What local dishes should I try in United Arab Emirates, and where should I look for them?

Harees is not restaurant food by origin. The UNESCO nomination records that it is usually cooked in large batches, because cleaning and grinding the grain takes considerable effort, and that it is served in large shared dishes and eaten with the thumb and forefinger while sitting on one knee. It is most common during Ramadan, when hosting guests, at weddings and in the pilgrimage season. The Intergovernmental Committee noted that preparing and serving it is read as a sign of hospitality and generosity. Skills pass from mothers to daughters, but the file also records teaching in schools, restaurants and hotels, which is why hotel Ramadan tents are among the more reliable places for a visitor to find it.

The drink matters as much as the dish. "Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity" was inscribed in 2015 at the Committee's tenth session in Windhoek, in a multinational nomination from the UAE alongside Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. The practice is specific: beans lightly roasted, ground in a copper mortar, brewed and served in small cups, with the oldest or most important guest served first, and guests usually drinking one to three cups. Refusing the first cup reads differently here than declining a coffee elsewhere.

For where to look, go inland and east rather than coastal and central. The Al Ain oases were listed by UNESCO partly for a sustained, water-careful relationship with the desert, and date cultivation is the living end of that — the oasis towns of the Abu Dhabi interior are where dates stop being a souvenir. On the Fujairah side the catch comes out of the Gulf of Oman rather than the Arabian Gulf, which changes what is on the ice.

Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism names the varieties and the water. More than 100 kinds of date palm grow in Al Ain Oasis, fed by two main aflaj — Al Aini and Al Dawoodi — that bring water from the southeast, toward the Hajar Mountains, partly through underground tunnels and partly along open surface channels. Hili's grove is divided into 252 plots, each separated from the next by historic boundary walls, and Muwaiji drew on its own underground east-west falaj. Walking between those walls is where a date stops being a hotel buffet item and becomes a crop with a water right attached to it.

Two legal rules shape eating and drinking here more than any menu. Alcohol is sold only in limited venues such as certain hotels and restaurants, and it is prohibited outright in the emirate of Sharjah. Separately, poppy seeds and CBD products are on the UAE's banned list — a detail that matters if you travel with packaged food, baked goods or supplements, since penalties for controlled substances are severe and trace amounts in the bloodstream can lead to prosecution.

• Ramadan evenings — Harees appears most widely during Ramadan; the month shifts earlier each year on the lunar calendar, so check which dates it covers for your trip.
• Mid-afternoon — Arabic coffee is a hospitality ritual rather than a caffeine stop, and the small-cup sequence takes time by design.
• East coast lunch — Eat fish on the Fujairah side, where the water body is the Gulf of Oman.

Medication rules intersect with food more than travelers expect: many medications require prior approval through an online form from the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, and the prohibited list extends to items sold freely elsewhere. Public conduct rules also apply in restaurants and food halls — public displays of affection, swearing and immodest dress can all draw penalties. And a visitor hoping to eat harees outside Ramadan or a wedding will find it a far narrower search than the inscription might suggest.

The when-to-visit question in this chapter explains why Ramadan dates move, and the places question covers Al Ain and the northern emirates where much of this food is at home.