Author Archives: megandetrie
The Gaza Kitchen cookbook recaptures lost history through food
Megan Detrie for The National // Apr 4, 2012 // Grilled sea bream, sour plums and citrus fruits were once the staples of the Gazan diet. In the evenings, families would gather around a plate of fried fish stuffed with dill, accompanied with fragrant, chilli-spiced rice. Now, the daily struggle to put food on the […]
One woman fights to lift the Saudi driving ban, and beyond
Megan Detrie for M magazine, The National March 13, 2012 Defying Saudi culture, Manal Al Sharif drove a vehicle last year and posted her experience online in an attempt to influence a change in women’s rights in the ultra-conservative country. Megan Detrie meets a pioneer determined to seek equality for her gender. Soft-spoken and diminutive, […]
Bassem Youssef is known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart for his no-nonsense stand
Megan Detrie for The National Feb 14, 2012 Bassem Youssef spends most of his day in a cramped room lined with whiteboards, poring over YouTube with a team of interns. Each week, they select clips from hours of news footage that exemplify the “deceit and hypocrisy” Youssef says is so prevalent in Egypt’s television news. […]
Experts in salvage bid amid ashes of Egypt’s history
Megan Detrie for The National Dec 30, 2011 CAIRO // Haitham Osman looks over mountains of charred books. He’s spent 16 hours a day training volunteers to handle fragile documents burnt during a fire at the Institut d’Egypt during the protests that have racked Cairo. Three volunteers in masks and surgical gloves carefully manoeuvre a […]
One Cairo band becomes a revolutionary discovery
Megan Detrie for The National Dec 29, 2011 When the rock band Cairokee agreed to perform last September in Mansoura, a conservative, agricultural city in the Nile Delta region, they expected to find few fans. Instead, they took to the stage to loud cheers from a packed audience. “Everyone was singing along – I was so […]
Large turnout in second round of Egyptian elections
Megan Detrie for The National Dec 15, 2011 SUEZ CITY // When Ashraf Aly visited the polls yesterday to vote in the second round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, he cast his ballot for the party he believes will form a civil, moderate government: the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). “People can’t distinguish now […]
Egypt set to count the votes cast by expatriates in second round of elections
Megan Detrie for The National Dec 13, 2011 CAIRO // Egyptian embassies abroad will count absentee ballots today for the second round of parliamentary elections after polls closed yesterday. Their numbers will be added to the votes cast within Egypt tomorrow and Thursday. Of the estimated eight million Egyptians abroad, 350,000 registered to cast absentee ballots in […]
Protester to President?
Megan Detrie for The National Dec 3, 2011 Bothaina Kamel helped to topple Hosni Mubarak and now is the only female candidate trying to replace him as president of Egypt. Following the latest protests in Tahrir Square, the charismatic activist tells Megan Detrie about her time in jail and the latest unrest when Egyptian security […]
Among the TV gourmets, a taste of Egypt’s humble cuisine
Megan Detrie for The National Oct 12, 2011 Working from a small kitchen with plastic plates, tin pots and a propane gas stove, Ghalia Mahmoud has become an unlikely television star. The 33-year-old former maid is causing a stir in Egypt with her new cooking show Elsit Elghalya (Precious Woman), where Mahmoud has become a voice for […]
Megan Detrie 