by Philip Iddison
Traditional food is an important component of a nation’s heritage and as
such is part of the context of folklore. Folklore may record any aspect of a
nation’s past heritage including traditional food.
Food is an essential part of our lives from birth to death. At one extreme it
is necessary for our existence and at the other a luxury to be enjoyed on
special occasions. It has been an ever present theme through the folklore of any
nation and should be an essential part of folklore studies.
Popular heritage themes which have inspired folklore in the United Arab
Emirates are often gender or age specific:
- Children play games;
- Men train hawks and go hunting;
- Women spin sheep and goat’s hair for weaving into domestic goods
However, everyone eats, usually several times a day and usually in a family
or social context. Perhaps this frequency and familiarity explain why it has
been little recorded and studied in the UAE. It may also be quite simply that
food is not considered a suitable subject for discussion; a situation that was
common in western society until the recent explosion in popular and media
interest in food.
Food in UAE society seems to be rarely recorded for its own sake. Judging
from the available publications in English it usually receives peripheral
attention in oral and written accounts and appears occasionally in old
photographs. Gathering together this fragmentary evidence establishes the roles
of food in UAE society and gives an insight into the every day lives of the past
and present generations:
Food has had a defining role in the culture of the UAE. For instance the
local wedding feast is a significant social event at which the status and
cultural integrity of a national family is displayed by the hospitality that is
given to the guests. By means of traditional foods and other features based on
the local cultural heritage, the national identity is reinforced at such
occasions when folklore memories will be initiated for future reference. Without
the traditional foods, dress and other heritage markers the event would be
devoid of its national character.
Apart from special events, food has a role in everyday life, indicating a
person’s status, personal preferences and aspirations [1].
Food also has a functional role in many religions, particularly Islam.
Food culture constantly changes. New influences, ingredients and techniques
are absorbed into a culture as they become available. A major change occurred in
the UAE with the adoption of Islam in the seventh century [2].
These new influences may enhance the food culture whilst some can debase the
cohesive integrity of an established culture. Many modern techniques such as
freezing and franchising have been introduced into the UAE. The convenience
aspect of these new arrivals often displaces old ingredients, cultural routines
or techniques. Many frozen foods mimic items from foreign food cultures. In the
short term the local food culture is displaced and weakened and this is of
course an undesirable outcome. However, it may only be a question of time before
the new is applied to the old and for instance ready made harees is
available from the supermarket freezer cabinet!
On this particular aspect of response to new influences, it is worth pointing
out that UAE food culture has a long history of absorbing the new, creating a
particularly rich culinary heritage. Spices, coffee, rice and the Columbian
exchange fruit and vegetables have been blended into the food repertoire over a
period of many centuries.
The absorption of new techniques and, in particular, the role of the mass
media in persuading people to adopt modern food products and concepts has not
been accomplished so smoothly. This is primarily due to the hectic pace with
which these have been thrust in front of the consumer and the many distractions
in modern lifestyles. Aspects of traditional food culture are under threat of
extinction and the complex role that food plays in the cultural heritage is
changing irrevocably.
Food Culture in the Past
The history of the UAE can be divided into three main periods for the purpose
of food studies:
The Archaeological period is documented In a relatively fragmentary fashion
with occasional illuminating views of the food of the prehistoric past [3].
The Traditional period extends from the Hijra (seventh century) up the
1960’s and is documented with written and oral records of increasing frequency
as time passes. It started with a significant change in the food culture due to
the conversion to Islam.
The Development period starts with the influx of significant oil wealth and
is characterised by rapid economic development causing major changes in
lifestyle. An additional important factor has been the substantial increase in
the immigrant population.
Up to the end of the Traditional period the majority of the UAE population
was involved to a greater or lesser extent in the provision of their daily food.
The main economic activities to sustain the lives of the national population of
the Trucial States in the early part of this century can be divided into two
groups. On one hand there were subsistence occupations:
- nomadic camel herding;
- tending date gardens and associated agriculture in the oases;
- sheep and goat herding where pasture and water supplies permitted; and
- fishing and fish drying.
Alternatively there were a limited number of trades:
- providing land transport by camel;
- pearl diving and trading;
- trading including overseas dhow journeys; and
- activities such as charcoal burning, firewood collection, guarding and
crafts such as blacksmith, dhow builder.
All of these occupations were wholly or partially associated with the
production, processing and consumption of food. Many households were involved in
a variety of these activities [4]. Food was
therefore a significant if not dominant aspect of the national life.
As an example 17% of the population were estimated to derive their livelihood
wholly or partly from fishing as recently as 1969 [5].
