Tales of Emirati Camels

I've always admired camels for their everlasting cheerfulness, they always seem to be in a jumpy mood, with that cheeky smile drawn on their hairy faces, don't they?

Well the Emiratis have done it again with achieving the most eye-opening news yet!


Camel burger newest 'healthy' option
DUBAI (Reuters) - A traditional Emirati restaurant in Dubai has added a new entree to its menu billed as a fat-free choice for carnivorous but health-conscious diners: the Camel Burger. For 20 UAE dirhams ($5.45), the Local House restaurant offers a quarter pound camel burger, loaded with cheese and smothered in burger sauce, the Xpress weekly newspaper reported on Thursday. Ali Ahmad Esmail, Local House assistant manager, told the paper that the burger patties were fat- and cholesterol-free. But he declined to say how the outlet tenderised the tough camel meat. "It's a trade secret," he said. Camel meat is widely eaten in some Arab countries, but is not typically sold in supermarkets or served in restaurants. The paper reported that Local House said it was the first to introduce the burger in the United Arab Emirates. A fast food outlet in neighbouring Saudi Arabia put baby camel burgers on its menu last year.


UAE man pays $6.47m for 3 camels
DUBAI (AFP) - An Emirati splurged a whopping 24 million dirhams ($6.47 million) for three camels, including one which cost $2.72 million, at an auction in the desert near Abu Dhabi, an AFP photographer said. The auction was held Tuesday at the Dhafra Festival for Camels and was attended by the biggest camel owners in the Gulf, among them princes and tribal dignitaries. The other two camels cost United Arab Emirates national Hamdan Ben Ghanem around $2.4 million and $1.35 million respectively. Citizens of Gulf countries are passionate about camel racing, which is considered a national sport and tradition. At the festival, competitions are held for the best camel meat and camel milk dishes, and for the best poem written about camels.

The sad thing is that a pet camel has always been in the back of my mind, too bad the relatively large...or massive budget doesn't really fit my limits! Happy cameling folks!

Stereotypes About The Middle East; A Rising Concern

Was searching YouTube for something to feed my boredom last night, when I came upon Queen Rania's YouTube channel. For those who haven't heard, Queen Rania of Jordan has launched an initiative - or several - on YouTube and Twitter, to communicate to the Western world and talk about various stereotypes westerners have about the Middle East, Arabs, and Muslims. Some have even taken to calling her the 'cyber queen of the Middle East'. I thought it would be interesting to jot down my thoughts on the matter of stereotyping:

Firstly, a common, deeply flawed misconception is that all Middle Easterners are terrorists. Well, going back to 9\11 there sure were 17 terrorists who all came from the Middle East, were Arabs and Muslims. But how far can we take that fact to say that we all are terrorists? We can hardly say that such a vast population of over 360 million people are reflected by those 17 who performed this disgraceful act of suicide in the name of religion. Sure there are terrorists in the Middle East, but the same goes for any other country in the world. Middle Easterners are generally peaceful people, as a matter of fact, Jordan itself is known for its wonderfully warm hospitality to foreigners!

Middle Easterners live in desert tents and get around using camels. To be honest I have never heard such an absurd statement without letting out a sincere laugh. Cars are well used in society here, an amazing fact is that oil-rich countries in the Gulf, mainly Kuwait, have a higher number of cars than people! The world's tallest building is in the Middle East, namely 'Burj Khalifa' - more commonly known as The Dubai Tower - which exceeds a height of 828m, making it the highest man-made structure in the world!

Architects and engineers are fully present in the Middle East (some people may think we are all desert dwelling Bedouins), doing a wonderful job of ensuring citizens' comfortable and stylish accommodation.

Arabs are all Muslims; Muslims are all Arabs Neither of these statements are correct. Muslims make more than 1.5 billion of the worlds population. Arabs make only about 360 million people straddling North Africa and Western Asia. Now the second statement has been debunked, what about the first? Are Arabs all Muslims? Definitely not, a significant population of Arabs follow Christianity, with myself being one of them. Personally, having many Muslim friends whom I consider brothers and sisters, the respect I have towards Islam is concrete. Islam itself does not teach enmity and war, but peace and love, just like the other heavenly religions.


Women are given no rights in the Middle East.  This stereotype varies significantly from one country to the next. For instance, Saudi Arabia has yet to permit woman to drive, whereas the Jordanian female population enjoy plenty of rights and can be seen in various positions about the country, from university professors to taxi drivers to ministers.

Middle Easterners hate Jews. This also, is a common misconception. The hate Middle Easterners have is directed to the Zionist Israeli government, and not the religion Judaism, which has our utmost respect. The causes of this hate are vast, and for one to know how it all began, he would have to go back to the formation of the Zionist Israeli state, which in fact was formed by betrayal of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, who had been promised the land as part of his Arab state after WW2 by the British. At present day, however, this hate is due to the daily killing and slaughter of Palestinians, their expulsion from their own lands and the numerous other mistreatment they receive.

Arab countries are oil-rich. Partly true in the Arabian gulf region, but countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria have negligible oil resources or none! Electricity generated in Jordan is 96% from oil and natural gas imported by neighboring countries. Jordan is now aiming at building renewable energy resources such as wind and solar, as well  as building nuclear power reactors for peaceful purposes due to the significant amount of uranium found in the Kingdom.. and yes, I can assure you I said peaceful. Car oil in Jordan as a matter of fact is ridiculously expensive!

I hope I have given you a reasonable perspective on these matters and please feel free to contribute your feedback if you may have a different point of view or would like to discuss these matters in a deeper manner.

Please spare some time to view Queen Rania's pages on YouTube and Twiter at http://youtube.com/queenrania and http://twitter.com/queenrania