Judging from the enormous back zits I was forced to contemplate as I stood in line at the beach-side baqala this summer, the Middle East’s steady diet of KFC Wrapstars is finally beginning to catch up with it.

Following up on this week's Kuwait story - The Looking Glass - our new Kuwait-based blogger -  reviews the new resto in town that everybody's talking about...

Many people avoid visiting Arab countries during Ramadan. Not me. It’s true that both business and life in general are disrupted because of the strict daily fast but the joy and excitement of the nightly feasts more than make up for the slow pace during that month. And it was in Kuwait, which I used to visit regularly, that I had my most memorable Ramadan feasts. The evenings at the friends I stayed with always started with us gathering in the drawing room to wait for sunset. As soon as the muezzin announced the break of the fast, plates of plump dates and bowls of tahini were brought in.

Paris they say, is the capital of lights, fashion and perhaps more importantly for me, gastronomy. And yet, Paris, despite what many American tourists may think, is not always the best place for eating at any street restaurant.   

I have just come back from a week of non-stop eating in Turkey. I spent the first few days in Safranbolu, a gorgeous old town in the Black Sea region, where the local government had organised a food festival to showcase regional specialities to which they invited food writers, journalists and chefs from England, America and of course Turkey.

A taste of Lebanon at the Tate Modern

Is a museum a showcase for arts and antiques or has it become a "living space" where one can see art, eat and shop?

Museums nowadays are no longer the cold and dead display spaces they might have been; they've become places to meet, socialize and live. Especially in vibrant cities like London or New York. One can go to the MOMA just for lunch, to the Tate for a drink or even better: for a Lebanese dinner!

Well, it is not what you think. I am not about to write about the dishes described in La Fontaine’s moral tales, if there are any that is, but rather about a wonderful small fish restaurant in Paris. I am not sure why they decided to call it les Fables de la Fontaine, except perhaps because it is on place de la Fontaine.

Last month’s Boat Show was a great occasion for an unusual outdoor walk. Like many things here, everything was gleaming with wealth – there were even some boats with encrusted glitter. Playing the millionaire for a day – asking for the price of boats as I would for a pair of jeans – was also quite funny.

When talking about food, it’s love at first bite – not sight – with Marije Vogelzang, a Dutch designer and foodie, whom I met a few months ago in her wonderful Amsterdam studio.

Food is not just about talking of what’s in your plate, Marije made me realize. For one, there might not even be a plate. In one event she recently organized, plates were made of sugar, in another of bread ... both edible.

Rather, it’s about everything relating to it ... mainly a message that stays in the mind and heart and not just the belly!

Olivier Gougeon, General Manager for Villa Moda's  Food and Beverages Arm  muses on Lebanese food dynamics in Kuwait

Being married to a Lebanese, I naturally found myself once my wife moved to Kuwait surrounded by Lebanese. It is crucial to highlight that Lebanese expats in Kuwait exceed 50,000 people: mostly young men in search of pursuing their dreams and making it big. 

But how did all these single young men, so used to their mom’s moujaddara and kebbe bi laban manage to adapt on their own?