Folklore provides plenty of detail on the pearl fishing industry which has a
prime position in the folklore memory of the country, but the fishing efforts
which provided an equal and more stable means of existence are relatively poorly
recorded and publicised.
Food Studies
A logical sequence for food studies takes us through the main stages in the
acquisition, processing and consumption of food as shown in the following table [6].
Stage |
Main Cultural Features |
Procurement |
- Economics
- Primary production, hunting, crops, animal husbandry, fishing
Trading and imports
- Social
- Work organisation within society
- Beliefs
- What is/is not food, religious proscriptions
|
Processing,
Storage &
Distribution |
- Politics
- Owning, renting, tax, distribution
- Food retention for future need
- Technology
- Processing methods
- Storage methods, store foods
|
Preparation
& Cooking |
- Social
- Distribution of duties
- Technology
- Skills and techniques, recipes
|
Eating and Meals |
- Social
-
Social context of food
- Beliefs
- Appropriate foods, prohibitions
|
Disposal |
- Social
- Allocation of duties
- Gifts of food, disposal of food remains
- Technology
- Processing of food remains
|
In the UAE there is a significant overlap in the archaeological record and
the folklore history periods. Similarly there is considerable overlap and
interaction between these five stages.
Each stage has aspects which are of particular interest from the folklore and
heritage perspective in the UAE. Samples are identified in the following table.
Stage |
UAE Folklore and Heritage Aspects |
Procurement |
Dominance of procurement in peoples lives
Broad range of food sources in the UAE
Assimilation of new resources and response to change |
Processing,
Storage &
Distribution |
Specific local storage methods
Endemic store foods
Traditional and local markets |
Preparation
& Cooking |
Skills and technique
Ingenuity in techniques
Specific combinations marking the food culture
Aversion to sale of prepared food |
Eating and Meals |
Dichotomy between family meals and public feasting
Ramadan traditions
Form of meals through the day
Social context and function of food |
Disposal |
Gifts of food
Disposal of food remains |
Allied subjects of particular heritage interest are food processing, cooking
and preparation vessels and utensils, food processing structures and kitchens
and associations between food and religion.
Many of these fields of study are poorly documented, even in the contemporary
environment. For instance markets are a prime source of food ingredients and
serve to distribute new and different foods to the population. They have a
transient nature and are rarely studied or recorded. Similarly the recording and
preservation of the domestic architecture of the country is only partial and
ethnographic displays are limited in location and scope.
Two examples of different aspects of food studies in the UAE are offered to
illustrate the changing role of food in UAE society and stress that a record
should be kept to present a full picture of both traditional and modern UAE food
heritage for future researchers and the general public.
The local markets are cited as an example representing the second stage in
the food study spectrum. Traditional markets are a cultural resource of
inestimable value. They are the public face of a society and display many facets
of local culture in fascinating detail. Some Western societies are finding that
these markets are being re-created in line with modern public interest as well
as satisfying the vendor’s interests. For instance there is now a
proliferation of farmer’s markets in the USA fulfilling a role like that of
the traditional market.
Bread has been one of the staple foods since pre-history and still forms a
major part of the national diet. It is an example of the third stage in the food
study spectrum, Preparation and Cooking. Local home prepared breads now have to
compete against the commercial product. Given the chronic time shortage in
modern lives and decline of the extended family in UAE society, the production
of these home products is dwindling
Traditional Markets
I have been a regular patron of the Suq as Samak (the fish market) in Al Ain
for five years.It is a wonderful traditional market and in my view is the
culinary heart of the city.I estimate that somewhere in its stalls, shops and
casual traders you will find 90% of the range of individual foodstuffs available
in the whole retail marketing system of the city.As might be inferred from the
name it is primarily a fish market and for a city 100 miles from the sea the
range of seafood is extraordinary.On a typical Friday morning I have recorded
between thirty and fifty different marine food species available.
What has this market got to offer to the folklorist? Apart from the food
resources of the city being on display for purchase and use in the buyer’s
everyday life, the market is a social entrepot. Women may converse freely with
men, whether as vendor or buyer. A stranger will discuss the finer points of a
purchase with another stranger. After repeated visits and purchases a friendship
at a basic level is established with a stall holder, to flourish as time passes
with the offering of good advice on a purchase or some new item. The normal
social rules are relaxed in the informal short-term relationships which are an
essential part of market trading.
From a cultural aspect seasonal local products from artisanal processors or
farmers are available, often with particular heritage values. The suq is the
only trading source I know of the following local food products:
- kami - dried de-fatted milk curds
- samn - clarified butter
- regag - one of the national breads
- wild honey comb of the Asiatic honey bee, Apis florea
- date palm pollen and female flowers
- wild harvested greens, for instance Rumex acetosa and Caralluma
sp.
