The men pass the evening trading news and discussing their animals. Separated from them by a curtain, the women gather in the family area and kitchen along with their small children to bake bread and prepare the main meal. A dinner of rice and chunks of mutton or lamb are then served to the gathered guests. Even in a tent in the middle of the desert, Arabian hospitality includes the burning of incense and the offering of coffee to guests. The ground inside the tent is covered with rugs and the owner displays his sword or rifle from the tent pole in the men's section.
Furnishings are sparse, as the life of a nomad requires.
Blankets, carpets and cooking utensils comprise the bulk of each family's possessions. The Bedouins' animals sleep in smaller tents or improvised pens near the family's living quarters. One sign of a family's wealth is ownership of camels. Traditionally, Bedouins who owned and raised camels thought of themselves as the aristocrats of the desert. Camels were used as animals of war, transport and a source of food in the form of milk and meat.