One hump or two? Feisty camels might have a bad rap, but their milk is low in fat, and full of vitamin C and iron. The next thing to hit Whole Foods?

At the tail end of breastfeeding week, we thought we’d draw attention to another kind of milk widely touted in the Middle East to be the magical elixir of health.

A staple of their diet, along with dates, camel milk has long provided Bedouins with the proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins necessary to survive a desert-dwelling existence.

And unlike cow’s milk, which creates allergies in many consumers, camel milk is blessedly allergen free. Camelicious bottles this humped concoction in different flavors and sizes that are available at supermarkets throughout Dubai.

1. The healthier choice:

Considered to be the closest substitute for mother’s milk, camel milk is not only low in fat and full of vitamin C, but it doesn’t curdle in the stomach. Therefore, it’s easy for the body to process it.

2. The Bedouins swear by it:

Travel to any Bedouin home, and you’re likely to find a camel nearby. After giving birth, mama camel can easily produce 5 liters of milk a day, though friendly coercion and good diet can stimulate more production. The Bedouins insist on the milk’s holistic properties, as indeed, it was used as a moisturizer and sunscreen as well as food. The Bedouin have plenty of health hacks. Find lots more here.

3. Free range:

The Emirates Industry for Camel Milk And Products (EICMP) Have Diversified Camel Stock, which is relatively free range.

No business in their right profit mind would admit to dodgy conditions for their animals, but the company Camelicious claims that their animals are happy and healthy. In addition, the camels bred for milk are  interbred with camels from Pakistan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, producing a superior genetic strain.

4. Camel milking is potentially more humane:

Camels are typically milked for 12-16 months after giving birth, before they are encouraged to breed again; the equipment used to milk them is designed to be safe for their udders and to avoid mastitis – a common condition among dairy cows.

5. Camel milk tastes good too!

Free of cow’s allergens, and milder than goat’s milk, camel milk just might be the perfect compromise. It’s not too sweet, and drinking it won’t cause an upset stomach either.

6. No chemicals added:

With 5 times the amount of Vitamin C in camel’s milk, and full of iron, camel’s milk needs no nutritional help. It has a shelf life of 5 days before pasteurization, after which it will survive for up to 3 weeks. Camel’s milk is just as versatile as other milk, used as it is to produce low-fat varieties of cheese, chocolate, and a fermented delicacy that is used in areas that lack refrigeration.

So, put away your carton of steroid-infused cow’s milk and genetically modified soy, and find yourself a liter of choco-camel milk instead. That is, for those who observe Ramadan, after the sun has set.

Fermented camel milk products include chal or shubat in Central Asia and Iran, khoormog in Mongolia, garris in Sudan, suusac in Kenya, leben (lben) in Arab countries, and ititu and dhanaan in Ethiopia

Updated, Feb 2025

More Food and Health News From the Middle East:

Chemicals Colouring Our Food – A Rainbow to Avoid

Organic Farms Growing in Dubai

Interview With Locavore Expert Leda Meredith

The post Six “Green” Reasons To Drink Camel’s Milk appeared first on Green Prophet.

Historically marginalized and evicted from Giza in 1970, a community of Coptic Christians took up residence at the foot of the Mokattam hills in south east Cairo.

Burned by their previous experience, the religious group hesitated to build permanent churches in their settlement, which is now lined with mountains of trash, until 1976, when a fire broke out in Manshiyat Nasir.

The first 1,000 square foot cave church was carved at the foot of Mokattam mountain. The largest in the Middle East – the Monastery of St. Simon the Tame, a Coptic Christian saint – has an ampitheater that boasts a seating capacity of 20,000 devotees.

St. Bola’s Church, St. Marks Church, and St. Simon the Tanner’s Hall are among the six additional cave churches carved out of the rock, which continue to serve the community to this day.

Despite their status as outcasts, the Zabaleen have proven themselves to be not only excellent craftsmen whose attention to detail in the cave churches is sensational, but their garbage recycling operations are exceptionally efficient.

The subject of a popular documentary, the Zabaleen also used to raise pigs, which are considered haram (unclean) by Muslims, to manage Cairo’s organic waste as well. But then the government culled most of them in response to the swine flu epidemic in 2009.

A small handful of pigs have made a quiet comeback since then, though they remain in hidden corners of Garbage City.

Getting pork out of Egypt

Although Egypt has lost a lot of its tourists as a result of the post-revolution instability and occasional bouts of violence, the Cave Churches continue to attract a few.

