Table Tales: The Global Nomad Cuisine of Abu Dhabi

Much like Singapore or Hong Kong, Abu Dabhi has become a bustling international city in which local foods are served alongside the dishes of a host of residents from far away places who come to work and live there. Hanan Sayed Worrell, a Lebanese-Egyptian-American who grew up in Kuwait, was educated in the US, and has lived in Abu Dabhi for the more than twenty-five years, not only typifies the the blending that goes on there, she has chronicled it.

Using chapters devoted to each decade since the 1960s, the author showcases recipes and cooks who have contributed to the city's culinary enrichment. The blend is sometimes surprising: an apple tart brought by an immigrant from Germany and grilled cheese sandwich with Marmite appear a few pages from Emirati lamb pilaf, freekeh-stuffed squab from Egypt, and a prawn sambal from Malaysian. But lengthy profiles of the cooks from whom she has learned the recipes help establish just how complex food culture has become in the city.

This is a handsomely designed book with attractive photography of food, places, and people. Worrell's profiles of her contributors place them firmly within the city's evolution and enrich her portrait of its cuisine.

Hardcover. Color throughout. 366 pages. 12" x 9"