JEDDAH: The moment you step in to south Jeddah’s Souk Al-Yumana (the Yemenis’ Market) in the Al-Bukharia district near the famous Bab Sharif market, you will immediately feel this is a place deeply rooted in history.
The old stalls date back to more than 50 years. You will smell a subtle blend of history and originality, and will notice that Yemenis dominate trade.
Visitors walking through are often bothered by street peddlers selling everything from perfumes to foodstuffs. The peddlers are usually overstayers who not only violate the Kingdom’s residence laws, but also sell contaminated food that is harmful to consumers. They also create traffic jams, which are worsened by continuous quarrels between drivers, especially before sunset when iftar is close.
While strolling through, a foreigner who was boiling cooking oil shouted at this reporter to leave and not take photographs.
Muhammad Mahmadi, a Saudi who saw the brouhaha, intervened and called for immediate action against illegal peddlers. “Where is the supervision? Where are the municipal inspectors?” he said, criticizing the municipality for not putting proper controls in place.
Mahmadi said overstayers come to the market in great numbers at the beginning of the fasting month. “They have turned the street into a market where they sell contaminated food, nasty-smelling fish and other dirty stuff,” he said, adding that pickpockets were particularly active at this time of the year.
Uncle Qasim, a Yemeni who has been working at the market for the past 20 years, said there was a need to demolish stalls that are set up haphazardly to sell foodstuffs during Ramadan. “They constitute a real threat to the lives of people and cause food poisoning,” he said.
An old man who was selling vegetables at a stall said he raised his four sons from the proceeds of his trade. “My sons are now holding big positions,” he said, adding that he only continues to sell vegetables as he enjoys the atmosphere in the market, which has become part of life for him.
A phenomenon that drew our attention in the market was the reuse of cooking oil to fry delicacies. “This has serious implications and may be damaging to the health,” said Dr. Mohieddin Omar, a nutrition consultant at King Fahd Hospital.
“The repeated use of oil may create large amounts of polymers and may deplete the linolenic acid and vitamins in food rendering them not only useless but quite damaging to one’s health,” said Omar.
