Food for (future) thought

By Captain Mahmood Al Mahmood 

It is the time of year when Spring kisses our Kingdom with exuberant bursts of flowers and the Farmers’ Market on weekends are full of rainbow colours as purple cabbage and green heads of cauliflower push away the standard varieties.

Naturally the mind turns to food abundance and the Food Festival currently being held at Al Marassi Beach.

Restaurants in Bahrain have come together to celebrate the thriving food industry with the pop-up stalls showcasing a wide variety of global cuisine.

These days, an increasing number of Bahrainis of the younger gen are being tempted to try out new food options – not just as customers of restaurants but foodpreneurs themselves, serving up an array of world food.

Their familiarity with tastes, standards and unique ingredients means that they pursue the gold standard of authenticity in whatever food they serve.

There is a boom in food influencers online whose recommendations and criticisms can be the Michelin moment for a local eatery and Instagram-run businesses, especially in home catering and fancy baking.

I think we must take this moment by its peak and help to shape the ambitions of our youth for the future food business.

There is more to this industry than just running restaurants.

We must expose our children to career choices such as food technologist, restaurant designer, chef consultant, franchise designer etc.

It is only when they get the exposure and education for such careers that they will be able to expand the platform for the new millennium and find their place around the world and not just in this strip of Planet Earth.

At the same time, let us also safeguard our precious Bahraini culinary identity and heritage so that it is not lost forever in a plateful of pasta or curry!

We are keepers of both, our future and our past and we must always maintain this balancing act.