Dubai

We'll, today I am trying to type on a mini iPad as opposed to my phone...not much better but at least I can see the keyboard. I had already written a long post on the food tour we did in Dubai, but that was lost when my computer went kapootz.

The tour was great fun...walking through Deira, the old part of Dubai, where, as our tour guide says, "the real people live." Beyond the glitz that is Dubai, is the part where 90% of the population lives, migrant workers doing the work that is beneath the Emirates.

We walked from food stall, to roadside storefront, to sweet shops and a restaurant...from Palestinian falafel a, to Jordanian and Egyptian sweets, to a tradition Emirate meal sitting on the floor, eating with our hand from a shared plate...it was all delicious.

One of the deserts was a type of very thin dough, thrown in the air to enlarge-much like a pizza-then filled with cheese and honey. It was sinfully good. I think I have gained weight on this trip. After leaving Italy, I was sure I would be fine, but who knew, pizza type food would be found in the Middle East?

It just goes to show you how food, while a huge part of a culture, defies certain ethnic boundaries and is more defined by what grows in a region, trade routes and other factors beyond culture. Our tour guide, a young Indian heritage woman born there, and passionate about food, said something I really liked. "Eating with utensils is like making love through an interpreter". I understand that as I often feel I have an intimate relationship with food. I mean, have you not ever wanted to just squish butter through your fingers? maybe that is why people, around the globe, love pizza so much....because you can eat it with your hands!