Why did you decide to launch the World’s 50 Best regional list for the Middle East & North Africa at this time?
It’s been quite a long time coming. We launched World’s Best Restaurants almost 20 years ago, and then in 2013 we had our first regional events in Asia and Latin America. It felt like a logical next step to look at other regions that were perhaps underrepresented on the international gastronomic map and we felt that the Middle East and North Africa was one of those regions that has a rich and diverse culinary culture, or rather multiple cultures, that perhaps is lesser known outside of the region than it might be. And we want to shine a light on this great culinary region, give the opportunity to showcase and hopefully inspire young talent in the region, as well as provide a guide for diners and food-loving travellers all over the world to come to the region and explore it through its food… Food being the great window into to local culture.
How are you ensuring that the list will represent the entire market?
It’s worth emphasising that this is a list that does represent the whole region which includes 19 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. The way we do that is through the voting system. The voting system is really important in that we have six academy chairs spread across the region and they recruit expert voters from within those areas. We recruit voters from every country within the region and we hope that that will give a fair and credible reflection of the diversity of restaurants across the whole region.
Is there a reason you picked Abu Dhabi as the venue for the launch?
We looked in the region and different potential host destinations. We talked to DCT Abu Dhabi and they were very keen on having it there. They have the infrastructure and they’re investing in the culinary culture of Abu Dhabi. It is not as well-established as Dubai, we know that, but it has ambitions to develop and we hope that by hosting MENA’S 50 Best Restaurants in Abu Dhabi, we can be part of that process.
It’s also a great hub for anyone across the MENA region to be able to come to. It has a great infrastructure and great hotels, and we can bring everyone together and put on what we hope will be an amazing series of events that everyone can enjoy – whether they are part of the industry or whether they are just a food-loving consumer. We will have master classes and special dinners including collaboration dinners with local chefs.
From all the events that you mentioned in the build-up to the list being announced, what are you most excited about guests attending?
A few different things: we have masterclasses and have got, for example, The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2021 coming in from Bali, along with Pía León, The World’s Best Female Chef 2021 from Peru. They are from completely different parts of the world, different cultures and different skillsets and they are coming, among others, to do a masterclass that will show a little taste of what they are about, their philosophy and culinary thinking, and the consumers will be able to taste a sample of their food.
We’re always really proud of 50 Best Talks which is our thought leadership forum because it’s about moving the conversation around food forward in a positive way and working out how food can be a force for positive change in the world. I think we all know that food can be a really positive force if used in the right way and it is something that breaks down barriers. 50 Best Talks is our manifestation of that where we get culinary thinkers and leaders to talk about what they see as the future, what they see as sustainability or breaking down borders through food. Those ideas are really important. We’re not just about a list, important though that is. After these last couple of years, we can physically bring these culinary thinkers and leaders together and that itself will foster greater collaboration in the MENA region and different parts of the world as well.
I think the 50 Best Talks will focus more on the MENA region because this is really an important opportunity to talk about the food culture of the region. That doesn’t mean we won’t have an outside voice in there as well, but I don’t want it to be just a superstar chef fest. It’s also about the people doing really interesting things that maybe people don’t know about from different parts of this region.
What is your opinion of the regional culinary scene?
If I’m being perfectly honest, my experience is limited but I am enjoying it so far. It’s really interesting for us to be here on the ground. We don’t pretend to be experts on the restaurant scene in this region. We work all over the world and the system we use is to find local experts with the academy chairs or the voters themselves and trust their judgement. It’s finding the right people that have independent and diverse views but are all food and restaurant lovers and therefore have a valid an opinion on restaurants as anyone else because they are consumers themselves. They may be professionals in the industry but they are also consumers.
But going back to the question: I think from what we’ve seen so far, there’s a great diversity of styles and restaurants and that’s really exciting. From what I’ve read and learned from others, the different range of restaurants in any one city is extraordinary. So many different interpretations of traditional cuisines and fusions of cuisines and that makes for an exciting and unique mix of restaurants in the MENA region.
