Nourishing Nostalgia: Modern Ex-Soviet Expatriates and their Foodways in the UAE
Journal: Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University)
Year: 2024

On a busy street in one of Dubai’s colorful neighborhoods, a vibrant Uzbek restaurant opens its doors to international customers interested in trying a new cuisine or who have longed for their childhood memories. Often, these customers, known in the UAE as expatriates, appear to be of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) origin and engagingly speak Russian among themselves. On the other side of the road, a modest CIS food store has taken a permanent location, bringing CIS foods to often the