If you are amazed about the power of garbage collectors, see how the Turkish garbage collectors in Ankara have built a massive library from books they found in the trash.

Images via Flickr. This story was updated in 2024 by Karin Kloosterman.

The post Go to mass in a Cairo, Egypt church built out of a cave appeared first on Green Prophet.

For years empirical evidence has suggested that the Mediterranean diet, which includes a lot of fish, nuts, olive oil, fruits and vegetables, is superior to others, but it has been exceptionally difficult to prove the relationship between food and diet given that so many other factors can influence a person’s health. Plus, let’s face it: how disciplined are any of us when it comes to food?

So professor of medicine Dr. Ramon Estruch and other researchers from the University of Barcelona traveled the globe to determine whether diet alone can be used to treat people who are at high risk of heart disease and then came up with a fail-proof method to test that hypothesis, the New York Times reports.

After consulting with professionals from around the globe, the researchers rounded up 7,447 people from Spain that exhibited all of the risk factors associated with heart disease, including smoking and excess weight, and split them into three control groups.

One of these was instructed to follow a low fat diet, while the other two groups were encouraged to consume stipulated quantities of olive oil or nuts; drinkers were even encouraged to drink seven glasses of wine each week.

After five years the study concluded early because of overwhelming evidence that a Mediterranean diet reduces risk of heart disease by 30 percent, according to NYT.

Rachel Johnson, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association, told the paper that she thought the study was very impressive.

“And the really important thing — the coolest thing — is that they used very meaningful endpoints. They did not look at risk factors like cholesterol or hypertension or weight. They looked at heart attacks and strokes and death. At the end of the day, that is what really matters,” she said.

Even though no weight loss occurred as a result of the new diet, which eliminated processed, sugary foods while permitting high calorie nuts and oils, participants of the study experienced a dramatic increase in health and in a shorter amount of time than Dr. Estruch expected. He said he was surprised.

Results of the study were recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine and some researchers have since expressed doubt of their merits. Doctors who advocate for vegan diets, for example, claim that the “awful control diet” of toxic junk food actually caused some of the participants to die of stroke or heart attack.

The researchers did admit that more research must be done to determine whether the diet would be effective for people who are at low risk of disease.

Other diets that complement the Med diet featured on websites like https://www.tasteaholics.com, includes the keto diet. The keto or ketogenic diet is a high-fat, protein and low carb diet that is used by nutritionists and doctors to force the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.

Olive oil, anyone? Here are 10 weird and wonderful uses.

The post The Mediterranean diet is officially awesome and heart smart appeared first on Green Prophet.

From vertical farming to rooftop gardening, here are 7 of the best agricultural companies and projects put in practice in the Middle East.

There’s no getting around it: the world is becoming a much less secure place in which to live. Economies are tanking, geo-political systems are in turmoil, weather events such as wintertime drought are becoming more frequent and serious, and already dangerous planetary warming is being exacerbated by phenomenon such as giant plumes of gurgling methane discovered in the great white north.

All of these factors have an impact on the ability of ordinary people to find healthy food at decent prices.

So we have gathered a few big ideas that are being harnessed in the Middle East region to address these challenges and increase our resilience amidst one of the most uncertain times that humanity has faced.

Read on for the not-to-miss list.

1. Eddy 

Eddy (see website here) is a low-cost device packed with powerful sensors that makes it easy for anyone, anywhere to access the benefits of hyper-local food. It is built with artificial intelligence to listen to plants and understand exactly what they need when they are growing in your spare bedroom or rooftop garden or farm. Pick up Eddy, add it to your garden, add seed types, nutrient types, connect with people nearby and Eddy will guide you through to perfection.

The company is in the hot area of urban agriculture and like Aerofarms (#2 on our list) Eddy can be used in any sized hydroponic garden or vertical farm. It sits in the water reservoir, and by connecting you to community and data, you are able to grow any kind of food in the world. Using hydroponics. The company is offering a 50% discount to the first 1000 people who sign up to order the product when it ships in the coming months. Sign up here to secure your product and discount. Hydroponics is great for the Middle East, as it’s up to 90% water efficient.

2. AeroFarms Vertical Farming

Green Prophet writer Susan Kraemer wrote that AeroFarms could herald one of the most important developments in food harvesting since humans switched from hunting and gathering to farming. Based in New Jersey, Aeroponics using a method of hydroponics to grow hyper-local food.

