For some students at NYU Abu Dhabi, Emirati cuisine is a memory of home, a source of belonging and a reminder of community. While the university campus is physically within the UAE, the absence of home cooked food on a daily basis is, to some, a reminder of the flavors they love and miss.

Dubai native Sara Alnajjar, Class of 2024, discussed her favorite Emirati dish: Machboos. “I never realized it was my favorite dish until I realized how much I miss it when I’m away from home.”

As an aromatically spiced meat and rice dish, Machboos is a staple of many Gulf cuisines and shares similarities with other South Asian and Middle Eastern dishes, including Biryani. Machboos is typically made with lamb, chicken or seafood and the generously spiced meat broth is then used to cook the rice.

“I crave it during lunch hours literally on a daily basis,” adds Alnajjar. “I associate it with home because it’s a dish that we eat a lot at home whether it’s at my home or my Grandma’s home … it makes me feel like the happiest person on earth … I’m always satisfied with every Machboos dish I eat.”

Another staple of Emirati cuisine is seafood, due to the UAE’s proximity to the Arabian Gulf. Fish is a common find, but more distinctive seafood is celebrated as well. Abdulla Al Mehairbi, Class of 2025, from Abu Dhabi, illustrated a traditional shark dish:

“My favorite dish … would hands down definitely be Jesheed [which is] … small sharks. It’s basically their meat mixed with spices and … a little bit of vegetables … People would just mix it up with rice or with other fish but it can also be served on top of rice,” notes Al Mehairbi. “It has a very unique taste to it, it’s not spicy, it’s not sweet … it’s just a little salty.”

To Al Merhaibi, seafood in Emirati cuisine is a reminder of the UAE’s recent past. “My grandparents...told us stories of their family members being pearl divers, going to the sea.”

The uniqueness of Jesheed as a shark dish also reminded him of the importance of the ocean in the history of the UAE’s economy and culture. “It’s a very unique fish ... The dish in itself is not very prominent outside the Gulf region. This can be seen as a true Emirati dish.”

While Alnajjar and Al Mehairbi highlighted meats as important centerpieces of many Emirati dishes, Mohamed Alhosani, Class of 2023, from Al Ain, describes another integral aspect of Emirati cuisine: “Spices that we got from India … such as cardamom, cumin; also some Saffron which I believe is influenced by Persia. All these different ingredients really create Emirati dishes for me.”

Alhosani also discussed a favorite dish of his. “Harees, a mixture of oats [or wheat] … with water on top … usually melted cow fat is drizzled. I associate that dish with Eid morning where the family would sit … and we’d eat it. Usually also my family would do that on Friday mornings, we stopped doing that recently,” says Alhosani. “I always associate it with my family and with this gathering and when I’d wake up in the morning excited to eat Harees with family on the table with no other concern.”

Alhosani also illustrated how sometimes a simple comfort dish can sometimes be the best thing to eat in difficult circumstances. “There’s also the … food that you eat when you’re sick … when you’re feeling a kind of mood, tired, sad, happy; all these occasions have different foods that I associate to and that I was taught to associate to … whenever I feel anxious I always go to eat a simple white rice with yoghurt.”

To all three students, Emirati food is an essential and heartwarming reminder of family and home.

Alhosani recalls how some of his early memories involve a combination of food and family. “My upbringing really involved the cuisine. My aunt and mom are great cooks … I remember being two years old and we would prepare the dates from the season. As a baby, they would just put dates in my hands [to] just wash the dates.”

“Emirati cuisine is a very important element of my life,” Al Mehairbi stresses. “When Emiratis usually have meals at their homes, or at majlises, or at restaurants or at gatherings they usually have them as a group. So, it brings the community together … In a sense it also gives us a sense of identity, a sense of belonging.”

In a country with multicultural dining options, Emirati cuisine is a reminder of prevailing cultural identities and how legacies of the past prevail in a rapidly growing nation. Ultimately, these stories of the UAE prove that food is a strong foundation for national heritage.