- traditional medicinal herbs, Artemisia herba-alba is one I have
managed to identify to date
- seasonal fruits such as trinj (bitter orange), ambarella, mulberry
- a more extensive range of fresh herbs than any other source
Many of these are fringe products and do not form the bulk of the local diet.
They do however define a specific and very local character which could never be
replicated in a modern commercial establishment.
Traditional markets all over the Emirates have their own individual
character, for instance the fish market at Ras Al Khaimah has casual vendors
selling chammi outside and the excess catch of tuna being processed by
wet salting inside. The Masafi Friday market always has fresh locally grown
produce for sale.
These markets deserve support and preservation. If it is inevitable that they
be redeveloped then it should be done with sensitivity to maintain the cultural
nature and context of both the physical structures and the market ethos.
Bread
Archaeologists have found evidence of the availability of food grains in the
UAE from seven thousand years ago. Various types of wheat, barley and sorghums
were all available to the resident population. They may have been used as animal
feed but were more likely grown for human consumption. They are excellent store
foods with a number of food uses, boiled as whole grain, made into gruels or
porridges, and also ground to flour for making into baked goods including bread,
the most technically accomplished use. For comparison, rice was a latecomer in
the ethnobotanical record, it is likely to have only become common in the local
diet in the last two thousand years [7].
Bread is an important staple around the world. It takes many forms and is
made from many grains. It may be leavened or not, baked, steamed, fried or
cooked on a flat griddle or tava. In Middle East societies it is not
unusual for bread to be consumed at all the main daily meals as well as a snack
in between [8]. In some societies bread is treated
with reverence as an important element of life and it also has religious
connotations in some societies.
Wheat is the preferred grain for bread and the tanur ovens excavated
on prehistoric sites in the UAE testify to the probability that leavened wheat
breads have been a part of the local diet since those times [9].
The preparation of an unleavened bread in the embers of the camp fire is well
attested in UAE folklore, it is the simplest way of making flour palatable with
the minimum of water, a precious commodity in desert life.
Wheat and wheat flour are principal ingredients in UAE dishes such as harees
and aseeda. Bread is used as an ingredient in the key local dish thareed
and a bread derivative is used in another dish, gress [10].
The traditional breads of the UAE are of particular interest. The range of
cooking methods exploits most of the techniques available, leavened and
unleavened dough is used and there are indications that sourdough techniques
have been and continue to be used. The bread occurs in both savoury and sweet
forms, khamir, jabeeb, logaimat, regag, mahalah and wagafi
are the ones I have recorded to date. This variety and ingenuity indicates a
rich cultural heritage. I have been fortunate to see the bakers at work and
sample their bread at several heritage events in the UAE. At one event a
national in young middle age commented to me that traditional bread was
disappearing quickly under the pressure of modern lifestyles. Given the
delicious taste of the bread sampled at these events, I appreciate the
inestimable loss to UAE food culture if these breads are no longer available to
each new generation to help define and cultivate a national palate for good
wholesome food created by fine cooking skills in the home. The bread produced by
immigrant artisanal bakers, khubz, is generally good and all the better
for its freshness but it lacks the variety of form and flavour of the
“national breads”. (Local bread making techniques will be illustrated by
photographic slides at the presentation of this paper.)
Prognosis
Trends with a negative impact on food traditions observed in the western food
chain and likely to or already occurring in the Emirates are:
- movement towards private agri-business where commercial gain over-rides
other considerations (eg. bacterial infection of chicken meat);
- the widespread distribution of international franchise fast foods which pay
scant respect to local traditions and are leading to a global food uniformity;
- uncontrolled use of chemicals in food production building future problems (
eg. build-up of pesticide residues in the food chain);
- loss of choice and bio-diversity (whereas small producers often persist
with traditional varieties or methods);
- distancing of consumers from the producers, loss of basic appreciation of
food sources (eg. children unaware that milk is produced by cows and goats);
- unquestioned adoption of new processing methods (but the sterilisation of
food by ionising radiation has been largely rejected by European consumers);
- consumer unease at what it is being offered (uncertainty over additives or
processes, the BSE crisis is a classic example);
- elimination of small-scale suppliers (producers or traders who may be able
to maintain a market niche at a modest economic level);
- dehumanising of the food acquisition process, either by lack of knowledge
in sales staff or there being too many links in the chain (buying at the
supermarket rather than the traditional market), and
- overconsumption leading to health problems and debasing the essential value
of food as life support (the plate piled high at the buffet and subsequent
waste of food).
