A Restaurant of Naturality

 NATURALITÉ : When a  haute cuisine restaurant, ethically resources the ingredients of each plate delicately and naturally.

NATURALITÉ from Simon Pénochet on Vimeo.

Alain Ducasse's restaurant at the Plaza Athénée has just re-opened. The Chef tells a more personal and radical story, following a path he initiated twenty-five years ago. He introduces a cuisine of naturality, that revolves around three key elements: fish, vegetables and cereals. A healthier,  organic, more sustainable and environmentally-conscious approach.

Watch this soothing video of how the plates were created and the people behind them!

While in Lebanon, people are arguing which restaurant is safe or not.
In the other part of the world, some great minds are going back to the basics of cooking, the natural, the organic, and the fair trade...
Natural is what we need these days. Not the extreme of cleanliness, and not the extreme of contamination.
Hoping we can learn and get inspired from Chef Alain Ducasse and people like him.

GulFood Manufacturing Show: Addressing Region's Food Issues

Region’s biggest-ever trade show launch to highlight food logistics, processing, packaging and ingredients sectors

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Conceived to capitalise on unprecedented market demand for the region’s manufacturing, processing, packaging and ingredients sectors, Gulfood Manufacturing 2014 – being held 9-11 November at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) – has officially sold out.

Amid steady domestic and regional growth in the food manufacturing and processing industry, the sector-specific spin-off of Gulfood – the world’s largest annual food and hospitality trade platform – will debut as the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia’s (MEASA) biggest-ever trade show launch. With a host of global food manufacturers, suppliers and service providers requesting exhibition space, organiser DWTC is adding new halls to cater for intense international demand

Tea Gschwendner : Ritzy as Its Name!

"Make things happen, explore distant shores, and most of all, drink tea."

With this philosophy,  Albert Gschwendner and his wife Gwendalina turned their dreams of a teashop into a reality in 1978.

And it was this tea shop that I discovered in the middle of a very dull country. Because if there is anything that can bring me joy in Riyadh, is discovering a new cuisine or an exquisite food shop.

Gschwendner was one of them and it is now on my Top list to see and check every time I am in the Kingdom tower doing some shopping.

Gschwendner. Yep, it is German. And I admit that the name is a bit hard to pronounce and actually google later when I wanted to write this post. But this name turned out to be as lavish as the products inside!

The small shop in the kingdom is in the ground floor, and you can see a teapot boiling outside as if greeting you to come inside and explore a new world of Tea leaves. And this is exactly what happened. The teapot was enough to attract me inside and discover this Tea Haven!

Hundreds of Tin drawers with different types of dried  tea leaves from around the world!

And another thing that caught my attention, was a small stand with brochures. There it was the " Book of Tea". I grabbed it. And asked the salesman if I can take it with me. He welcomely acknowledged that and poured some tea for me and my family.

Was Star Trek too optimistic for a future full of chocolate?

"I never met a chocolate I didn't like " Deanna Troi -  Star Trek ( The Next Generation) .
 That is probably one of the renowned quotes about chocolate . I am not that of a Star Trek fanatic , more of a Star Wars. But Star Wars doesn't mention anything about chocolate!
 Even in another Star Trek Episode   (Deep Space Nine) chocolate was a commodity on DS9 during the Bajor Occupation; Quark offered some to Odo to make up for their "rough start" back in 2363.
Does this  ingenious TV series that depicts life in the future , able to predict correctly that chocolate will still exist in the future? And that Chocolate will still be eaten in "rough times"?

Unfortunately, Cocoa and chocolate will be rare foods in the upcoming 10 years. Well that’s what the International Center for Tropical Agriculture ( more about CIAT)  in Columbia warns. So , perhaps teleportation machines and starships will be more realistic  than humans eating chocolate.