The Dinner in the Mountains, with Moza Almatrooshi

Supported by 421 (2022).

Commissioned by 421 to respond to the exhibition On Foraging, I accompanied Moza Almatrooshi on her research across different farms and regions across the UAE to survey practices around preserving and using native plants. The outcomes of this collaboration manifested into a dinner/lecture performance at 421, and a dinner in Jabal Yanas.

For the lecture performance, we recreated different landscapes through props and found objects to recreate dishes ubiquitous to the UAE; stuffed dates with chaami, oyster shells filled with rice and anchovy powder, laminated pasta, plant infused coolers, while narrating two voices of the landscape; one that was a personification of nature itself, and the other, a protest against the erasure of native plant cultivation.

In Jabal Yanas, we immersed ourselves in the landscape, cooking on site, using the altitude, changing temperature and traditional foods as our menu. Guests arrived just in time to witness the sunset, and were welcomed with traditional tea, coffee and custom made coffee cups. We served sweet potatoes, sun-blushed tomato salsa, homemade infused yoghurt, butter candles, custard with wild honey to accompany a feast of tanoor mutton, rice and regaag.

Participants were invited to spend the night where we also hiked for wild honey, and spent time observing the mountains before making our way back down to the city.

Photo courtesy 421.

The Menu

Al Haif, Lilthaif, LilKaif, LilSaif

Arabic Coffee and tea infused with Atti- a fragrant medicinal shrub populated across the Jabal Yanas mountains and Northern Pakistan.

Dates and Chaami

Khodari dates stuffed with Chami, drizzled with a mountain grass infused ghee

Honey, Bread and Kraft Cheese

Wild bee Sidr Honey Comb, paired with Sfaa’ bread and activated charcoal brushed on sculpted cheese triangles, placed on a sculpture created by Moza Almatrooshi that is inspired by the rock beehives constructed by the Shihi Tribes in Jabal Yanas- an ancient practice that showcases the kinship between the native wild bees and the people of the mountain.

Aish and Sehna

Sehna Mcheecha sprinkled on rice mixed with Sidr leaves, atop a Loomi and onion piccalilli. A drying practice of anchovies as an act of preservation and pungent flavor, brought over into the UAE through trade with Iran.

Ma3karona Mal Il Italian

Laminated pasta with fig leaves, wild mint, and Sidr - cooked in fig leaf infused water, and topped with Bzar compound butter. Another juxtaposition of trade, the result is a buttery, South Asian seasoned pasta dish typically served in cafeterias and Emirati homes.

Khansoor wa Teen

Fig leaves cooler with Khansoor syrup- a succulent plant valued for its bitterness and medicine.

Rock Chocolate

Rock chocolate mixed with rock sugar and topped with candied Khansoor. A kind of chocolate found in most Iranian spice shops, in a series of colours.