The History of Kuwaiti Cuisine and its Tools:

Kuwaiti cuisine has gone through several stages until reaching its current state. This is primarily linked to the design of the space and the tools, as well as the availability of food and flavorings.

The Architectural Design of the Kuwaiti Kitchen:
The Kuwaiti home consists of several courtyards (open spaces with built-in parts), including the diwaniya courtyard, which is reserved for men only, and the haram courtyard, which is the family courtyard. This courtyard is the designated area for the kitchen and its associated facilities, such as a designated area for animals and a room for them to sleep in the winter, the dar al-kil or al-jeel (a room for storing provisions and food), the fuel room (a room designated for storing fuel), and an earthen courtyard with a central well (al-jaleeb) and a food drain. I will discuss these facilities in detail later, but first, let's talk about the kitchen.

The kitchen:

It consists of a room 3 meters long and 3 meters wide with a square opening for ventilation and morning light. It contains one or more "merki" (a base made of three stones or clay raised above the ground) for placing pots and lighting a fire. On the side is a wooden platform, approximately 2 or 2.5 meters long, 50 cm high, and 90 cm wide. It was placed inside or outside the kitchen to arrange cooking utensils after washing them.

There is also a small cupboard with two doors for storing spices, pots, and "malalis" (a large perforated spoon).

Kitchen Table:

It resembles a small table made of wood, measuring approximately two to two and a half meters in length, 80 to 90 cm in width, and 50 cm in height. It can be placed inside or outside the kitchen, and dishes can be arranged on it after washing to dry.

Kitchen Cupboard:

A simple wooden cabinet with two doors, the upper section of which is covered with a metal mesh that allows for ventilation and prevents insects from entering. It's approximately two meters high, one meter wide, and 50 cm deep. It stores food, spices, and other household and kitchen items.

The Hearth:

It is a pit surrounded by three stones covered with clay. Linguistically, the word "hearth" (maktawwad) and "stove" (mustawwad) refer to the location of the fire. A hearth (maktawwadah) is a small area made of stone and clay in which a fire is lit for cooking and other purposes. Wood, acid, and other materials mentioned above are placed between the hearths as fuel, and the fire is lit after a pot is placed on it.

There are several tools related to the stove, which are:

Plough :
It is an iron rod usually found next to the stove or brazier and used to stir the fire under the pot.
In Arabic, the word "plow" means "the thing used to stir the fire in the oven."

Al-Manqash:
Iron tongs used to pick up embers or bread from the oven. It is a kitchen staple and blacksmiths used to make it in various shapes and lengths.

Bellows:
A hand-held device used to blow air onto a fire to help light it. It has an oval shape and ends with a tube from which air is forced out. It consists of two identical parts connected by stretchable leather to help the air enter and exit. It is usually decorated with gold or silver pins in various shapes, including stars and roses.

The Biz:
It is a small, square piece of thick cloth, either lined with cotton, sewn by hand or with a sewing machine, used to hold hot pots. It is also used by coffee pourers to hold the coffee pot. People have a variety of colors and patterns to create its own.

The Marka:
It is a circular iron hoop erected on three or four legs, on which pots and jugs are placed, and a fire is lit beneath. It was made in various sizes depending on the size of the pots.

The tawa:
A thick, round, convex iron plate with a loop that can be hung from the wall after use. It is then placed on stands that raise it off the ground. A fire is lit underneath to heat it up, making it ready for rolling out the dough to make raqaq or bulbul bread—a type of thin white bread whose dough is mixed with sugar and sprinkled with saffron water when almost done. Other types of tawa are used to prepare sabib bread, which are small discs similar to modern pancakes and are topped with molasses or confectioner's sugar.

Al-Mudassamah:
A piece of cloth in which some fat is squeezed, then used to wipe the tawa after it is heated and before rolling out the dough to prevent it from sticking.

Joule:

It is an industrial stove of various types and sizes. It is ignited with kerosene. The ignition device was a thick cotton wick that ended in the fuel tank. When lit, it produced a very hot fire. It was used for cooking food before the advent of gas and electricity.

Primus:

It is a copper stove of varying sizes, consisting of a kerosene tank, with three stands on its sides, topped with a metal grate, on which the container to be heated is placed. A hole in the side of the tank exits, from which an air compressor pumps the kerosene through a tube that reaches the ignition head under the metal grate. When the flame fades due to the kerosene being trapped, a special needle called a Primus needle is inserted into the ignition and then removed. The flame quickly returns to full strength. It was often used to heat water.

