The Eats in Doha

Wherever I go, I find that people are always concerned about what I'm eating. Perhaps it's my bony body type or my history with mild illness, but whatever the reason, if you're one of those people, I'm about to put your mind to rest.

There is a lot of food in Doha. In terms of quantity, there is plenty to go around. In terms of diversity, almost anything can be found here. Because of the large expat community (from the West, as well as from the East - India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Phillipines...), there is a good selection of ethnic foods to be found.

Having said that, there are some items that are harder to come by than others. We have bought brocolli but it's not always easy to find. The same is true for special products like Miracle Whip (which Darren happened to find in one store and stocked up for me!) and whole wheat pasta. On the other hand, there are tons of Asian and European products that I'm not familiar with and that would be interesting to try.

So what do we eat? Well, at home - pretty much the same thing we ate in Canada. Wednesday night, for example, I made spaghetti. The night before we had stir fry. Last week, when we were being fed delicious lunch buffets at orientation, we had simpler dinners, such as egg sandwiches and omelets.

That's not to say that we always eat what we've always eaten. Last Saturday when we got home late and hungry from a city tour, I sent Darren to a nearby takeout kebab place to pick up shawarma. Last night we went to a Middle Eastern restarurant and sampled baba ghanouj (pictured above), chicken kofta and shish tawook. Tomorrow I'm planning on making Biryani. And more and more I'd like to experiment with the "different" vegetables and spices here.

We find ourselves eating out more in Doha than we did at home. Not because of the lack of options for at-home eating, but because of our need to get out.

There are a few reasons for this. First, it's too hot to go out during the day. This makes it really easy to stay in the apartment for hours on end. Fortunately I am forced to leave each morning to go to my job, because I'm the kind of person who would stay planted here. Darren does a good job of getting out most days to run a little errand at least, but he still spends the majority of his time cooped up in here. It's not just us - after sundown, the city seems to come to life. All the stores are open until at least 9 or 10, and children can be seen running around and playing in the rubble heaps late into the evening.

The other reason is that we're bored at home. Once dinner is finished, we've still got a few hours until bedtime. Because I've spent all day at work, I usually just want to be with Darren, or maybe another couple. However, with few distractions at home, it gets boring really quickly. So we find reasons to get out for a few hours in the evening. Sometimes it's to use an Internet cafe, this past week we spend days on our quest to find more comfortable sheets, but other times it's to have a meal.

Fortunately eating out is not as expensive here as it is at home - as long as you stay away from the ritzy hotels. These are the few places that have liquor licenses in the country, so they are popular destinations for non-muslims. But the city is full of interesting (and familiar) places to eat, and we're enjoying discovering them one by one.

Hopefully now you will be less concerned about the Conleys' eating habits in Doha. We've never had it so good, actually!