Dubai Bans Cooking With Alcohol

March 22nd marked the day were Dubai chefs throughout the municipality had to cease the use of alcohol in their dishes throughout all food establishments in Dubai. Ahmed al Ali, the head of food inspections, allowed his reasoning to be quoted, “There have been a lot of violations, with hotels often hiding content of alcohol in food from customers….This is a Muslim society and visitors to our hotels and our guests. It is important to ensure they are informed about everything.” Many chefs have already voiced their concern about the quality of their dishes being compromised without the use of particular alcohols in their tried and tested cooking moethods. This decision remains extremely interesting, especially considering the dependence upon tourism within the state, and the reasoning behind the ban seems to allude to a lack of “information” regarding certain food/drink contents. Does this qualify the necessity of a ban? Could the situation be remedied with a more stringent awareness/informational program about what menu items include alcohol, and which do not? Let us know.