Dar Al-Keil:

This room's name comes from the word "Keila" (pronounced "gim" in Persian), which is a container used to measure grains and the like. Women use it to determine the number of measures of rice needed by the household for a single meal. It can be made of copper, aluminum, or an empty can. What my mother inherited from my grandmother, and what we inherited from her, was a can of canned pineapple, of a specific brand that was unacceptable, used to measure rice. It was always available in a jute sack (i.e., a sack of bread) made of jute—jute is a natural fiber extracted from the jute plant in tropical regions and undergoes several stages of processing—or in a flour or lentil bag, which was considered the standard measure for the housewife.

I have heard many funny and sad stories about this room, especially in the Hamoula house, and this room is mentioned in many old Kuwaiti tales. The aunt or mistress of the house would lock that room and hang the key around her neck to ensure that no one would enter it and waste the available provisions. The matter was even more than that. In this room, there was a wooden box known as “Saharat Al-Kil” (in the Kuwaiti dialect, the letter “K” is changed to a Persian “G” so that it is pronounced like “CH” in English, and sometimes it is written as “J” like “Saharat Al-Jil”). In this box, which is found in some houses, it is a large, deep wooden box, its length ranging from one and a half to three meters approximately, and it has a lid with a lock. This box usually contains dates, flour, salt, sugar, fat, spices, some kitchen tools, and other utensils that are not used every day. Of course, the key is with the mistress of the house, and if she is very careful with this box, it might move to the bedroom.

It is also possible to store in this room some of the animal feed in the sheep pen, and dates packed in a “qala” which is made of palm fronds (khasaf) placed on top of each other. Sometimes the date syrup drips from it and falls on the ground, making this room a suitable place for some beasts and rodents, which makes it a frightening place for some. It also contains rice husks and legumes.

Fuel Storage Room:

It is a room for storing fuel materials used in the kitchen. The palm tree is one of the common trees in the Arabian Gulf and Kuwait as well. Nothing is thrown away from it, including materials used as fuel to light the cooking fire, such as:

Al-Karb:
It is the tops of the palm fronds. In the language, al-Karb refers to the thick, wide roots of the fronds that are cut with it. Its singular form is “karaba.”

Fiber:
The coarse brown fibers that grow around the fronds of the palm tree. It is used for many purposes other than fuel, such as making ropes.

Sa'af:
It is the palm frond with the palm leaves. Sa'af is the plural of safah. Before the frond dries, it is divided into several sections. The first is the jareed or kafoud, which is the entire frond when the palm leaves and thorns have been removed. The singular is jareeda. There is a popular game for children called kafoud, because it is the basic material used to make this game. The second part is the palm leaves, the kerb, the thorns, and the fibers. The Bedouins call it asib, and the plural is 'usab and 'usban, which is a pure Arabic name. Palm fronds were brought dry from neighboring countries by ship and used as fuel.

Acid:
It is any plant that grows during the summer and is salty. There are several types of it, including (Ramth, Qalam, Athl, Arad, Shinan, and Arfaj), including small shrubs with needle-like leaves. Some Bedouins used to collect firewood and carry it to the city on their donkeys to sell. It was characterized by its long burning time and high heat.

Charcoal:
Partially burned wood was brought to Kuwait from abroad for heating in the winter. When burned, it turned into embers. The charcoal trade was so popular in Kuwait that a special market was established for it, known as "The Charcoal Market," located behind Souq Waqif. It was sold in burlap.

Mangrove:
It is wood cut from trees, brought from abroad, and used as fuel after being cut into small pieces.

Kerosene
Kerosene, which is a substance that was used before the discovery of oil, was brought in tin cans from India and then from Abadan. Kerosene cans were sold from warehouses called "kazkhana," a Persian word meaning "kerosene," and "khana" meaning "house," or "kerosene house." From there, it was then sold to consumers. Kerosene was initially used for lighting and to help burn firewood. It was later used in "bukhari" (a type of heater) and industrial stoves. There were several types of these stoves, which burned kerosene and were called "kerosene stoves." These stoves had a thick cotton wick that ended in the fuel tank.

Al-Jallah:
Camel dung (dung) was collected in burlap sacks and sold in Al-Safa Square. People and bakers bought it mainly to use as fuel for ovens due to the intense heat it produces when burned. In Arabic, "Jallah" or "Jalla" means dung and dung. There is also "Khatha", which is cow dung. It was also collected, dried in the sun, and used as fuel or fertilizer for the soil. In Arabic, "Khatha" means to throw away the dung in one's stomach. The plural is "Akhthaa".

The Well (Al-Jaleeb) and the Food Drain:
This is a cement basin that was built in the corner of the courtyard adjacent to the kitchen for washing hands and household utensils. Food scraps would flow with the washing water into a covered hole nearby, specially constructed for this purpose, to prevent it from mixing with other wastewater. The drain, sluice, and baloo'a in Arabic are a hole used to drain water, or a channel in the middle of the house through which dirty water and filth flow. In dialect, the word "food" means food. The food drain was isolated from the restrooms to prevent food scraps from mixing with other wastewater.