Dubai's Culinary Downturn.

Being born and raised in Dubai exposed me to a plethora of cuisines, all distinct yet delicious. Dubai’s exponential growth rate has made it a household name worldwide and a tourist paradise. Dubai had its growth spurt around the same time as I did, except Dubai ended up growing much more than I. With the growth spurt came a mass influx of people from all over the world attracted to the luxurious lifestyle that Dubai has to offer. With the people came the food and the rest is history. From Afghani to Vietnamese, Dubai has it all. All this came with a price tag; as more restaurants opened, the quality of the food of these restaurants declined. The restaurants lost their tradition and began to place emphasis on the catering to the masses. In the process, it was the people of Dubai who suffered as they lost the joy of having a simple meal. In this article, we will look into the factors which lead to the decline and how it affected, a resident of Dubai, me.



Before Dubai exploded it on the global scene, it was a simple place, with a few buildings. The tallest building stood at fifteen storeys, today the tallest building stands at over two thousand feet. When Dubai was still in its infancy, the food was simple; one could only get shawarma, falafel, and hummus and fruit juice. (These dishes are very similar to Greek food; the shawarma is the equivalent of the gyros, just prepared differently) Basically traditional Arabic food, which was available at every cafeteria, outside every mosque (in Dubai there are mosques every mile).These were the dishes that everyone would thrive on. There was no competition, people took their time to make the food, and it tasted delicious. As a child I remember impatiently gawking at the “shawarma guy,” the person in charge of making the sandwich, there was a modest pleasure in watching your food being made right in front of your eyes.






There was also a parallel food culture of the working class in Dubai (those who worked in construction and docks); their food was simple, authentic home-cooked meals from the sub-continent. One could find cuisines from all across India in that food culture. I remember visiting Ravi Restaurant, a small run down Pakistani restaurant. The food there tantalizes your taste buds; somehow you always managed to find space for one more bite. The kebabs would be marinated all day and then grilled to perfection. This was just one facet of working class, blue collar Dubai. This phase of Dubai was short lived as the happy meal made its debut in the Middle East.

In the late 1990’s McDonald’s golden arches became a quintessential part of Dubai. It was the new thing in town and it was the anti-thesis to what was available in Dubai until that point. The locals of Dubai hold food sacred. It was prepared with care and embodied many humanistic values.Mcdolands on the other hand manufactured food like a factory, stuffing as many mouths as possible. The contrast was such that a Shawarma stand would cook its food for hours and McDonalds would feed a hundred mouths in the same time. American fast food culture was quickly diluting the rich culinary traditions of Dubai. People no longer took the time to prepare their food and enjoy each bite. By this time, several fast food chains had infiltrated Dubai: Burger King, KFC, and Pizza Hut. Dubai slowly lost its food culture. As Dubai started to grow even bigger, more fine dining restaurants opened as the Dubai gained in stature.


In the following years, Dubai’s property and hotel industry started booming and there were new restaurants opening up daily. These restaurants were unlike the ones, the people of Dubai had ever seen. There was a cover charge just to be in the restaurant. People went to these restaurants just to be seen and to rub shoulders with Dubai’s elite. The menus had names which were written in some exotic foreign language and required a comprehensive explanation after which one understood nothing. Every celebrity chef who has a TV show is guaranteed to have a restaurant in Dubai. You ask people about what they thought about the food, they were clueless. The main dish comes out on pastry size servings leaving patrons unsure if they had actually consumed a meal. A meal for two in one of these fancy restaurants could end up costing several hundred dollars.

Another trend in Dubai was the food courts in the shopping malls. Some of Dubai’s major attractions are its shopping malls. Dubai has the biggest shopping mall in the world which also boasts the largest indoor aquarium. These malls also have some of the biggest food courts in the world offering the consumer a variety of choices. Similar to fast food, the main aim of these food courts was to entice all the tourists visiting Dubai for a quick meal. I am guilty of falling prey to these food courts given the size of Dubai’s malls. After walking inside them for a couple of hours I get hungry. At that point, it is hard to resist over fifty different types of restaurants all eagerly waiting to serve you.


With Dubai’s expansion, the food business boomed as several thousand people flocked to it. Each of them needed to be fed well. With these people came their culture and cuisine. People in Dubai find themselves in a very unique situation as it strives to find a balance between the old culinary traditions and the new traditions that have infiltrated the city with urban sprawl. People no longer take the time to sit down and enjoy a meal prepared with love and care and instead are treating food as the fuel which we need to run and filling themselves up as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, we are what we eat regardless of where you find yourself in the world.




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