Food in Qatar

Once you settle down into your accommodation and job in Qatar, the next big hurdle or challenge is invariably food.

If you cook, you'll find that many familiar foodstuff you get in your home supermarket is not available here. It does not matter where you are from in the world. I hear the same familiar complaints from Lebanese, American and British colleagues.

For those who regularly have pork as part of their diet, you may suffer from 'pork-withdrawal symptom'; if there is ever such a symptom. Sufferers of such symptoms are known to take flight over the weekend to Dubai or Bahrain to satisfy the withdrawal crave.

Some will sneak some pork back and hide-and-seek stories with airport custom officers are well regaled adventures.

Of course we know that pork is not available in this strict Muslim country but familiar vegetables such as Kailan, Bak Choi, Bean sprout, Kang Kong are also not available too or only at a high price.

Americans will complain that their favorite snacks are not available, Lebanese the quality of Yogurt, Italians the selection of olive oils, Englishmen the availability of sausages, Singaporeans the choice of vegetables, etc. As large as the supermarkets here are, they can never satisfy the varied needs of the number of nationalities who congregate in this small country.

Food is a challenge for those who do not cook as well.

You'll find restaurants and food courts only at the malls and hotels. There are also a sprinkling of restaurants along some roads and petrol kiosks. However, it does not matter where you find them; your choice are always limited to:

1. American Fast Food (They are everywhere!)
2. Middle Eastern Fast Food (Almost everywhere!)
3. Indian Food

Fast Food - Invented in the Middle-East?

Middle Eastern Fast Food - Sharwama

Indian Bryani

For those who abhor fast food, and there are indeed many such people, you are in tough trouble. Your next best bet are the Shawama (if you do not get sick of it) or the Indian Bryani (if you do not mind getting clogged arteries).

Once you want to move past these 3 choices, you will now face the challenge of:

1. Finding parking spots
2. Pay the high price

What has that to do with eating your favorite food?

Well, the better restaurants, be it Italian, American, Chinese, Thai or Japanese are inevitably located in malls or hotels where parking is almost always a hassle and food prices are always 50% or more what you'll need to pay back in their native land for the exact same food.

You either live without your favorite food or you can go through the hassle of finding parking lots and/or paying through your nose for the privilege of indulging in some comfort food.

For some, the indulgence of their favorite food in hotels come with the added benefit of having alcohol, for the only place in Qatar where you can have food with alcohol outside of your home, is only in hotels.

For the rest of us, where money does not fall from the sky or spurt from underground, I hear that Instant Noodles, Pasta and sandwiches are perennial favorites.

Pix-Courtesy of their various owners