One of the hardest things I had to figure out when my wife and I moved to Canada in 2018 was how to procure high-quality zaatar.
Zaatar is basically dried thyme, mixed with different spices and condiments that differ by region, and is common in the Levant. It comes in different forms, like spread out on top of a manousheh, the traditional flatbread breakfast staple, or coating balls of tangy labneh. Or you might have eaten it in its purest form: dipping a piece of bread first in olive oil and then in a zaatar mix in the bowl next to it. Restaurants, in my view, should do away with the butter and bread and simply replace it with zaatar and sourdough.
Not all zaatar is created equal though. Throughout my time in the Middle East, it was simple enough to come by zaatar mixes of varied provenance. I tended to generously add zaatar to a variety of foods because it made everything taste better. Growing up, I was a picky eater and became a functional one when I moved abroad. Yet, in my book, there were few simple savoury dishes that did not benefit from a liberal sprinkling of zaatar as a dressing or topping.
Two things changed this mentality and my approach to food more generally. First, I met my now-wife, who is Syrian. The way Syrians talk about their food and its absolute superiority to anything else they have eaten outside the country will give you the impression that no other cuisine needs to exist. And second, I got to partake in the sublime experience of tasting homemade zaatar prepared by a friend's mother in Amman.
The actual spice mixes used to make zaatar, particularly those based on homemade recipes passed down in families, make an enormous difference. Most include sesame seeds, while some use ground green thyme rather than the dried herb in the initial preparation. The addition of sumac to the mix yields wonderful tangy notes, heightened more so when combined with a bit of lemon zest. Those who have tried a wide swathe of zaatar variants will conclude that Jordanian zaatar is superior to all others, followed by Aleppo zaatar – a claim that, I must clarify, is not the result of pressure from my wife, who is from Aleppo.
For a nomad wandering in places where he did not belong, the scent of zaatar felt like home
As a reporter roaming around the Middle East, it was fairly straightforward to source these various zaatar mixes. I often came back from such trips with suitcases stuffed with zaatar. The best of it usually came in a malleable jar or plastic bag. For a nomad wandering in places where he did not belong, the scent of zaatar became, to me, home.
Procuring it, however, became more complicated when I moved to Montreal. As the supply of zaatar we brought from Istanbul dwindled, I asked friends and co-workers in the Middle East for help. I travelled briefly for a seminar to Jordan in October 2018 and came back replenished with my friend's homemade supply. A part of the reason I accepted the invite was the prospect of getting my hands on some zaatar.
I have been lucky with gifts. One time, a former boss sent me a fragrant package of the stuff from Lebanon. Another time, an editor at a website where I worked shipped some divine Palestinian zaatar from Haifa.
When I moved jobs, my new boss sent me a parcel of zaatar from his stash that had been brought over by family visiting him in Europe from Jordan. I retained other friendships at the time that were not zaatar-centric.
Realising eventually that my good fortune of being gifted zaatar was not sustainable, I searched for and found a small epicerie, appropriately called La Pistacherie, that was somewhat out of the way in Montreal but that sold the zaatar I sought. The place catered to the Syrian and Lebanese community in the city, so it did not have Jordanian zaatar, but it did stock rows and rows of the Aleppo mix, along with foods that I thought would be consigned to the day when I went "back home" – like rose jam, good pomegranate molasses and good Turkish coffee laced with cardamom ("good" differentiates what you find in speciality stores from the stuff in supermarkets that is bland rubbish, for the most part).
The other great discovery during the pandemic was the small-scale Arab caterers who made and delivered dishes of yore, like the lady who brought us homemade kibbeh, or the Egyptian family that brought stuffed vine leaves and koshari made to perfection. Unlike me with my picky eating habits, my toddler will happily devour the tastes of a home he has never seen – zaatar with olive oil, mutawam with garlic and zucchini, kibbeh, mjaddara, molokhia and others.
When we moved to Canada, we thought the world was small enough for us to endure the distance. We told ourselves it wouldn’t be too long before we went back home to visit, before our son would meet his grandparents, before we revelled in the company of friends and loved ones, before we revisited old haunts and savoured their tastes and scents that could never be truly and faithfully recreated elsewhere.
The pandemic ensured this was all a pipe dream. So for now, until the reunion, we console ourselves with the scent of coffee wafting as it boils over in the rakwa and the tang of zaatar, listening to songs we heard as children and basking in the warmth of other suns.
Kareem Shaheen is a veteran Middle East correspondent in Canada and a columnist for The National
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: Dh99,000
On sale: now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
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THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20Cashew%0D%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202020%0D%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Ibtissam%20Ouassif%20and%20Ammar%20Afif%0D%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3EIndustry%3A%20FinTech%0D%3Cbr%3EFunding%20size%3A%20%2410m%0D%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Mashreq%2C%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
