Anissa's Blog

Back from Gaziantep and already missing its colourful bazaars and all the delicious food we ate there. Too much of it mind you, but there is one thing we all agreed on, and this was that we couldn’t have too much of Ozgüler’s ice cream. Turkish, as well as Syrian and Lebanese ice cream is…

Finally back in London and already missing the bustling Arab markets with their abundance of seasonal produce and where I can taste anything I want without any of the vendors being offended as they would be in Europe. This year, I was lucky to be in the Middle East during fresh chickpeas season, my favourite…

Another great trip to Syria with a wonderful group. We had great fun despite being driven by possibly the most stubborn and moronic driver ever. He and his uncomfortable bus (supposedly VIP) were the low point of an otherwise lovely trip. As usual, the food was delicious with one of the great hits being breakfast…

As many of you know, I’ve been having great fun eating and cooking camel recently. I thought I’d be leaving my camel adventures behind when I left the Emirates for Tehran. But it was not to be. After Tehran, I went to Jeddah where I met with a lovely online friend, Ghada, who was accompanied…

April/May is probably the nicest time to be in the Middle East. Not only because of the weather which is just fabulous (sunny and not too hot) but also because of the profusion of seasonal produce. I was in Tehran recently and the produce I saw in the different markets I went to was simply…