As part of my Foodways in Southern Oman project, this is the first of several planned posts using photos with commentary to explain aspects of how food/ meals are cooked and served in the Dhofar region.

First, I would like to thank all of my Omani friends and informants who took and allowed me to use these photos. I am very grateful for your support of me and this project. [The photos of empty/ undecorated rooms are from either rental houses or houses that are for sale and the owner put the photos on social media.]

Overview – In general kitchen have tiled walls and floors (with a floor drain), high ceilings, a ceiling fan (but usually not AC), an extractor fan and florescent lighting. If there is a window (most often over the sink) it has opaque glass. There is often a door to the outside, which is not decorated as the front doors are.

As it is common to have twenty or more people (from different generations) in one house, kitchens are big enough to make large meals. Like most rooms in a Dhofari house, everything is placed around the sides of the room with an open space in the middle of the room or, sometimes, a table with chairs.

There is usually a lot of counter-space. Although I live an apartment built for one nuclear family, I have 24 feet of counter-space. In one house I lived in, there was 27 feet. Cupboards are built under the counters, with additional counters overhead, often with clear glass or plastic fronts. Accoutrements for entertaining (trays, tea and coffee cups and pots, thermoses, etc.) are always within sight and easy reach.

The refrigerator, stove and washing machine (if it is in the kitchen) are usually set up on a platform about 4 inches high. The below-counter cupboards are also set slightly above floor-level so that the floor can be cleaned by mopping/ sluicing.

two other examples – left: note the hot water heater in upper left and clear fronted upper cupboards where tea/ coffee sets would be displayed (as in right photo) – the stoves integrated into the counter-top mark these as newer kitchens

Kitchens (and bathrooms) are set at different level than the rest of the house so that even in the tiles are the same color, the cement base is lower or higher. Left: threshold of kitchen looking towards hallway with 1 inch ‘ramp’ to the white tile border; right: same threshold looking into kitchen, note the ‘ramp’ is much higher (4 inches to 1 inch) so that the kitchen is 3 inches HIGHER than the rest of the house. Thus the kitchen can be cleaned by sluicing water with the raised white tile border acting as a dam so whatever is spilled in the kitchen stays in the kitchen. Kitchens can also be set lower than the house (I have been in one which was set three steps down).

Example of landing outside of kitchen door used to hold cleaning supplies.