04Experiences

Experience

The Omani table

Omani food belongs to the wider Gulf kitchen, with Arab, Indian, Iranian and African influences picked up when the country sat on the spice trade routes. Rice, lamb, chicken and fish are the base of most dishes, cooked with a generous mix of spices. Qabuli is rice with meat or chicken, while harees is wheat and meat cooked down to a thick paste and served with ghee. Mashuai is a whole kingfish roasted on a spit and served with lemon rice. Shuwa is the dish for special occasions: meat rubbed with a spicy date paste, wrapped in sacks of dry leaves and cooked in a pit in the ground, often with the whole village joining in. The main meal is eaten at midday and dinner is lighter. Cardamom-scented Omani coffee is the gesture of hospitality, served with dates and Omani halwa. Dates make up 80% of the country's fruit harvest, and in 2016 Oman was the world's ninth-largest date producer. Look for dates and spices in the souqs of Muttrah and Nizwa.

0%

Dates as a share of fruit production

9th

Oman's rank among date producers