“You take one spoon of balsamic oil, one spoon of mustard, a bit of pepper and salt, and three spoons of olive oil. It’s the perfect vinaigrette.” Mounir Makar, a former banker and economist by background, stands amidst hundreds of celery plants, mini spinach, mixed lettuce, and other leafy greens. They are bathing in water, floating in enormous basins well-calculatedly placed within a greenhouse. We, and the other visitors gathered for one of Makar Farms’ famed Saturday lunches, attentively listen as the farm’s leading man explains how this hydroponic system came into existence. The dressing recipe comes for free, Makar’s wit by nature. “The system is constructed with tools that…

Blessed are the hands of a farmer who, through his hard labor and devotion, feeds mankind. Wael is an Egyptian farmer. With no previous experience in farming, Wael decided to leave the corporate world behind and, in February 2017, buy a plot of land that today he proudly calls Wiiwii’s Farm. Wiiwii’s Farm is an organic farm adorned with olive and lemon trees, vegetable and herb plants, chickens and goats, and the sound of birds that gives tranquility to the mind, far away from Cairo’s busy city life. Situated off Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, the owner of the farm, Wael Basheer, isolated himself from the metropolis by choice, to start his…

Living in Cairo for almost two years, I feel a sense of amazement to walk on grounds where the world’s most agricultural civilization ever has lived thousands of years ago. Agriculture was the foundation of the ancient Egyptian economy and was vital to the lives of the Egyptian people. To provide the civilization with food, the Egyptians were dependent on the gift of the Nile—the yearly flooding that left behind a black fertile soil, kemet, to grow crops and raise animals on. Animals, in particular cattle, were used to work the land—trample the seeds, pull the plough, and eat leftover grain—and to provide the Egyptians with food and drink. Agriculture…