Dubai Saffron Hunting

Dubai is a city known for having available anything you can imagine. If you feel like Snow Skiing in the middle of the dessert you can go to the Mall of the Emirates, ski all day and bet on a Camel race later that afternoon. You can find any cuisine imaginable within a ten minute drive or stay at a 7 star hotel. I set out on a mission this morning to see Dubai from a different perspective, one past all the glitz, glamour and sixteen year olds driving Ferraris. What I found were truly friendly, working class people from all over the earth ready to befriend a stranger. I jumped in a cab in search of a spice souk (market) to find some Saffron for a friend back home who shares my passion for food. As my driver navigated the busy streets I drove with the windows down listening to religious chants over giant loud speakers located throughout the city. As I listened to the chanting I was reminded without a doubt that I was in the Middle East. We got to a Souk near the Harbor were small Freighters were loading and unloading everything from Spices to Refrigerators. As I walked through the endless shops full of sacks loaded with every spice imaginable, the culinary part of my brain went into sensory overload. What I would do with this. What could I do with that? Smelling and tasting several saffron’s I finally settled on one from Iran and after a quick haggling session I was on my way. As we made our way back to the hotel for a fantastic Middle Eastern lunch buffet, I watched two old men playing cards and smoking their hookah pipes. I watched kids in the street playing soccer and am reminded how very small this world is and how we can only benefit from tolerance.