This Is Africa, Dubai Edition

The Mall of the Emirates in Dubai decided on the best way to represent Africa: with a restaurant serving BBQ and burgers.

Mall of the Emirates' "high end" food court.

Dubai is a diverse international city that has become an important economic, immigration, and transportation hub for Asia, Africa, and Europe.  The demographics of the place reflect this as over 80% of the population is non-Emirati.  So when the Mall of the Emirates created a “high end” food court representing its diverse population with cuisine from countries like India, Japan, Lebanon, Egypt, France, and China, they had to make an effort to represent Dubai’s numerous African residents.

So what is Dubai’s premier African restaurant representing an entire continent named?  Tribes of course!  (It’s apparently a chain originating in Johannesburg)  And what food can possibly sum up the continent’s diverse regional cuisines into one?  None other than BBQ and burgers.

For special occasions the restaurant staff will perform a traditional song.  What was the anthem that I heard them performing as I walked by?  None other than the 2010 World Cup anthem, “Waka Waka” by Colombian pop singer Sakira. Oh, Africa!

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.