These clever stacked farms that can be used virtually anywhere – including inside buildings in the heart of any city – use aeroponic farming technology instead of soil and sunshine to grow food. Saudi Arabia has already embraced the technology that specifically addresses estimates that 80% of the world’s burgeoning population will be living in cities by 2050.

Since this company has come online, a hot new food tech startup flux, has taken hydroponics one step further, by adding a layer of artificial intelligence to understand the language of plants.

3. Yemenite Rainwater Harvesting

It’s not tech by today’s standards, but it’s traditional innovation. Food grows where water flows, so harvesting rainwater in nearly dry cities such as Sana’a in Yemen is absolutely pivotal to any kind of agricultural success.

Which is why Sabrina Faber’s award-winning rainwater capture system is so clever. Adding to its ingenuity is its sheer simplicity: the rainwater harvesting system will be incorporated into rooftops and is modelled after traditional capture designs Faber has seen out in Yemen’s countryside.

4. Gaza’s Green Roofs of Herbs and Vegetables

“They” say that necessity is the mother of invention, and this is turning out to be particularly true when it comes to food. Many residents in Gaza have experienced have embraced one of the largest growing urban agricultural solutions. They are building their own hydroponics solutions.

Having no land and stunted access to to food, many people in this politically-charged strip of land are growing cabbage, eggplants, and endochriyya [a plant used for making soup] in the winter, as well as chili, garlic, and onions in summer, and they are doing all of this on their flat rooftops that receive plenty of sunlight. Several rooftop farming initiatives have popped up in Cairo and Beirut as well.

5. Liveinslums Microgardens in Cairo

A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Liveinslums has worked with local architects and designers to help residents in Cairo’s neglected City of the Dead grow microjardins – mini, soilless, and transportable subsistence gardens that also fertilize the sand.

In addition to being incredibly portable, the microjardins are easy to construct.

Liveinslums provide seeds, turf and perlite, which act as a substitute to soil, vitamin solutions that are added to water, and plastic, wood, and other recycled materials out of which these mini gardens are made. Initiatives like this demonstrate that with the right amount of tender loving care, food can be grown anywhere!

6. Feeding Abu Dhabi With Water From Air

Despite having some of the world’s most largest and grandest desalination plants, the Gulf countries are quite possibly the most vulnerable when it comes to water, and they are rising to the challenge with some of the most sophisticated water capture innovations.

With an average humidity level of 61% , the Abu Dhabi Farmers’ Services Center (FSC) has spearheaded G-earth  – a technology that extracts condensation from the air to provide water for Abu Dhabi greenhouses.

7. SEKEM – Egyptian Organic Farm

Organic farming may not be new, but Egypt’s largest is so successful that we can’t ignore its potential to not only save people from food shortages, but also to restore the country’s soil to sustainable levels.

Established by Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in 1977, SEKEM is an organic farming community that integrates social, economic and environmental development just outside Cairo. Run by Dr. Abouleish’s son Helmy, this incredible enterprise that champions the best in sustainable farming techniques has grown from 70 hectares to several thousand!

The post 7 agricultural technologies that will save the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

There seems to be a tremendous struggle happening in the Middle East – a fight between the good guys, like this 10-year-old Emirati wunderkid, and psychotic fundamentalists (along with a host of other corrupt elements.) The good maybe overwhelmed by the very worst bad guys there could be. And then there is the boy who already has seven scientific patents to his name.

Before I go any further, I want to point out that I came across this story over at The National, an Emirati publication. Major shoutout to Ben Flanagan, who should be in the running for a Pulitzer with this story! He really captures the essence of a boy who is just a boy, and yet he has accomplished the feats of a grown man.

It felt like Flanagan was looking for evidence that young Adeeb Al Blooshi had missed out on his childhood, but came away with the most subtle yet complex unveiling of a young person with the wisdom and knowledge of a sage – for example, the “inventor,” as Flanagan calls him, recognizes somehow that he has to separate his accomplishments from his friendships with peers his own age.

“I don’t really like to combine the inventions with my personal life. [My school friends do] ask me, and when they do I answer them,” he told The National. “But then again, we’re all busy playing football.”

Al Blooshi is an inventor, and the recipient of 100 awards and certifications. Did I mention that he is just 10 years old? Or that he is currently on a tour of seven countries under the patronage and watchful eye of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed – the Crown Prince of Dubai?

