Emirati Cuisine is wide and varied across the United Arab Emirates and incorporates a brilliant mix of Asian and Middle Eastern Cuisines. Typical dishes include Kabsa, a type of rice dish, Falafel, a deep friend ball made from chickpeas and fava beans, Kebab, a skewer-held series of meats and vegetables and Khabees, a sweet dish made of flour and oil. Dates are also a common treat in the region and have been grown there for thousands of years.
Drinks are typically served hot and common favourites are coffee and tea supplemented with a range of spices and herbs such as saffron, mint and cardamom. Pork is sold in some supermarkets but it’s rare and they’re always sold in a separate section, additionally hotels normally only use a pork substitute such as beef sausages or veal rashers, but they may occasionally use it and it is labelled when they do so. Typically only hotel restaraunts, bars, nightclubs and golf clubs sell alcohol, except in Sharjah.
Meals usually begin with eating dates and drinking Gahwah (Arabic Coffee) and it is typical to have red tea infused with mint at the end of each meal which helps to aid digestion. Due to the typical desert conditions, the UAE diet uses a lot of meat, grain and dairy dishes and ingredients, some areas where vegetables are easy to grow will use them in their diets and coastal areas are most often very fish heavy in their diets.
