Maccha Doni

This Army flashback is inspired by Anne!

I was in Egypt during the summer of 1985 for an exercise called Bright Star. As the POL/water operations officer of the 240th QM Battalion, I was involved in providing hundreds of thousands of gallons of jet fuel, diesel, mogas, and water to Army and Air Force units conducting operations in the harsh desert environment.

It was a stressful six week stretch for me with little down time. Issues arose from trying to coordinate deliveries to various far flung units needing fuel and water at specific times, and with our host nation counterparts required to escort our transport vehicles, but who had a far more relaxed approach to the whole concept of time.

Additionally, we had been assigned the mission of putting to the test the Army's brand new Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units, only to discover that our source of raw water, Anwar's Well, was already perfectly safe and clear to drink, with no help necessary from our fancy multi-million dollar equipment, thank you very much.

Accountability was a nightmare in an environment where both fuel and water evaporated at mysterious rates, and on top of everything, my battalion commander had decided to use this particular exercise to "see what I was made of."

So, it was a welcome diversion to be invited, with two of my NCO's, to an Egyptian officer's quarters for a meal. With an array of colorful, piquant dishes before us, we sipped a sharp-tasting clear yellowish drink resembling camel urine and dug in--literally with our hands.

"Mmmm, what is this?" I asked, pointing to plump morsels in a thick, golden sauce. I was completely caught up in the thrill of being away from tents, MRE's, and my barking battalion commander, and everything tasted delightfully fresh and exotic.

Our cordial host smiled as he attempted to explain the dish in broken English, referring to it as something that sounded like Maccha Doni.

"Maccha Doni is delicious!" I gushed, rubbing my stomach for added emphasis. "How do you spell that?"

Patiently, he replied, "m-a-c-a-r-o-n-i."