The luxurious Souq al Bahar in Dubai, with its art galleries and upmarket nightspots, will get a little earthier this Friday.
A market will sprout on the terrace of the Baker and Spice restaurant, where farmers from Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Ras al Khaimah and Oman will sell their produce.
The seeds of the country's organic market were planted in 2006, when Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, pledged his support for such enterprises, referring to a phrase often used by Sheikh Zayed, the founding President of the UAE: "Give me agriculture and I shall give you civilisation."
A year later, the Abu Dhabi Organic Farm became the first to be internationally recognised as organic in Abu Dhabi by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.
Matthias Schwarz has run Salata Farms in RAK with his father since late 2008. Their first harvest yielded about 400 tonnes of produce.
The second planting brought in as much as four times that.
So, this year, the farm is adding 10 hectares of greenhouses in a US$55 million (Dh202m) expansion.
Being part of the farmers' market is a way of "connecting to the customer", he said. "It's also a social thing. You know the person selling the product. You meet others in the morning. You create a community."
Yael Mejia, the food consultant at Baker and Spice, hopes the introduction of a farmers' market in an urban setting will inspire consumers to think about local products when buying fresh fruit and vegetables. "My main concern is food and flavour," she said. "That's what I do for a living; I cook."
She said it was absurd that most people bought produce flown in from elsewhere at the expense of both taste and the environment. And she said her message was especially timely now, considering the volcanic ash cloud that enveloped Europe in recent days and left cargoes of flowers in Kenya, fruit in Morocco and fish in Egypt.
This weekend marks the end of the outdoor growing season in this country. Farmers will soon move to hydroponic agriculture for the summer.
But Ms Mejia hopes to have whetted appetites enough so that visitors will attend a weekly farmers' market when the growing season begins in September.
ashah@thenational.ae
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
AL%20BOOM
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Getting%20there%20and%20where%20to%20stay
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Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
OPENING FIXTURES
Saturday September 12
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Fulham v Arsenal
Liverpool v Leeds United
Tottenham v Everton
West Brom v Leicester
West Ham v Newcastle
Monday September 14
Brighton v Chelsea
Sheffield United v Wolves
To be rescheduled
Burnley v Manchester United
Manchester City v Aston Villa
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Match info:
Burnley 0
Manchester United 2
Lukaku (22', 44')
Red card: Marcus Rashford (Man United)
Man of the match: Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United)
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
UAE SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Khalid Essa, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Salem Rashid, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Mohammed Al Attas, Walid Abbas, Hassan Al Mahrami, Mahmoud Khamis, Alhassan Saleh, Ali Salmeen, Yahia Nader, Abdullah Ramadan, Majed Hassan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Fabio De Lima, Khalil Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Muhammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani, Caio Canedo, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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