Emirati Food -- It's difficult to find Emirati food in Dubai's restaurants. It's considered somewhat bland, and Arabic food here is heavily influenced by Lebanese, Moroccan, Tunisian, and even Iranian cuisine. Meals usually start with meze, Arabic appetizers such as hummus, tabbouleh, baba ghanouj, falafel, and kibbeh (ground meat with spices) served with pita bread and salad. Lamb, beef, and chicken are the favored meats, often accompanied by rice, spices, nuts (especially pistachios), dates, and yogurt. Muslims are forbidden from eating meat that has not been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic rituals (called halal), and they do not eat pork.
An authentic Emirati dish is roasted lamb stuffed with rice spiced with cinnamon, almonds, and pistachios. Although they're Lebanese in origin, shawarmas (lamb or chicken carved from a spit and served in a pita) are also tremendously popular. Seafood is a staple of the Emirati diet, and includes grilled hammour (a grouper fish), chanad (mackerel), and beyah (mullet). Main dishes may be served with unleavened Arabic bread, freshly baked in clay ovens, followed by fresh fruit such as dates, figs, and lemon and lime, as well as Arabic sweets. Fruit juices are often drunk with the meal, and Arabic coffee is served after.
During Ramadan, evening meals are usually enormous buffets. Unless you manage to swing an invitation to an Emirati's home for dinner, a good area to find cheap, authentic Arabic food is in Bur Dubai or Deira.
Up in Smoke -- Shisha goes by many names, including narghile, hubbly bubbly, and hookah. This tradition is enjoyed not just at cafes and lounges throughout Dubai, but across much of the Middle East and South Asia. The pastime is gaining in popularity in Western countries as well, where chic hookah lounges have opened in cosmopolitan cities. Shisha is thought to have originated in India and Persia, gained in popularity during the years of the Ottoman Empire, and then spread across the Arab world. The earliest shisha was smoked in a coconut shell. The modern shisha water pipe works by water filtration and indirect heat, and is used for smoking flavored tobaccos. The tobacco comes in a variety of flavors such as apple, grape, and strawberry, and is meant to be shared with everyone at the table, usually over an afternoon coffee or following a nighttime meal. Politics, religion, and other social matters are often discussed over the calming influence of shisha. People may sit for hours chatting and smoking this aromatic pipe.
