It’s a Wednesday evening and you are meeting with a group of students over dinner to sample a new cuisine. Maybe tonight is Mexican food and you will enjoy fresh guacamole prepared right at your table. Maybe you will sit in a circle and scoop up Ethiopian stews with pieces of bread, or reminisce in New York hamburger culture at the Abu Dhabi Shake Shack.

 

Flavors of Abu Dhabi is a bi-monthly program that takes groups of students out to explore a variety of ethnic restaurants around the city. The program launched early last semester with a visit to a Mongolian Hot Pot. Since then, there have been 10 outings with a new type of cuisine each time.

 

Khulood Al Atiyat, Assistant Director of Student Life, runs the program though the Office of Intercultural Affairs and explained that the idea originated as a personal quest when she first moved to Abu Dhabi.

 

“I love food and I love trying authentic restaurants,” Al Atiyat said. “When it comes to food, I can’t be biased towards any one kind – I can’t choose a favorite.”

 

Al Atiyat adheres to a number of criteria when selecting a restaurant for the program. She chooses restaurants that represent the different nationalities at NYUAD.

 

Part of the program’s goal is to introduce students to restaurants in the hopes that they will return to their favorites. Al Atiyat tries to keep the price range within the means of a student budget. She has high standards when it comes to dining and almost always goes to the restaurant to review the new establishment before taking the students. “My reputation is at stake,” she said. “If I recommend a restaurant, it has to be good.”

 

Freshman Jiwon Shin highly recommends Flavors of Abu Dhabi. In fact, she has attended almost every restaurant outing.

 

“I like the program because it gives the students the opportunity to experience different cultures,” Shin said, identifying the Saudi Kitchen as her preferred restaurant.

 

Shin pointed out that experiencing new cultures often involves experimenting with the unusual or unexpected; the strangest thing she has tried was a raw meat dish at an Ethiopian restaurant. She said it was quite good, and that she was glad she tasted the dish.

 

Al Atiyat hopes that students will begin to take a leading role with Flavors of Abu Dhabi, especially as she wants to expand the project to include going out for breakfast next semester. She said she is looking for a few students to help research and discover restaurants, plan the menus and organize the outings.

 

Flavors of Abu Dhabi will be visiting a Korean restaurant sometime within the coming weeks. The time and place of each outing will be announced on the Student Portal. Those interested in attending the next outing can contact her at Al Atiyat kaa310@nyu.edu.