Get to Know the Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa
Roberta Duyff, MS, RDN, FADA, FAND
This section addresses the common food practices, related health conditions, and nutrition counseling considerations for people in the US who identify with Middle Eastern heritage. Chapter 24 addresses the demographics, related health conditions, common food and health practices, and nutrition counseling considerations of more recent immigrants from the Levant region of the Middle East.
The Middle East is often linked politically and culturally
to the larger transcontinental MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). Extending across two continents, MENA includes West Asia (Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine including the West Bank and Gaza, and Syria), South Central Asia (Iran), Southwest Asia (Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates [UAE], and Yemen, all on the Arabian Peninsula), North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia), North Africa and Southwest Asia (Egypt), and sometimes Southeast Europe (Türkiye).1