Suite101 Writer Shares a "Taste" from the Dubai Writers Festival

Posted by Marci Hotsenpiller Mar 9, 2009

A few posts ago I wondered if any of our well-travelled Suite101 writers might be in Dubai for their first writers' festival. The answer was...YES! Meet Beverley Ann Cruz, one of our contributing writers at Suite101.com

Beverley lives in the United Arab Emirates, and works as an editor for a food and lifestyle magazine based in Dubai. She attended the festival and sent us this written “postcard” from Dubai:

"The first Emirates International Festival of Literature had a successful run last week (February 26 – March 1) at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City. Although the temperature was severely warm, it didn’t deter the city’s residents – both expatriates and locals - from braving the heat (and the partial sandstorm on the weekend) to attend the events.

The festival hosted over 60 international authors – including writer Wilbur Smith and business lecturer Robin Sharma – and held more than 50 events with panel discussions and Q&A sessions in Arabic and English. Even though Canada’s Margaret Atwood pulled out due to censorship issues, she still contributed by participating in a debate on cultural preconceptions and censorship via video link.

As a food lover and curious about the cuisine of my adopted home of Dubai, I attended the discussion, ‘The True Taste of Arabia’ with award-winning cookery book author Claudia Rosen, Taste of Arabia author Jessie Parker and Leah Fielding, senior editor of food and lifestyle publication Spinneys FOOD. The session was chaired by Jane Hodges and was attended by a crowd of mostly western expatriates who keenly listened to the panel chart the evolution of Arabian food.

Some of the main influences on the cuisine that were pinpointed was the spread of Islam, limited availability of fresh ingredients due to the harsh landscape and the high use of non-perishable foods like pulses and dried lime, as they were easier to preserve in the extreme temperatures. As Parker, who has dined with Bedouin families in the UAE explained, “It was quite a rustic cuisine dictated by circumstances.”

It was interesting to note that traditional Arabian cuisine was actually more influenced by India rather than the Levant region, with staple meals consisting of rice, curries and vegetables. However, today eating Arabian food in Middle Eastern restaurants equates to hummus and tabbouleh, which is an influence of Lebanon and now part of the cuisine, but doesn’t do justice to its veritable feast of flavours and traditions.

During the Q&A session, a common questioned raised was where one could actually indulge in true Arabian food in the UAE. Although Parker said it was almost impossible, unless you visited the home of a local, she held out hope that the demand for authentic Arabian food would encourage Arab chefs to cook and promote their cuisine on a larger scale. As a food writer, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the same!"