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Camel Milk, Dates and Arabic Coffee: A Taste of Tradition
It is obvious that while national cuisines are part of the commercial food industry, they are also significant features of cultural identity. Food, just like fashion, jewellery and arts and crafts, is at the forefront of cultural assertiveness and survival in this age of globalisation.
Critics complain that the “McDonaldisation” of the world’s eating habits amounts to an American homogenisation of national food cultures, but that is not necessarily so. In a way, the UAE, as part of its cultural revivalism, has shown interest in this cultural engagement by presenting its indigenous food traditions to a global public.
The proliferation of Arabian coffee outlets and the recent launch of camel-milk and date products show how economic and cultural development can go hand in hand. Coffee, dates and camel milk have long defined the living experiences of people in the UAE and the region, and their integration into the economy should be a priority issue on the nation’s cultural agenda.
For many visitors to the recent Liwa Dates Festival in Al Gharbiya region, the event was not only an opportunity to experience the wide-ranging varieties of this desert fruit, but also a demonstration of how the UAE has turned the growing and marketing of dates into a full-scale industry that advances both its economy and its culture.
For thousands of years, date palm trees have provided sustenance for Bedouin communities across the Arabian peninsula. In the UAE alone, thanks to support from the founder of the nation, Sheikh Zayed, and continued by the current leadership, the number of palm trees has reached a record 43 million, a quarter of them in Al Ain city.
Of course, dates are more than just highly nutritious fruits; they epitomise cherished traditions associated with this region’s history. Date palm trees are mentioned in the Quran: as Mary was giving birth to Jesus she was instructed by God to shake the stem of the palm tree and eat the falling dates to ease the pains of labour. The Prophet Mohammed tells his followers they can protect themselves from the fires of hell by giving even half a date to the poor.
In traditional Arabian communities, the nutritional value of dates has always been optimised through the addition of camel milk, which protects against numerous diseases and helps to enhance the body’s immune system. That’s probably why a recently launched camel-milk project in Dubai has attracted widespread attention.
Perhaps the most fascinating project in camel milk production and marketing has come in the form of a camel-milk chocolate bar launched last year by a Dubai company. The name of the chocolate – Al Nassma – has its roots in the Arabic language and describes a cool seasonal breeze that brings respite from the heat of the desert.
In a robust global chocolate market valued at $41.6 billion a year, the UAE camel-milk chocolate project, with good marketing, seems set to make promising headway in both commercial and cultural terms. For the UAE, the marketing of processed camel milk or camel-milk chocolates, of course, is not a purely profit-making initiative, but is also a promotion of the desert values of perseverance, patience, selflessness and community.
Without Arabian coffee, the full enjoyment of dates and camel milk would not be realised. The story, almost certainly apocryphal, is that commercial growing of Arabica coffee began almost 12 centuries ago when an Ethiopian goat herder noticed that while the afternoon sun made him drowsy, his flock frolicked and skipped about after eating the leaves and berries of the coffee tree. Later, Arabian scholars wrote that it helped to prolong their working hours. Arabs were the first to brew a drink from roasted beans, which spread first to Turkey and eventually all round the world, culminating in what we now know as Starbucks. Throughout the UAE, coffee bean roasteries are an important commercial sector producing a beverage that is a symbol of Arabian hospitality and generosity.
The convergence of commercial and cultural considerations in the development of traditional UAE food industries is bound to create a greater reach for this facet of the country’s national heritage. With support from the business sector (commercial) and government (cultural), the synthesis of tradition and modernity should bring the indigenous food production sector into closer alignment with the goals of the country’s cultural development.
Yet in order to realise the full cultural potential of traditional food items on a global level, it may not be enough just to open up new markets. More education is also needed to help consumers to understand the cherished values behind the taste and the nutrition.
Muhammad Ayish
Global Arab Network