“The young scientist is on a world tour to help him build on his previous inventions, which include a prosthetic limb for his father and a housework robot for his mother,” writes Flanagan.

“Because of his work he was named by CNN as among the world’s most impressive young medical pioneers.”

For more about his work and tour, and the chance to read one of the most enjoyable pieces of journalism I’ve encountered in a long while, please head over to The National.

Lead image via Naija

The post 10-year-old Emirati wunderkid already has 7 patents to his name appeared first on Green Prophet.

Talk about being self-sufficient, but totally weird! Israeli student designer Naomi Kizhner has designed a collection of jewelry that harvests energy from veins in the human body. The project highlights in a beautiful and artful way how humanity is addicted to energy consumption.

It may be a thought experiment more than anything, but these jewels provoke a fascinating discussion about the ends to which humans will go in order to get the next hit of energy.

Appropriately called Energy Addicts, the project explores the numerous sources of energy the human body produces and then seeks to exploit them. Made of gold and a 3D-printed biopolymer, each jewel taps a particular involuntary physiological response.

“It interested me to imagine what would the world be like once it has experienced a steep decline in energy resources and how we will feed our energy addiction,” Kizhner told an online source.

“There are lots of developments of renewable energy resources, but the human body is a natural resource for energy that is constantly renewed, as long as we are alive.”

Related: Ecco Ukka Weaves Love, Magic and Recycled Materials into Fabric Jewelry

For example, stems on either end of the Blood Bridge are inserted into veins on the lower arm, and blood spins the wheels to produce energy – much like hydroelectricity.

The E-pulse Conductor is slightly less invasive – it harvests electrical pulses produced by the neurological system in the wearer’s spine. But the Blinker is kind of creepy. This piece of jewelry is mounted to the wearer’s nose and eyelids to harvest kinetic energy every time the eyes blink.

Kizhner designed this series as part of her graduation project in industrial design for Hadassah College in Jerusalem. More than an intention to create items that actually harvest energy, the project is supposed to open our eyes to consumption and our dependence on it.

Judging by her early project, this talented young designer is going places!

The post Jewelry that turns human veins into power source appeared first on Green Prophet.

Are you allowed to ride a bicycle? For Afghan girls and women, that’s a no. If they dare, people may throw rocks at them or call them unspeakable names. The Global Ride for Solidarity coming up this weekend is designed to catalyze a new cultural paradigm in the country, one that finds riding a bicycle in Afghanistan as normal as walking.

American National Geographic Adventurer and Afghan Cycles Producer Shannon Galpin has spent the last seven years working in Afghanistan, driven it seems by a powerful conviction that bicycles can be used as a conduit for social change and justice – particularly for young girls and women.

She founded the non-profit Mountain2Mountain to provide tools that help women ride their bicycles freely, and is now working really hard to help ensure that athletes can train and compete in a safe environment both at home and abroad.

This includes working with local officials and elders to alter their perspective of the bicycle’s role and worth in a community, and involving them in a movement to normalize female cycling so that it is no longer considered an egregious social taboo.

Related: Wadjda – a Saudi girl and her green bicycle

Shannon Galpin wants to turn the bicycle into a catalyst of freedom. And she appears to be going through smart and respectful channels in order to make that happen.

“A recent Human Rights Watch study states that Afghans perceive women’s cycling as a step above morality crimes like adultery,” she writes on her website. But you can help slay that myth.

On August 30, 2014, get on a bike, ask someone to take a photo or stage a selfie, and post it on all your social media sites – such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to show that you support women and cycling – everywhere in the world. And for maximum effect and fun, be sure to use these hashtags: #pedalarevolution #afghancycles #solidarityride2014.

Whether you join a ride or create your own, there are numerous ways to show your solidarity with the Afghan women who know the thrill of riding through epic mountains, who have tasted the blessed freedom that comes with being a powerhouse on a bike.

You might also want to catch Afghan Cycles, a feature length documentary that explores what life is like for members of the Afghan Women’s National Cycling team. A Let Media production directed by Sarah Menzies, the documentary incorporates storytelling and striking footage in often inhospitable and dangerous territory. This project could also use your support.

Visit Solidarity Ride on Facebook for more information.

The post Dare to ride your bike in solidarity with Afghan women? appeared first on Green Prophet.

While many Muslims don’t drink alcohol, the people of Batroun, Lebanon love their beer. At least according to Jamil al-Haddad, the visionary behind Colonel beer and a new microbrewery built out of recycled materials.

