On Oman’s extended coastline, a culinary revolution is overwhelming the country, putting taste on the country’s food identity. Recruiting the country’s most prized pearls of the sea, chefs in the Sultanate are finding seafood in the limelight—blending tradition with contemporary techniques to cook food in an attempt to commemorate Oman’s sea-faring past.
Being located between the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman geographically, the country is extremely rich in fresh sea food. Traditional fishing profile and geographical position hitherto had served it well and are being explored by the new generation of chefs eager to place the country’s identity on the plate. The big ones are the grouper (hammour), kingfish, and pomfret in the retail market, which are usually handled by the owner himself in order to keep them sustainable and fresh.
One of the new names to the food renaissance is a Muscat chef who was praised for restoring the old Omani seafood delicacies. She marries locally produced spices and herbs with fresh seasonal seafood pitting tradition against innovation. Being sustainable, her restaurant modifies menu based on fish seasons, wastes nothing, and maximizes biodiversity.
But a better-known face of one of the chefs in the capital has caused feathers to be ruffled by using newer techniques of cooking—smoke infusing and sous-vide cooking—to prepare traditional Omani sea foods. Presentation means the world to him to an unimaginable degree, the dishes looking dull with edible garnish and boldly colored sauces which are designed to have maximal impact visually. His business has also brought foreigners and locals into the city, and still more cemented Muscat as a food city.
Besides the restaurant industry, Oman is being targeted with seafood food festivals and seafood pop-ups currently. The latter help develop the platform on which chefs can create new recipes and share the knowledge of sustainable catching and local sea variety with the masses. Live cooking, taste tastings, and workshop interaction sessions have been highly successful in creating greater respect for Omani seafood heritage.
Government policies also drive the industry, with holiday being the biggest driver of food tourism and sea green economies. Involvement by chefs, food producers, and tourist boards is engaging tourists to indulge in holidays like holiday beach barbecues and customized taste menus specially designed to push sea produce. Activities are also driving national policy of cultural heritage incorporation and economic diversification.
Oman new food culture is driven by shared passion for innovation-tradition. From green sourcing to utopian reinvention, it is from brand collaborations to firsts, leading the way are home chefs who enjoy seafood excess without betraying the sea-coastal tradition previously so much entrenched with the sea. The outcome is food renaissance that respects and depicts Oman’s sea-coastal tradition.
