Understanding Omani identity and culture on a journey through its spice-scented kitchens

The spread of foods crowding my table at Ali Thani represents Oman’s cosmopolitan history as a seafaring superpower and offers an insight into its population’s ebb and flow. Another local favourite recipe, paplou (a turmeric-citrus fish broth), is thought to pay homage to the Al Lawatiya tribe who came to Oman from Sindh in Pakistan centuries ago, and whose descendants still live in a walled quarter behind Muscat’s corniche in what remains a semi-closed, curious enclave.