For the seventh year, Bahrain’s Food Is Culture event took place this Saturday, pairing chefs with artists to produce unique creations that take self expression off the palate and onto the palette, so to speak.
The event originated seven years ago as a complement to the Bahrain Annual Fine Arts Exhibition, and due to popular demand has since grown to stand on its own as one of the most hotly anticipated dates on the island’s cultural calendar.
While in past years the programme has spanned several days, this year it was a one-off event, organised by the Bahrain Authority of Culture and Antiquities (Baca), that took place in the verdant courtyards of the new Al Liwan community development in Hamala.
Scroll through the gallery below to see more from the event:
The experimental project, the brainchild of Sheikha Hala bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, Director General of Arts and Culture at BACA, teams locally renowned chefs with established artists, challenging them to inspire one another and discover themes of mutual interest, ultimately producing delicious food and objets d’art.
For the creative professionals, this carves out a space for the cross pollination of ideas, driving innovation. For those who attend year after year, the results are a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds.
“We at the Bahrain Authority of Culture and Antiquities have to always think of innovative ideas to bring in new people and audiences and share new stories,” said Sheikha Hala at the event. “I believe that Food Is Culture is becoming a pillar of our cultural seasons every year, and it’s exciting to hear how these collaborations start, and also discover the end results.
“This is a wonderful platform where a lot of creative people come together and share and produce work in relation to food and art. I’m extremely proud of the collaborations we see every year.
“I think there’s a very beautiful connection between food and people, and also culture, nations and histories, so I believe that all these key words really create the mood for this event.”
We actually do pair strangers together a lot of the time, and and we never know what’s going to happen
Farah Mattar,
Director of Arts and Culture at Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities
The event began with a panel discussion featuring the three pairs of exhibiting chefs and artists and moderated by one of Bahrain’s most prominent food bloggers, Hind Al Rumaihi, from @thecravelist.bh on Instagram.
Back for his second year was Junior Gomez, executive chef of Mirai, which was recently named No 31 on the Middle East and North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants list. He was teamed with sustainable fashion designer and founder of bejewelled bag brand NS by Noof, Noof Yusuf AlShekar. The pair discovered they were both trying to enhance sustainability within their work, and this concept began to crystallise when AlShekar introduced Gomez to orange peel leather.
Abstract creative Mohamed Taqi and chef Manal AlSaleh, who manages the foodie Instagram account @tablefor.5, each felt compelled to produce joyful and vibrant creations full of colour, as an antidote to the gloom and doom of the pandemic. Despite coming from very different backgrounds, they were surprised to find a shared approach and ethos between their creative processes. This was spectacularly demonstrated as the pair did a live demonstration for the audience, working swiftly and seamlessly together as if they had been collaborating for years and not merely weeks.
Multimedia artist Mariam Haji X Meri Helmi and Abdullah Alnoaimi, founder of Greek restaurant Agora, shared an expansive dialogue that consisted more of intuition, body language and giggles than actual words. Their thought process linked the islands of Bahrain and Greece through the quality of light and pace of life, the common flora, and also through the rich history of the Tylos era.
Rather incredibly, each of the three pairs successfully translated nebulous concepts into tangible artefacts capable of being imbibed by all the senses.
The Food Is Culture project is as much about the whole process behind divergent talents meeting and collaborating as it is about the resulting food and art.
“We actually do pair strangers together a lot of the time, and and we never know what’s going to happen,” said Farah Mattar, Director of Arts and Culture at BACA. “So the fun part is it’s an experiment every single time where we put two elements together, and they change each other, and we get to come witness this collaboration in fruition; the results always exceed expectations.
“We want to bring food and art together to show you that there is magic in both, as well as demonstrate how they actually do build the relationship. I think it changes them going forward in everything that they continue to do, so I think that’s why it’s a favourite with people.”
Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
match info
Manchester United 3 (Martial 7', 44', 74')
Sheffield United 0
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
