In a luxury restaurant in Dubai that serves kosher permissible food, a rabbi lights cooking stoves to start work, while other restaurants in the UAE are preparing for the same step after signing an agreement to normalize relations between the Gulf state and Israel.

According to Jewish law, animals should be slaughtered in a certain way, it is forbidden to eat pork, and meat and dairy products should be separated in cooking.

Also, it is forbidden to eat seafood such as shellfish.

The task looks a little tricky;

Due to the many conditions, and the necessity to import appropriate foodstuffs, such as meat, cheese and dairy products.

But despite this, the luxurious "Armani" hotel, close to the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world in the center of Dubai, decided last month to open the "Armani Café" restaurant dedicated to serving food in compliance with Jewish law.

The restaurant, which accommodates 40 customers, serves a variety of dishes that have been voluntarily complied with kosher, including chicken curry.

"We trained our employees for months, teaching them what they could use and what not to use," says chef Fabian Fayol.

And confirms the French chef, "The idea behind this restaurant is to provide a 5-star experience for everyone who wants to try kosher food."

He believes that "the most important challenge will be obtaining the ingredients," indicating that the restaurant seeks to import meat from the United States.

Eli, a member of the Jewish community in the UAE launched the first kashir (halal) food service in the Gulf region, due to the growing demand for kashir Jewish food, especially for Jewish visitors who arrive in the UAE to participate in conferences dealing with interfaith tolerance. Https://t.co / IUP4dESN9i pic.twitter.com/6IUlJyZepy

- Israel in the Gulf (@IsraelintheGulf) June 4, 2020

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Every morning, except for Saturday and Jewish holidays, a rabbi operates cooking stoves in the restaurant;

But instead of being in the kitchen in person, he monitored via surveillance cameras supervising food preparation all the time.

Thanks to technology, the rabbi can light the oven from his home using an online app on his mobile phone.

The UAE was the first Gulf country and the third Arab country to establish relations with Israel.

Last August, the first commercial flight between Israel and the UAE that took off from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv landed in Abu Dhabi, carrying an Israeli and American delegation.

And with the provision of restaurants serving kosher food, Dubai may become a popular destination for Israeli tourists.

Rabbi Levi Duchman, who licensed the "Armani Café" restaurant, said that he "received inquiries from dozens of restaurants in the Emirates" to switch to serving "kosher" food.

The "Emirates Airlines" group, the largest airline in the region, announced last month its intention to produce kosher meals after it was buying it from a third party.

Challenges


It was Eli Krill, who came from South Africa, the first to open a restaurant that provides a kosher food delivery service to order two years ago in Dubai.

The travelers contacted her family to get kosher food, and she would invite them to her home to eat.

And in November 2018, organizers of an interfaith conference in Abu Dhabi asked Creel to help them prepare to feed rabbis, and her kitchen idea was born.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Creel pointed out that there are "challenges that come with running a kosher kitchen in the UAE ... and the sector is not ready for this."

"With regard to imports, it is really difficult to get a lot of products, especially meat and cheeses," she explains. "But in terms of opening a kitchen, you can do that, but you have to find a rabbi, and there are not many rabbis here, so we had to bring a rabbi here for this task." .

The rabbi of the "Creel" restaurant makes a fire and also monitors the preparation of food in the kitchen all the time.

Creel points out that "a number of kosher products are available in stores, but they are dry products. Fresh products such as milk and of course meat are something we cannot get, and this is what we are working on now."