Faces of the World: Saudi Arabia
I have not done a Faces of the World in awhile… This is the first randomly generated country today. The woman is actually the Saudi Princess Ameerah Al Taweel. The man is from a photo in a tech article.
The main ethnic group in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is Arab and the official religion is Islam.
Faces of the World: Bangladesh
Bengali Actor, Arefin Shuvo, and a girl from a Bengali Village.
Ethnic Bengali’s make up 98% of their population, and their main Religion (83%) is Islam. However, 16% practice Hinduism. Bangladesh is a hierarchical society. Age and position are respected. Bangladesh gained its independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Tips: Wait to remove the skin after finished cooking. Also do not use boneless. The skin and marrow is very important for the flavor. The olives are also essential to the flavor. Do not put too many or it will over power the dish. Saffron should also be used sparingly. First of all it is the most expensive spice in the world and worth more it’s weight than gold is. A pinch goes a very long way.
Also this dish is made in a Tagine pot. These pots are native to Morocco. I have tried many times to bring one home, but it is always broken on the journey. They are made from ceramic and work best on range top/fire cookers. It Tagine pot does not work as well if you have an electric or glass top stove. A good ceramic pan works great though.
Unlike most Asian countries, in East Timor, the main diet staple is corn and not rice.
Faces of the World: Zimbabwe
There are two main indigenous tribes/ethnic groups of Zimbabwe. They are the Shona (who make up 80% of the population), and the Ndebele (who make up 12% of the population. This man and woman are of the Shona group. The Ndebele can usually be identified by the rings worn to elongate their necks. The country also still has a very small amount of Europeans as it was once a British colony until about 50 years ago. The main religion of Zimbabwe is Christianity. Other religions present are Islam, and Baha’i.
The shotgun house was the popular and average style of house in the United States since the Civil War and into the Great Depression. Shotgun style homes have a unique layout. They are narrow and only about 12 feet wide. Length of houses varied as house taxes were determined by the width of your house (how much house was facing the street) and not how long or deep your house was. Also, in a shotgun house, each room is directly behind the other room. Most would be laid out with a porch and the Living/Sitting room in the front, the bedroom next, then followed by the Kitchen and small bathroom in the corner. Many of these house still survive in Louisiana, especially in the New Orleans French Quarter.
How did the shotgun house get it’s name? Well traditionally all the doors of the house align so that if you open the front door, the room doors, and the rear door, you could shoot a shotgun through the house into the front and out the rear end (or vice versa). However there are some houses that have misaligned doors and the reasoning behind this has its roots buried in superstition and folklore. At the time, the belief in ghosts were wide spread. It was believed that ghosts were attracted to shogun houses, as they could pass quickly and directly through them. (Apparently post Civil War ghost were polite and had impeccable manners, as they did not travel through walls.) Due to this belief, you can find many old shotgun houses with misaligned doors, although the oldest ones tend to have aligned doors.
Faces of the World: Laos
Our Laotian faces are a man and woman in traditional Laotian dress.
Laos is home to many ethnic groups, the dominate ones being Lao, Khmu, and Hmong. Loas was once colonized by the French, but they gained their independence in 1953. Laos is mainly Buddhist.
