Muscat Festival: Omani food corner at the Heritage Village attracts visitors

Muscat: Traditional Omani food at Naseem Garden in Seeb, being sold as part of this year's Muscat Festival, is attracting a huge number of visitors.
The food area, which is part of the Heritage Village at the festival, is constantly buzzing with food lovers from across the world. The delicious and authentic food, prepared by Omani women hailing from various parts of Oman, includes Omani bread, harees, hummus and kotten, among many others.
Each stall saw a mix of people from various nationalities tasting and enjoying the food prepared by traditional chefs. However, one stall that saw constant queues forming and people anxiously awaiting their turn was the Omani breads section.
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“This is my first time in Oman and I planned my trip so that I could attend the Muscat Festival that I heard a lot about from my brother, who was an exchange student in 2016 at Sultan Qaboos University. He specifically asked me to taste the Omani bread which is prepared fresh at the festival, and I have already had two rounds of it and am now waiting in line for the third one,” said Emma Mossberg, who is visiting from Sweden.
Shareefa Al Balushi, busy preparing mouth-watering Omani breads, has been attending the festival for three years and said she enjoys the feedback she receives from visitors.
“I have been in the food business for 10 years and have been managing it from home. But when I first attended the festival and heard people complimenting the bread I made, I felt extremely happy. Since then, I have been coming regularly to the festival and plan to keep doing that,” Al Balushi added.
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Al Balushi is offering visitors options such as Omani bread with cheese, egg, honey, and all three combined as well.
According to the expert, it takes a lot of practice and patience to learn the art of making bread the right way.
“First, you need to make sure you get the consistency of your dough perfect – not too watery and not too solid. Then comes the part where you need to practice the speed of spreading the dough on the hot-flat pan because if you are too slow, it will burn very fast. Once you master the steps, the rest will just come along,” Al Balushi said.[email protected]