In light of the spread of eating applications .. Does the Algerian accept food that his mother or wife does not prepare?

Laila Mangour - Algeria

If the Algerian man is generally satisfied only with the food that his wife, mother, or sister prepares, then he may be forced to abandon this habit, because the circumstances of life have changed and the "cook of the house" has become increasingly busy and burdens on her.

Women no longer spend most of their time between the corners of the kitchen after finding that they can fill the stomach of their husband and family members with dishes provided by social media pages and applications such as Facebook and Instagram, prepared by women and men who realized the importance of eating homes in light of the increased awareness of the dangers of fast foods that are widespread in the cities of Algeria.

Cooking business booms
In recent years, what can be called the cooking trade flourished in Algeria, and television and other channels appeared on YouTube, in which cooks and cooks competed in order to attract consumers to dishes from varied meals and foods.

In light of this competition, a group of those interested in cooking in Algiers went towards home-made or home-cooked food on the pretext of its quality and availability on health conditions, as it opened some homes and stores to sell this type of food.

Pages and platforms on the Internet for many citizens have been devoted to, promoting and marketing a wide variety of foods and the legacies of the Algerian table in general , using pictures and videos of dishes that make the food lovers enjoy.

homemade
And spread many applications for eating in Algeria, such as "Jumia Food", "Yasser Food" and "Food Paper", which are the applications that made the consumer request through his smartphone any meal he wants while he is inside his home or work to reach it in a few minutes or hours, thanks to Delivery service for customers.

"Mai Maakleh" is a newly launched application, which has pages on social media, and identifies itself as a site for selling food equipped in homes and describes its foods as fresh, varied and healthy.

The application provides daily for its users in all regions of Algiers a list of meals and dinners, including modern and traditional foods required by Algerians such as "Rashta" and "Al-Shakhkhoukh", and those responsible for the process of delivery of the requests.

From sports to food
Khaled Doudou, 40, relies heavily on Facebook and Instagram to sell traditional and modern items of meals prepared by a team of cooks and cooks. He says technology has helped him a lot in his field.

Khaled Al-Qaten, in the Raghaya region, east of the Algerian capital, launched his project in 2017 with his wife, who was forced to leave her job at a French company in order to support him. His motive - according to his statement to Al-Jazeera Net - was to help consumers maintain their health, as he suffers from diabetes.

The young man - a former athlete and holder of a degree in management and marketing - began providing daily meals for the national companies contracting with him, then expanded his activities to include families and individuals, where requests are made via mobile phone or e-mail after he publishes a daily list of meals on Instagram and Facebook.

Meals that Khaled sells through the media include modern foods such as appetizers, salads and main dishes, and what is traditional such as pistil, rashta and couscous, and says that traditional food orders are frequent in seasons and occasions.

He stresses that the meals that he provides to the consumer bear the specifications of eating homes, as he adopts steamed food and avoids the dishes fried in oil.

There is no substitute for traditional food
Jamila, 51, runs her and her husband a small store called "Harirat Al-Hidab" in the Taksrin region of Bir Mourad Rais district in the Algerian capital, devoted to the sale of traditional household food, especially pastries such as al-Mutla 'bread, veils, sponges, and kasra.

Jamila says that her food is prepared with healthy specifications, as she does not use the raw material (semolina coarse) in preparing pastries, and she suffices with soft semolina and wheat.

Despite her small space, Jamila receives many customers who missed traditional dishes in their homes, as was the case with Mr. Murad, 45, who says that he was deprived of these foods since the death of his mother, because his wife is not interested in pastries and invokes that these foods are harmful to health and spoil them Special "diet".

supporter and opposer
The views of people in Algiers differ regarding the requests for home eating. Ms. Fazia, 50, works for the National Commercial Registry, supports buying some ready-to-eat foods from restaurants and eating shops, and she continues to use eating applications every week to meet the wishes of her children.

But she strongly opposes ordering traditional foods, and she tells Al Jazeera Net that she does not have enough time to make pastries such as veiled, bright, sprinkled, or pissed, but she tries to organize her affairs to prepare her on her own, especially on religious occasions.

Fazia does not believe that ready-made foods generally will eliminate eating in the hands of mothers and wives, because Algerian families are very conservative of their customs and traditions, and most of them teach their daughters from childhood the origins of cooking and the requirements of the kitchen.

Ahmed Lasheeb, 29, and an employee of Algeria Telecom, does not object to his wife bringing his food from food stores, and he tells Al Jazeera Net that "my wife will not find better than me in Algeria."

However, this young man admits that the food equipped with his mother's hands remains the best, and that he only relishes traditional Algerian dishes prepared at home.