(Having a blast on the Lamar Farm tour)
Egypt has the best breakfast foods. Waffles? No thanks. Poached egg? Pass. But fuul, ta’amiyya, baladi bread, tomato, cucumber, and fried eggplant? Yes, please! If you ask me, it’s simply the best. breakfast. Ever.
(Welcome to Lamar Farm!)
Whether or not you agree with me, chances are you also enjoy a “western” breakfast of cereal, milk, toast, and juice, all of which are available at any neighborhood grocery store in Egypt. But have you ever wondered how these favorite breakfast foods got to your table? Are they imported or produced locally? Perhaps, when reflecting, you have recalled farm and factory visits from your school days. Well, guess what? I found out that you can take factory tours of many of your favorite food brands in Egypt, including (drumroll please), Lamar! Yes, Lamar – Egypt’s dairy and juice giant. Today I’ll describe the whole process, from the reservation to the transportation to the tour itself. You, too, can satisfy your curiosity and enjoy a unique day at the remarkable Lamar farm.
(The highly sanitized milk production facility at Lamar Farm)
Reservations:
The Lamar farm tour is wildly popular, so plan your trip well in advance. Make your reservation via the company’s website or a direct message via their Facebook page. The reservation staff is gracious and was extremely helpful when I had to reschedule my initial reservation due to an injury.
(Feeding a baby calf at Lamar Farm)
Transportation:
Lamar is actually closer to Alexandria than to Cairo, so you may want to consider pairing this tour up with a visit to the beach. The farm is located 14 km off the Alexandria Desert Road and is best accessed by private car. You can reach Lamar by public transportation. Take an Alexandria minibus from Ramses, get off here, and hitchhike the remaining 14 km on anything that moves. Now, I’ve tried this. It was fun, but grueling. I will admit, however, that I am more than a tiny bit proud to (probably) be the only tour guest to hitchhike into and out of Lamar on the back of a pickup truck.
(Getting to Lamar by any means possible)
The Tour:
After a brief introduction at the main reception hall, you will board a little open-air tractor truck with your guide and travel all over the farm. The tour makes several stops; once at the cow washing and milking facility, once at the milk processing center and lab, at least once for photo opps, and once to hand-feed baby calves. The last stop on the tour is a cute little playground where the kids can burn off any leftover energy before the long ride home. And if that’s not enough, once you return to the reception hall you can let the kids run around on the huge lawn while you eat your picnic lunch.
(Lamar Farm tour tractor-truck)
I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. I found the guide knowledgeable and, typical of me, I asked him a lot of questions. The kids may have found the overabundance of information a bit tedious, but they enjoyed the tour enough that they all asked to go again. (This may have had something to do with the juice boxes and Lamar swag they received as a welcome gift.) No, but really – everyone enjoyed the extraordinary grounds, hand-feeding the adorable baby calves, and monkeying around during the photo ops.
(Lamar farm cows, waiting for a hosedown)
Final note: In a few months I intend to scout out several other factory tours that my sources tell me are both fun and easy to reach – Rich Bake (toast!) and Temmy’s (cereal!). You know you’re invited, so I’ll see you there!
(Can’t get enough of Lamar and its milk!)
