About Qatari Cuisine

Nowadays, owning a restaurant is competitive and in order to have a successful restaurant you should

first have enough knowledge in your specialized cuisine and how to prepare it, especially if it is not your
country cuisine. Cuisine is a word that originated from France, which means a style of cooking and Qatar
is a country of eastern Arabia on a peninsula in the southwest Persian Gulf. Qatari cuisine is a style of
cooking that was created by the old Qatari citizens and adds to the food special spices to give them a
unique flavor.

Machbos meal in the Eid's day

Qatari food represents the Qatari culture because even though we cook our food daily there are some
Qatari dishes that are linked to a specific occasion. In an interview that I have done with my mother,
Hessa, about the Qatari cuisine she mentioned that “Machbos, Qatari meal that consists of rice and
meat with Qatari spices, usually cooked in the Eid while the whole family gather for lunch.”
Hence, Machbos connect to one of the essential occasions that occur in Qatar. Additionally, I see my
grandmother a symbol of the Qatari cuisine because she is one of the old Qatari citizens which makes
her an expert in cooking Qatari dishes. Every Monday, my grandmother used to prepare Harees for us,
which is cracked wheat mixed with meat and oil in the top of it. The Harees made by my grandmother
is cooked to perfection, but now she does not have the ability to cook due to her age so the maid cooks
instead. However, the flavor of the Harees changed, it is not as perfect as my grandmother’s Harees.

One day, our school announced a competition which states that each person should cook one of the Qatari cuisine dishes that they prefer while recording the preparation process to prove that we cook the dish by ourselves. I registered for this competition and decided to cook Balaleet, Qatari
desert food which consists of sugary vermicelli and an omelette on the top of it. I take my mother as a source to help me with ingredients and the method to cook a delicious Balaleet
dish that allows me to win the competition. It was a great experience, I learned how I could be accurate
with the ingredients and earn some personal qualities such as work under pressure. The next day, while

I was standing to hear the 10-top winners in this competition, the judges announce my name and I took the first place.

Many people think that Qatari cuisine has consisted of Machbos only because it is the most popular

one and if anyone from another country visited a Qatari house they cook Machbos as vibes when

welcoming anyone, however, there are many Qatari tasteful foods that other citizens do not put them in

consideration such as Threed, layers of bread that mixed with meat and red sauce, and Madrooba,

mixture of boneless chicken, coriander leaves, lentils, and Qatari spices. Moreover, many people

believe that Qatari traditional food is not healthy, which is wrong. Qatari food are rich in proteins, healthy fats and vegetables in approximately every dish.

Qatari cuisine has a wide variety of food that reflects upon Qatar’s heritage. Through this journey of

looking for the definition, I have found great insight into what cuisine is really about.