Many of these issues are now being seriously questioned by western consumers
and reverse trends are beginning to be established, a backwash culture where old
practices, customs and products are cherished as being more sympathetic to the
individual and quality of his or her life.
Conclusion
"Tradition must be thought of as dynamic" [11]. Similarly folklore is dynamic. Current
events, artefacts, characters etc. are the building blocks of future folklore if
they have the interest or intrinsic value to be worth remembering or aggregating
into a folklore. Will future folklore be scattered with accounts of:-
- meals at Macdonalds or Pizza Hut
- or the feast at a cousin’s wedding?
Whilst modern western eating habits will create their own folklore, it will
not have the wealth and connectivity of folklore referencing traditional
cultural foods, processing and consumption patterns.
Anecdotes from Wilfred Thesiger’s writing [12]
will finally illustrate some of the interaction between food and folklore which
I have raised. At the end of his travels in the Rub al Khali, Thesiger stayed in
Dubai with his Rashid travelling companions. At Edward Henderson’s house he
told his companions that whilst he had been travelling he had followed their
eating habits. Now their host was a Westerner and they would eat in the Western
style. Thesiger notes that Bin Kabina and Salim bin Ghabaisha adeptly handled
the cutlery which they had never used before. He also noted that this self
possession would shame the efforts of an Englishman required to eat with his
hands for the first time. This adaptability to the incoming food cultures is
beneficial but also potentially detrimental to the survival of traditional
cultures.
Thesiger took his two companions across the creek on a abra to dine with the
Sheikh of Dubai. He arranged to meet the abra boy at ten o’clock for the
return journey. As they headed for the abra station for the return journey, bin
Ghabaisha suddenly stopped Thesiger and told him they had done something awful.
He said that they had forgotten to bring some food for their travelling
companion. Puzzled, Thesiger asked him who he was referring to. "The boy who
brought us over", Bin Ghabaisha said. Thesiger tried to explain that the customs
of the town were different to the desert. He received the following response:
“We are bedu. He was our travelling companion. Did he not bring us here?
And we forgot him. We have fallen short.”
The traditional hospitality of the Emiratis is legendary, one hopes it does
not become just a legend and that it can survive to enrich the folklore of the
future.
Recording traditional food, associated folklore and heritage is essential to
build the base for maintaining and reinstating, if necessary, a rich cultural
legacy for future generations.
Bibliography
Brock-Al Ansari, Celia, The Complete United Arab Emirates Cookbook,
Emirates Airlines, Dubai, 1994
Catterall, Claire, Food: a design for the senses, in Food -
Design and Culture, Laurence King Publishing, London, 1999
Facey, William, Al-‘Udhaibat: Building on the Past, in Aramco
World, July/August 1999
Goody, Jack, Cooking, cuisine and class. A study in comparative
sociology, Cambridge University Press, 1982
Heard-Bey, Frauke, From Trucial States to United Arab Emirates,
Longman, Harlow, 1996
King, Geoffrey R, The History of the UAE: The Eve of Islam and the
Islamic Period, in Perspectives of the United Arab Emirates, Trident
Press. London, 1997
Potts, D T, Contributions to the Agrarian History of Eastern Arabia -
II The Cultivars, in Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 1994:5, Munksgard
Samuel, Delwen, Approaches to the Archaeology of Food, in Petit
Propos Culinaires 54, Prospect Books, November 1996
Thesiger, Wilfred, Arabian Sands, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth,
Middlesex, 1964
[1] Catterall expands on the social aspects of food and draws
attention to the function of food as a design element in modern society.
[2] King
[3] Fortunately the situation is improving all the time, for
instance a recent Gulf News article (4/2/2000) reported that Mark Beech has
established firm evidence that 7,000 years ago shaeri (emperor fish) were caught
by shallow water fishing methods for food.
[4] It was not unusual for a nomadic herdsman with a small
palm garden in Liwa to leave his family during the date harvest whilst he spent
part of the summer fishing on the coast.
[5] Heard-Bey
[6] This sequence is based on work by Samuel in an assessment
of studies in the archaeology of food in turn based on work by Goody.
[7] Potts
[8] Personal observation in Turkey.
[9] Charred pieces of bread more than 5,000 thousand years
old were found at an archaeological site in southern England confirming the
antiquity of bread as a food (Gulf News 9/10/99).
[10] Recipes can be found in Brock Al Ansari.
[11] Prince Sultan ibn Salman ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al
Sa’ud quoted in an interview with Aramco World about his reconstruction of
Al-‘Udhaibat, a traditional mud-brick oasis house near Riyadh.
[12] Arabian Sands