Recently Allison and I went on a two week adventure to Oman and Qatar. Today I'm going to go over a few of the fun food discoveries that we came across while in Oman. We're both big fans of Middle Eastern cooking, but we also like that many Middle Eastern countries enjoy having western food available too. This is good for us because we often visit Middle Eastern countries while we're living in other parts of the world that may not have a lot of western foods to choose from. This allows us to enjoy a nice trip some place different, but also get a little taste of home while we're there.
The one thing we learned about the local food in Oman is that the date is king. Dates not only play a role in the cuisine, but in the social customs as well. Traditionally dates were used a way of starting meals, as well as greeting newcomers. When people would travel through the country, they would stop in villages and forts as they traveled, and one of the ways people would welcome you is with a date. For important guests it would be a large platter of dates extravagantly displayed on a giant platter, but it could also be a simple offering as well.
The great thing is that this tradition lives on. At many of the local restaurants we would be offered dates as we came in or at the end of our meal. On one occasion we visited a small museum, we started up a conversation with the one person who worked there. At one point he mentioned the tradition of offering dates and his eyes opened wide. Suddenly he whisked away only to return with a bowl of dates. He offered us one and they were fantastic. He insisted we take a handful to enjoy for the rest of that day's adventure. It was such a kind gesture and really gave me an idea of what it was like for the travelers in the past being greeted by warm hospitality and dates.
Dates are also very common in the desserts found in Oman. One day we visited a traditional Omani restaurant, and as luck would have it they had a mixed sweets option for dessert. I'm always happy when traveling to find this kind of dessert because it gives us a nice variety of local flavours to try. Very often I'm stuck trying to pick just one local dessert that I have to hope is good, but in this case we were able to sample many locally made sweets, and they were all so different, but also very yummy.
The meal at this restaurant were pretty fascinating too. I tried an interesting porridge, and best of all the sauce was made with date syrup. After learning that date syrup was a thing, the first thing we did was headed to the grocery store and picked up a bottle. I don't know what I'll use my date syrup for, but I can't imagine that I would come up with something so creative as to use it with a vegetable porridge.
While I did enjoy my porridge, and the date addition made it work, the highlight at this meal was an eggplant dish made with a very garlic filled cream. The cream was light and the flavour was serious garlic. We've had other Middle Eastern dishes similar to this, but the coolness of the cream really made this version spectacular.
While we did enjoy a few more local delicacies, including many wraps and shawarmas, we also got our fix of western treats as well. One tradition we have when we travel is to try and sample the local McDonald's pies. Not everyone knows that McDonalds will often tailor their pie flavours to local palettes, and apparently in the Middle East they love having custard in their McDonald's pies. Fortunately so does Allison, and she was sure to pick up a few of these strawberry custard pies on this trip. One unique thing we found about the pies in Oman is that they seem to make them made to order, unlike other parts of the world where they're ready to go. This means you're always getting a fresh pie, a scorching hot fresh pie that is. The thing is, it was strawberry custard, and it was yummy. Eventually we learned to let them sit for a few minutes before eating them to avoid burning our mouths.
We got a few more western meals on this trip including a stop at Chillies, a cheesesteak, and some fried chicken. We also stopped at IKEA (it was literally attached to our hotel) and picked up meatballs one evening. I believe that the meatballs might be a little different than the ones you get in western countries since I believe (and you can correct me if I'm wrong) that IKEA meatballs normally contain pork. It's funny because this aversion to pork comes across many different ways, in particular I found that many gummy brands only sold their vegetarian versions, due to the use of gelatin.
This trip was not just about food. We decided for this first Omani leg of the trip that we would rent a car and drive out to some of the sites outside of Muscat. We visited many forts, wadi's and other natural wonders. This meant that we had to be sure to have plenty of snacks for these road trips. Nuts were a staple, but I also really got into the various nut bars or chikki available as well. I made sure to have a handful of these with me at all times, and they were great for traveling. They didn't melt in the heat, and there was such a variety that I had a new treat every day.
We had a pretty amazing trip, and tasted some great local and comfortable western foods. While many of the meals were amazing, I feel like the generosity of the people giving us the food made it even better. From the nice man that gave me a band-aid at a rooftop coffee shop at an oasis in the middle of nowhere, or the amazing people that handed me a date just to say hello.
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