Español
  Français

Food, eating habits and cusine of Kuwait

You are here: Countries / Kuwait

When in Kuwait, be ready to be dazzled by its spice-rich recipes. Kuwaiti foods are usually laced with strong spices like cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, paprika, cloves and pepper. These spices are the usual taste booster of recipes for chicken, fish, meat and rice.

Sea foods are quite popular in Kuwait. Popular sea foods often served at Kuwaiti dinner tables are shrimps, groupers, red snappers and pomfret, which is said to be the best-selling fish among the locals. Sea foods are abundant in this part of the Middle East region as it has a 499 km long coastline.

When it comes to meat, meat derived from lamb or mutton is the popular choice. Usually served as cubed, grilled, ground, or skewered. However, due to the influx of beef imports, beef are finding their way readily among Kuwaiti households as they get to the shelves of the groceries all neatly packed and sealed according to choice cuts, making them easier to prepare and cook.

Chickens are widely eaten also. Poultry dishes are popular with foreigners who comprise 68.4% of the population.

Pork, however, is not available anywhere in the country. Although, Kuwait is somewhat a progressive Moslem country, there are still traditions that are strictly observed such as non-consumption of pork.

Those visiting Kuwait and are adventurous with gastronomic specialties of other places should not miss out on the famous Kuwaiti machboos. Machboos are usually mutton or chicken topped over a large serving of cooked rice. Kouzi, a roasted lamb stuffed with rice, chicken, eggs and slew of other things would be another topic of numerous conversations when they get back to their home countries.