Food is also a part of all relationships, as you almost always meet friends for food or coffee.
Following my tour of the city in the first week, I had the opportunity to attend a cooking class to learn to make Maqluba, one of the most famous dishes in Jordan. Making Maqluba is fun! It involves deep frying vegetables in olive oil, layering vegetables, chicken, and seasoned rice in a cylindrical oven dish. Then more oil is added on top, and finally (and most fun), the dish is flipped after baking onto a plate to create a dome-shaped pile of delicious food. While the class itself was somewhat confusing with the instructions entirely in Arabic, the women showed us how to use traditional cooking instruments, and it ended with us eating an incredible meal.
One of the most important things to know about Jordan is that it is the second most water-scarce country in the world. Water conservation is essential in all parts of the culture--from taking quick showers, washing clothes only once a week, and of course, cooking with ingredients and resources that can be found in the desert. This is why olive oil is a part of every dish here. It is also why the most common meats in dishes are chicken and lamb, which both use a lot less water than beef. There is also a lot of import of ingredients and dishes from other countries in the region making the Jordanian cuisine very diverse.
