Food. Let's talk about food. There are differences between
what is available in the USA and what is available in the UAE.
Not available in the
UAE (Al Ain) or VERY difficult to find:
Grape jelly (I'd give my right arm for a jar of Welch's
grape jelly about now...)
grits
corn meal
brown gravy mix in envelopes
But there is so much that is available:
The beef that is sold here is
amazing. I had stopped eating beef in the USA, but when I arrived in the UAE I
started back eating it again like an alcoholic on a weekend bender. The beef I buy is imported
from Australia and is not shot full of hormones. It is lean and cooks with
virtually no grease left behind. Unbelievable what they have done to American
cows back home. Should be a crime.
And Milk. In the states if I bought a gallon of milk at the
local Piggly Wiggly, the stamped expiration date would graciously give me two
weeks to use it. Here, due to very little preservatives being used, the milk
only lasts for four days, tops. I buy it in small little containers now. It tastes
fresher somehow, but that might be my taste buds playing tricks on me.
Vegetables and fruits?
I haunt the produce aisles of the
grocery stores like one of those spaced out looking zombies in "Night of
the Living Dead". There are fruits and vegetables that I can't even
identify, much less know how to cook. I need to start taking photos so I can
google them in my spare time.. One fruit, rambuten, looks like a spiny pear.
Lanzones, durian, jackfruit... names I
have never heard.
Fresh produce is imported from the Mediterranean, Southeast
Asia, and India, so the selection is almost as varied as the imagination.
Dates are plentiful, in fact popular, because they are grown
around Al Ain. Emiratis are proud of
the selection and quality of their dates. No UAE breakfast would be complete
without at least three different types of dates included on the menu.
Pale amber honey, from right over the border in Oman, is
said to taste like liquid gold. I haven't tried it yet because I don't want to
become addicted. I am still dealing, unsuccessfully, with my Oreo habit..
I guess when I visit Georgia in December I will be
transporting dates and honey packed away in my check-in luggage. But on the return flight back to the UAE on January 1st, grape jelly and brown gravy
mix are going to take top priority. Screw the school supplies.
The local grocery store near me sells baby Cokes! I have
never been able to finish any can of Coke, except the baby Cokes served on
airplanes. Now I don't have to get on an airplane to drink one. I love my
little 5 ounce baby Cokes... It's the little things that matter, after all.
I have some recipes that might interest you into trying some of that new fruit you are seeing! Make an UAE version of Ambrosia...
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