Etiquette of eating at a Qatari household!
In every culture, there are different etiquettes in dining. For instance, in Indian culture, it’s rude to eat using your left hand since you use that hand for the bathroom, therefore, the etiquette is eating using your right hand.
Whether you are new to Qatar or have been living here for a long time, we will walk you through how to eat in a Qatari household or just know the traditional way Qataris eat. You may find that the way they eat traditionally may be the same or similar to how you eat in your culture.
As in many cultures, Qataris eat on the floor. Eating on the floor has its benefits to the digestive system and body joints. The position of the body, cross-legged on the floor helps the body get ready to digest the food its about to receive. The movement of swinging the body like a pendulum to reach for the food and go back in straight posture, helps remove any conundrum of arthritis.
In modern day life, many people from different cultures use utensils to consume their food, but would use their hands if they were to eat the traditional way. However, some people still prefer to sit and eat the traditional way.
The traditional way that Qataris eat in is with their right hands. If they were to eat rice and a type of meat, they would crumble the rice in a bite-sized ball add that type of meat and then throw them in their mouths so that the finger tips do not touch the mouth, so the person would be able to go for another dip in the rice dish. Usually, it would be a huge round dish where people would gather around and take a side of the circumference and eat what’s in front of them or perhaps the host would scoop food from that big dish to a plate for yourself.
When Qataris have someone over for lunch or dinner and they are in a traditional setting, what the host would do to welcome that person is pick a good piece of meat and place it on their plate. That is a sign of respect and humbly welcoming the guest. The Qatari culture is a very hospitable and generous culture, they have these amazing little details that make their guests feel fully welcomed.
If you were to eat from your own plate, there are ways of letting your host know if you want more or you’ve had enough to eat. If you leave some pieces of food like five grains of rice, that means you are full and you do not want more. If you do want more food on your plate, you clean out your plate entirely to show that you loved the food and you haven’t had enough yet.
Now, you finished eating and it’s time to go wash up and have coffee. With serving coffee and receiving coffee it has its etiquette of course.
The job of the host is to bring the Arabic coffee pot which is called dallah and cups called fanajeen in Arabic to serve the guest(s). Arabic coffee which is also known as gahwa is served usually after a meal and accompanied by dates. It is considered rude if one is to reject a coffee serving from the host, unless you’re allergic to the ingredients or it upsets your stomach, you can just mention that, the host will understand.
You drink the coffee by holding the cup in your right hand and the server would stay standing there until you finish the coffee. Don't worry, the cup isn't like a mug, it's literally like a shot of espresso. If you want more, just extend your cup near the host and kindly ask to have more.
If you are done drinking coffee and you do not want more, you simply shake your cup left and right as a silent language telling the server “thank you for the coffee, but I don’t want more” they will take the cup and leave. Then the host will take the cup, wash it and reuse it to serve other people.
Ever eaten in a traditional Qatari setting? Let us know in the comments below.
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Dining rituals at a very warm and elegant Qatar family with delicious food.
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Looking really nice.
MashaAllah ............ .........................
Well, most Indian subcontinent Muslims eat similarly; sitting on the ground and with only very minor differences to the Arab/Persian Gulf way; for example, I didn't know about the shake of the qahwa cup to show you're done or the few rice grains to show you want more; I just speak to my hosts and let them know; and at any rate, most of the time I want more of everything haha - I consider it my duty to finish as much of that heavenly Mandi/machboos as I can haha; besides, the details can be a bit here and there in the modern day and most qataris and Arabs realise that their countries and cultures have become more cosmopolitan and are understanding of any misses made by their guests; but yes, for me personally; no lavish 5 star banquet dinner table with shiny cutlery and a million different dishes, even comes close to the homely communal feeling of sitting on the ground and eating a simple but divine machboos from the same dish with your hands; every person eating with me feels like my brother and there is no formality and no reserve; no holding your spoon this way and your fork that way and your napkin here and your soup bowl there and all that complicated nonsense haha; it reminds me of how my mother used to feed me and my brothers from the same plate with her hands as we all sat in a circle around her, eagerly waiting for our next bite hahaha...oh man the memories; I enjoyed this post; have a great day everyone :-)