Jamil has been brewing beer for a very long time, and took several classes abroad in order to hone his craft.

“I was 17 when I started to make liqueur at home, Irish cream, banana, strawberry. I started in order to make a bit more money so I could buy myself windsurf boards,” he told Lebanon’s Daily Star. “I began while I was in the boy scouts, and then I made it at home.”

In addition to brewing a fine micro beer called Colonel, the 30-year-old entrepreneur commissioned Cedar Environmental to help make the building in which this alchemy takes place a powerful showcase of renewable materials and clean energy – a very ambitious move for the coastal business.

Related: Why Muslims Don’t Drink Alcohol

The brewery’s walls are clad in recycled wooden crates and the wall panels designed by engineer Ziad Abichaker are comprised of bricks made of melted down recycled plastic. The brewery has used up the equivalent of two million plastic bags, according to Your Middle East.

Other recycled materials have been incorporated into the project, which eventually will include a restaurant, bar and other facilities that Jamil has up his sleeve.

“This will be an outdoor area for barbecues, beer festivals and other cool summer events,” he explains to Daily Star, and a spot near the sea has been designated for small bungalows.

The idea is to create a welcoming and an educational space for visitors, who will be able to take tours of the brewery before or after eating a wholesome lunch.

:: Daily Star

Image via Your Middle East

The post Colonel microbrewery built with recycled materials opens in Lebanon appeared first on Green Prophet.

Are you tired of seeing the same old giant wind turbines in a field or offshore? And do you worry about their impact on migrating birds? Hooman Tahvildar Akbary from Iran has a solution that is both super efficient and beautiful.

Designed for the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Competition, a site specific art and energy competition for Copenhagen, Blowing Horn references the horns people used to use to communicate to one another over great distances (to me, a hard of hearing person, it looks like the horns we used to use to hear.)

Except this particular horn comes with an interesting twist.

Related: The Shard architect designs lightweight dragonfly wind turbine

“By reducing the cone diameter from the mouth,” writes the design team, “the speed of the wind increases towards the narrower end of the horn—an application of the compact acceleration turbine lens that makes use of the venture effect.”

The inside of the giant horn ‘monument’ contains a multi-rotor turbine that uses just one drive shaft. Designed by Doug Selsam, this technology allows for additional energy generation. While the horn captures the energy, the large base upon which it rests serves a separate function, the designers explain.

“The ship form at the base of monument is designed to act as a channel, which leads wind through a Windbelt™ array on the deck and the outer shell of this new golden horn for environmental energy production.

True to the competition guidelines, this energy generator doubles as a stellar example of public art that not only engages the public, but also generates energy.

The Land Art Generator Initiative got its start in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in 2010, and awards for the third biannual competition will be presented in Copenhagen in October, 2014 by Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner for Climate Action.

Stay tuned!

:: LAGI

The post Blowing Horn harvests wind energy with a multi-rotor turbine appeared first on Green Prophet.

Sometimes, design really does change lives. Dr. Amit Goffer previously designed ReWalk, a device that gives paraplegics paralyzed from the waste down mobility again. But 90 percent of handicapped people are unable to use it. In order to give quadriplegics a similar new lease on life, the Israeli designer made a few modifications with UPnRIDE.

“I have the benefit of being confined to a wheelchair so I tried to create the ultimate solution for the handicapped as I see it,” Dr. Goffer, who is working with RehaMed Technologies CEO Oren Tamari on the new product, told NoCamels.

“The person on the outside will see it as a Segway and not a wheelchair. For the younger generation of handicapped individuals, this is especially important.”

Related: Tel Aviv municipal workers busted for fake handicap sign

The upright wheelchair incorporates new balancing technology that allows even quadriplegics, who have no control over their bodies, to traverse a wide range of terrain with confidence. Imagine that – someone confined to a wheelchair now has the same kind of mobility that able-bodied people enjoy.

UPnRide allows users to maintain their center of gravity – whether they are sitting or standing, and a stabilized platform ensures vertical balance. If the user does fall at all, safety arms will immediately grab them and place them back in the mobile device very similar to a Segway.

While the design is a couple of years from market, Dr. Goffer expects a completed prototype of the pending patent within the next few months. And if it’s anything like the ReWalk, which just received U.S. FDA approval for home use, it’s bound to be a huge hit.

:: ReWalk

The post Segway-like device allows quadriplegics to ‘walk’ upright again appeared first on Green Prophet.