Go farm to fork to fight obesity in UAE

Not everything at the sixth annual Dubai Farmers’ Market on the Terrace at Emirates Towers in Dubai is, it seems, quite as authentic as organiser Yael Mejia would wish.

Sure, there are piles of fruit and vegetables harvested so recently some still have the soil on them. Yes, there are freshly laid eggs and fresh loaves of bread produced just this morning. And, certainly, there are jars of home-made jams and marmalades and tubs of natural yogurt. It’s so back-to-basics, indeed, that the people manning the 10 stalls are the farmers themselves. Every Friday for the next five months, they will come from the country to offer city-slicker shoppers a taste of rural UAE.

But still... there’s something not quite right for perfectionist Yael.

How bosses at Jumeirah Group – which owns the towers – would feel about that remains unclear. But before Friday even has the chance to discuss the notion, Yael is off on another tangent.

More precisely, the professional food consultant who runs this market, unpaid, in her spare time, is off on her most passionate subject. Namely, how organic, local produce grown right here in the UAE can help wage war on one of the country’s biggest problems: obesity.

“No one should be eating unhealthily in this city,” says Yael. “You know, I have a philosophy: I tell people if you want to eat unhealthy, go ahead, do it and die. But if you don’t want to be like that and if you want to enjoy your food then learn about how to eat right and about what Dubai has to offer.

“Because with the right ingredients it’s actually easier to make a nutritional meal than it is to phone for a take-away. Look around you at this market today – or other markets like it. You could buy four or five ingredients that cost next to nothing, and all you need to do to make a meal is wash them, chop them, and pop them on a plate for the freshest salad you will ever taste.

“And because it’s so fresh that means healthy. You could even be adventurous, and add some chicken. It’s easy. Everyone could – and should – be doing it.”

If that sounds a little like a call to arms, essentially it is.

Yael, 60 – who set up and then sold her own artisanal food chain, Baker & Spice, in London – moved to the UAE in 2008 to help start a new dining chain here with the same name (now with three outlets – in Souk Al Bahar, the Marina Promenade and Dukkan Al Manzil).

She had planned to return to the UK after six months. But she was so shocked to find so many people here eating so badly that she scrapped those plans, decided to stick around and has made it her mission, as a freelance food consultant, to try to turn things around.

She’s not the only foodie to be beating this drum, of course. The recent Italian Cuisine World Summit saw an alliance of chefs promoting Mediterranean meals as a way of combating obesity, while Friday’s very own domestic diva Silvena Row advocates raw foods to stay fit and trim.

But it is organic produce grown locally that is Yael’s bag. She wants to see more straight-from-field-to-fork food on our dinner tables at home. She reckons if more of us ate more fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and dairy produced by the farmers on our doorstep, this would be a healthier, wealthier, happier, more environmentally friendly and self-sustaining country.

Indeed, it’s difficult to argue with the facts. Studies conducted by the University of Vermont in Canada have shown fruit and vegetables consumed within the locality in which they are grown are significantly higher in nutritional value.

The reason is that vitamins, minerals and nutrients begin to diminish within two days of picking. “If the salad you’re eating has travelled to Dubai on an ocean liner from America or the Netherlands,” says Yael, “you can be sure you’re not eating it before it starts to degrade so you’re losing the best of the health benefits”. For similar reasons, local produce lasts longer once bought and generally tastes better because its simple sugars haven’t started to break down into starch. If it’s organic, meanwhile, chemical fertilisers and pesticides have not been sprayed on the produce, again adding to its health benefits.

And then there’s the important aspect of farming techniques. Farms in the UAE are almost always small-scale rather than industrial. That means they don’t mass-produce one line of product. They grow a little of a lot. And the things they do grow – cucumbers, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, dates, chillies and onions, among others – are foods that are packed with vitamins, iron, alpha-lipoic acid and choline, all of which help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart issues, Alzheimer’s and even cancer.

“There’s also something reassuring about buying your food from the actual farmer who’s grown it, about looking him in the eye,” says Yael, who has also consulted for Fortnum and Mason food hall and restaurant in Downtown. “Supermarkets like to make things anonymous because they don’t like you to think about where the food comes from or how it’s been grown.

“Buying local reverses that trend. Even if you don’t buy from our market where you can actually shake hands with the farmer himself, if you do buy UAE produce you at least know where it’s come from – you can drive out of Dubai for about 40 minutes, and see the fields. That’s where your food came from. It feels good knowing it didn’t begin life in some industrial complex in the West.”

