Sepraf

Arab and Persian writers used to throw racial insults at each other over their eating habits. Following the Islamic conquest, the Arab invaders were perplexed by the spoons and forks (bārjīn) kept by the Persians. By the Abbasid era, this became a particular point of ethnic contention during the Shu‘ubiyya, a fierce cultural rivalry in which Iranians pushed back against Arabs. Persian writers like Bashshar ibn Burd and Sahl ibn Harun insulted Arabs for eating habits they considered disgusting, like eating lizards, licking food off their unwashed hands and wiping grease on their clothes. While Arab writers like al-Jahiz mocked Persians for using cutlery and eating in near total silence.