the Middle East).

That basboosa cake? It’s soaked with lemon and rosewater syrup.

I could eat that every day for the rest of my life and be a very happy woman.

Manasir Woman preparing Qurasah (قراصة), the daily bread on Sherari Island in Dar al-Manasir in Northern Sudan (c) GFDL David Haberlah

Like Ethiopia, flatbreads are incredibly popular in Sudan. Diners enjoy their meals with a wide range, including injera, sorghum crepes (kisra), and Gorraasa (simple flour and water flatbreads) [Recipe].

When you’re done eating, you might trouble one of the Tea Women for a spot of cinnamon tea [Recipe].

They sell it right on the side of the road… so don’t hesitate!

Market in Darfur courtesy of COSV.

Just be sure to keep an eye out for an impending haboob… otherwise known as a sandstorm of such intensity that it can blot out the sun.

Phew.

Sudanese maps and flag courtesy of CIA World Factbook.

I’ve never been in a sandstorm, but when I lived in Paris, sometimes sand would settle on our windshields after a particularly windy day. Locals told me that the sand had been swept up from African sandstorms and carried all the way to France.

Amazing.