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The Woman Behind Old Cairo’s Most Popular Falafel and Fuul

April 16, 2016

By Mohamed Omar, Daily News Egypt Mona Mohammed Ibrahim, 48, dropped out of school at the age of seven to begin working with her father in selling fruit. When she turned 18, she worked at a popular restaurant on Moez Street, known as the most famous fuul and falafel shop in Islamic Cairo. Today, she is the owner of the restaurant, and is known by her customers as “Aunt Franca”. Mona takes us back to when she started working in food. “I’ve been working in this field for 30 years. My father was a fruits seller and I’m his eldest daughter, and I used to go with him to Rood Al-Farag market when I was seven. I dropped out school to help my father raise my sisters. Then, when I turned 18, I sold falafel,” she says. About her day-to-day work, she said: “I start every day with Fajr [dawn] prayer, me and my son Mahmoud go to a mosque on Moez Street, and then we clean the shop and prepare orders. We finish after Asr [dusk] prayer. Sundays are my day off, and it is when I get to…


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