Mideast Piece

According to this report, even with all the craziness that goes on in the Middle East it seems that people here are able to stay happy because of - HUMMUS! That’s right, smashed chickpeas make you happy.

Apparently, this food contains an amino acid called tryptophan that, when consumed in large quantities, turns into serotonin, which makes one feel happier. This was discovered in a study by nutrition expert Dr. Zohar Kerem and others. The finding was reported early this year on the nrg.co.il Web site.

All I know is that if eating your share of hummus makes you look like this Middle Eastern hottie, then I am all for it and it’s Prozac effect is just a bonus!

I don’t have stats at my fingertips, but I can tell you there are a lot less obese people in the Middle East than in Western countries (especially “Supersize Me” USA). Factors likely include much less fast food, less processed food, more physical activity (no harsh winter months trapping you indoors) and less of a sit-in-front-of-the-TV-and-Internet culture (though that’s growing too).

New research revealed this week shows that gay men are at higher risk for eating disorders, in part due to the community’s alleged body-focused culture. Food for many people - gay, straight, men, women - can be used like a drug, to help put a lid on anxiety and life problems. Whatever the cause, eating disorders are increasing around the world, with certain populations (i.e., gays) at higher risk than others.

(Pictured above is falafel, eaten throughout the region - mmm, fried balls!)

In case you’re wondering where you could buy one, Shirat HaSirena over at Zabaj has the inside scoop on hot, fresh HOMOS! This sign was spotted in Jerusalem. I assume the sign used to read “humus“.

I know that it’s a little late but I have been very busy having a little spring fling! (And no, you are not going to hear all about it here!) Anyway, even though I don’t consider myself “Christian” anymore - now I’m “spiritual” - I still celebrate to some degree the big Christian holidays that I grew up with. Easter for me means getting together with family and eating ham. That’s a challenge here since my family all lives in the US and both religious Jews and Muslims consider pork unclean to eat. You can find find ham in the Middle East, but it’s not the same as what we have in the Southern US.

So, instead of eating ham this Easter, my friend G and I dyed Easter eggs. We had loads of fun! My aunt sent me dye packets last year that I managed to keep until this Easter. I got the dyes all ready to go. G and I took off our shirts (hot!) and got to work coloring our eggs. We were so cute sitting on my balcony coloring our eggs!

The picture above features yours truly and a few of our more artistic creations. Happy Spring, everybody!

Our friends over at Zabaj: the Junk in Israel’s Trunk, recently shared with us about Cock Mints which offer the warning, “Don’t joke to sickman & cowardiness”. I think that’s pretty good advice all around.

Today you will meet a semi-ancient gay Arab poet, and get a taste of his adoration for the same Mideast pieces we lust after.

Muhammad al-Nawaji bin Hasan bin Ali bin Othman was born at the end of the 14th century in Egypt. He was a devout and highly educated man, and for people of his class, the erotic and the divine were closely linked. I cannot find direct mention of this man being an “out” homo, but, then again, in those days societies were not as obsessed with this black-and-white binary worldview (”You are either gay or straight, pick one!”).

Back then, as you can see below in al-Nawaji’s poems, men could worship the male physique and mystique without always having to worry about what others thought of their “sexuality.” Check out these steamy “gay” Arabic poems more than 600-years old:

For a milkman:

Ever since I bound myself
In passion
To a milkman,
The very picture of seduction,
I tell him over and over,
“Be generous and grant me
A swallow of you,
O delectable milkman.”

For a pretty seller of cucumbers:

God! How beautiful, this young
Cucumber seller, and a face to make
The sun itself blush at noontime.

The day he agreed to a tender meeting
I was overwhelmed.
Ah, how I savored
That mouthful of cucumber.

For a Turk:

I have chosen from among the sons of the Turks
A young male gazelle.
In my burning desire to possess him
I have consumed my life to no purpose.

I asked him one day
“What will put out the fire
That you have lit in me,
O, most fearsome of men?”
He answered, “My lips.”