And the benefits aren’t just for the individual either. Advocates argue that if more of us bought local that would boost agriculture here. The consequences, in turn, would be three-fold. Firstly, it would help the rural economy – which is actually home to some 40,000 small-scale farms. Secondly, it would lead to a more self-sustained country. Thirdly, it would vastly reduce the UAE’s carbon footprint because air miles would be reduced.

Indeed, it is because of such benefits that Gabriele Kurz is a big champion of eating local. She’s the executive chef with Talise Wellness, a chain of spa and fitness centres in Dubai, and she will be offering regular cooking demonstrations at the Farmers’ Market on the Terrace.

She moved to Dubai from her native Germany eight years ago and, while she says she has noticed an increase in more people trying to eat healthily, there’s still not enough of us going local.

“Just look at the colour of some of these vegetables,” she says gesturing at the lush greens and reds and yellows splashed across the market stalls. “They even look better for you. This is important. I would say to people, just give it a go, you’ll be surprised how healthier and fitter you feel in no time. You’ll be surprised at how energised you are.”

That Dubai could do with being a little healthier there is little doubt. Just last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled the UAE the fifth fattest country in the world. Figures gathered by Dubai Municipality in the same period showed 40 per cent of children were overweight.

These statistics are oft-reported, both in Friday and across the media, but they are worth repeating. An alarming 39.9 per cent of women and 25.6 per cent of men here are obese. In addition, a Gulf News report last year reported that an average adult here consumes more than 3,000 calories per day – 25 per cent above the recommended amount for men and 50 per cent for women. It said residents eat out a staggering 11 times a week.

In addition, the International Diabetics Federation estimates 20 per cent of the adult population in the UAE is diabetic. That’s the second-highest national prevalence in the world. The only place ahead of it is the Pacific island nation of Nauru.

“It is a ridiculous situation to be in,” says Yael. It was for this reason she decided to set up the Farmers’ Market in 2010. Well, sort of…

“Actually, I have to say there was really no altruism involved,” she notes today with a smile.

The fact is, in 2014, there is a small but growing number of places where customers can buy local. Shops like The Farmhouse and the Union Co-Op chain now pride themselves on stocking UAE ingredients.

But when Yael was helping set up Baker & Spice in 2008, things were very different.

“I’d done my research before I landed and what I found was that if I wanted fresh, organic, local produce I would have to go direct to a farmer himself,” she says. “I could only find one – Abu Dhabi Organics Farms – although when I got here I found another two.

“But they were so small-scale and had so few customers, my worry was that they would end up closing and I wouldn’t have anywhere to get all these fresh ingredients that had been such a hit with the customers – who were always asking where we bought the stuff.

“So I said to the three of them, ‘Let’s find a place and bring the country to the city for one day a week. Pick your produce first thing in the morning and bring it here to sell at market, direct to customers, no middle man.’ I wanted them to get more customers so my supply lines would be safe. They liked the idea and so we did it.”

The rest, as they say, is history. That first year, the market ran at Souk Al Bahar for just three weeks in April. The entire set-up consisted of just those three farmers behind three tables.

Yet 400 people turned up on the first Friday, and kept coming. Today, things have expanded somewhat. This year, under the shade of marques set up in the gardens of Emirates Towers, 10 farmers from across Dubai and Abu Dhabi – who all use organic methods – will peddle their multicoloured produce every Friday until April. Live outdoor cooking demonstrations and Pilates classes will take place. And the smell of fresh coffee will permeate the air, which, most people, one imagines, will prefer to manure.

Figures of the numbers expected have not been calculated but it is thought it will run into tens of thousands over the season.

“It’s been an incredible success since we first set up,” says Yael.

One man who is glad it has is Saif Lalshamsi. He’s the co-owner of Bufjair Family Farm, which is just 25km outside Dubai and will be selling produce at the market through the season. Although the holding is relatively small – less than a quarter of a kilometre squared – it grows more than 50 kind of goods including lettuce, courgettes, broccoli, dates and chilli.

“This is all good stuff, all fresh,” he tells Friday. “Why would you want to buy from elsewhere when you can buy something that’s grown here on a family farm?

“Is it healthy? Of course, of course. We have certificates from the Ministry of the Environment telling us how good this produce is. But it’s tasty too. Do you know what vegetables grown in the UAE taste of? They taste of sunshine. They’re the best!” he says with conviction.

The Farmers’ Market on the Terrace takes place every Friday morning from 8am in the ballroom garden of Emirates Towers.