For the first time ever in Kuwait, the air is filled with the smell of spices combining and combining to create an odour map and flavourwalk of perfume masking richness of national gastronomic heritage. This odour map and flavourwalk is the story of a nation where food is not merely eaten but lived as textured living of yesterday, heritage, and newly imagined modernity.
It is also constructed by the host nation’s heritage and expat community. It is a cuisine culture constructed where tradition intersects with innovation and food as a cultural exchange vehicle.
Food tour of Kuwait can begin with any one of its restaurants, and one is likely to get stuffed with food like machboos—saffron-flavored rice, cinnamon-flavored rice, etc. Spices are used to it, for the taste and for history, for trade history, story history, society history. All of them carry stamp of generations, recipes so painstakingly detailed flavor—as do they detailed identity.
Corner streets and corner city bazaars are an experience. Its young chefs are not hesitant to combine local and foreign palates in methods to create fusion foods like shawarma tacos or garlic sushi rolls. Local fusion cuisine understands where it comes from but redefines meaning everywhere else for locals and foreigners. There still is space to replicate without losing its cradle of where people used to believe it was born.
Historic and contemporary coffeehouses are open establishments of substantial size. The tiny cafes are cozy, in which the client has Kuwaiti pastries—and specialty coffee. Word art and social acquaintance are a part of the experience in the coffeehouses as well as nourishment, which is demonstrated to create an atmosphere of fellow feeling and friendship.
Others, i.e., national food celebrations, are such food heritage. They are all at the disposal of gourmet or street food, prepared by professional chef and operator who are natives to the location. They are matinee show culture experience events whose first is cuisine and music and second is talk and free sharing of recipe and process. Kuwaiti hospitality itself is what is reflected through the events, wherein the guests do not just consume, but talk.
Sustainability is the buzzword with Kuwaiti cuisine today. The restaurants are turning local and seasonal. Low-carbon footprint and buying from the local farmer for orders are becoming long-term strategies to save the flavor and save the earth. Not only do they make the best use of the cuisine, but they are also teaching the younger generation about how to respect the country’s natural resources.
And lastly, there is food Kuwaiti, a testament to the diversity, strength, and resourcefulness of the nation. It’s history on a plate, history whose domain has stayed unbailed open for us to do with as the future deems fit. With every bite, it is work in progress—a work spiced, begun by communal effort, and spurred by an untested passion.
