Micheel: diabetes a 'hot topic' in UAE. Micheel: diabetes a 'hot topic' in UAE.

The president of the Emirates Culinary Guild has said it is “essential” to take the UAE’s diabetes epidemic seriously.

Uwe Micheel, who is also the director of kitchens at Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek, noted that the issue of diabetes had been a “hot topic” in Dubai and in the UAE in recent months.

It’s estimated 25% of the UAE population has one form of the condition and programmes have been launched by various organisations throughout the country in the past year promoting awareness of the condition.

The UAE government, the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi and even culinary TV channel Fatafeat have all been busy with health awareness campaigns that encourage the UAE population to live and eat healthier.

“It is absolutely essential to take [diabetes] seriously and to spread the awareness in general so that people, communities, businesses and services can support in their relevant areas,” declared Micheel.

“There are many fitness programmes for diabetes implemented around the world, as well as medical treatments and remedies, but people tend to oversee the nutritional side of things and this is where hospitality comes in — to actually present the culinary part of it.”

Story continues below
Advertisement

Micheel suggested that campaigns designed to raise awareness of diabetes should “be proactive rather than reactive and should be incorporated naturally in a certain lifestyle”.

Micheel’s Radisson workplace has had the ‘Food for Thought’ programme in place since 2006, which has been designed to promote healthy food in an attractive way.

The German chef noted that through the programme his team had “studied and prepared special recipes” that were available to health-conscious customers in the hotel’s 16 outlets, on the room service menu and in its coffee break and catering menus.

“Through this programme, our main goal has been to be able to cater to different nutritious requirements or special requests, without removing the delight factor in our culinary trends and offerings,” he said.

“Each outlet has their own menu and cuisine concept of course and the difference between a ‘Food for Thought Dish’ and a healthy dish is that the guest can order certain dishes on the menu and ask for it to be prepared in the ‘Food for Thought’ way whenever relevant and possible.”