Flavor Postcard: Dubai

Last year, Summit F&B and Flavor & The Menu reimagined its Kitchen Collaborative program as a competition wherein chef contenders submitted different menu concepts featuring various products from 12 sponsors. Each of these sponsors selected a winning dish, earning its creator a ticket to attend the Gulfood Show in Dubai last month. Nathaniel Malone was among the Kitchen Collaborative 2025 champs, with his Chaat Lentil Waffle with Tikka Lamb Ham wowing sponsor Lentils.org. Here, he shares his experiences traveling with Summit, Flavor & The Menu and fellow chefs to the United Arab Emirates.

Travel has a way of rearranging you. It moves things around inside your head and heart. Sometimes gently. Sometimes like a well-aimed punch. Dubai did both for me.

Before arriving, it was impossible to ignore the reputation. A city of impossible wealth. A playground for the ultra-rich. A place often criticized for its labor practices and cultural expectations, especially for women. These are not small things. They sit in your mind when you pack your bag. They demand awareness and humility, particularly when your own social norms are built somewhere very different.

As a winner of the 2025 Kitchen Collaborative, traveling with Summit F&B and Flavor & The Menu was not just a professional opportunity—it was a chance to experience a place that is complicated, layered and very much in the middle of defining itself. At times, the city felt like a meticulously constructed ride designed to leave you with a very specific image of perfection. I often found myself wondering what existed beyond the polished surface, missing the underbelly that usually tells you where a place truly lives. What I found instead was not a single story but many. Generosity and ambition. Tradition and reinvention. Deep hospitality existing alongside towering excess.

This trip was a reminder of why we chase food across oceans in the first place. Not for trends. Not for trophies. For connection. For story. For the thrill of how a single bite can rewrite what you thought you knew.

Feeling a bit of wanderlust? Our Flavor Postcard series spotlights markets around the world for culinary inspiration.