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World Café: Middle East

Premieres: Southeast Asia on Sept 1 at 6:00 pm; North Asia on Sept 23 at 8:00 pm; Australasia on Sept 15 at 9:30 pm

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EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC AND MYSTERY OF THE MIDDLE EAST WITH BOBBY CHINN AS HE UNCOVERS THE SOPHISTICATED RECIPES OF AN ANCIENT LAND

Citizen of the world Bobby Chinn has travelled around Asia to cities such as Singapore, Manila, Malacca, Jakarta, Beijing, Yunnan and Calcutta. This month, the restaurateur and self-proclaimed "ethnic mutt" travels to eight destinations across the Middle East and attempts to cook his way through a myriad of ancient but sophisticated recipes, on WORLD CAFE: MIDDLE EAST. Throughout his journey, Bobby uncovers a living picture of daily activity in a medieval world that is reflected in each city's unusual recipes.

In this latest installment of the WORLD CAFE series, Bobby Chinn takes you on an exhilarating tour of street foods and culinary customs of the Middle East. In each episode, the Egyptian-born and Arabic-speaking Bobby introduces the unique recipes, colourful history, and fascinating culture of this ancient region. Against the backdrop of some of the world's most famous historic sites, the culinary and cultural surprises of the Middle East will be revealed.

Bobby learns that the term 'Middle Eastern cuisine' is far too broad-sweeping, due to huge differences in climate and culture. Middle Eastern cuisine has four main influences: Persian, Levantine, Turkish and North African. Bobby's journey in WORLD CAFE: MIDDLE EAST allows him to discover more about the rich and momentous history of this area, cultural traditions that have shaped its cuisine, and the peoples' vast knowledge of and appreciation for food.

WORLD CAFE: MIDDLE EAST episode descriptions:

Istanbul
For more than 400 years, Istanbul was the glittering capital city of the Ottoman Empire that spread over most of the Middle East including the Balkans, parts of North Africa, Southern Russia and the Caucasus. Bobby cruises through the capital, tasting specialties such as kebabs and pilafs, filo pies, yoghurt and cucumber salads, milk puddings and nutty-syrupy pastries, which originated from the Ottoman Empire.

Damascus and Aleppo
The oldest city in the world, Damascus's cooking is a living witness and memorial to its multi-faceted history. Touted the 'Pearl of the Arab Kitchen,' the culinary art of Syria's second largest city, Aleppo, did not develop by accident but took shape after centuries due to early civilisation. Today, one only has to enter the old city, replete with the aroma of exotic spices, to see a medieval world filled with action and colour.

Jordan and the West Bank
Bobby gets his first taste of Jordanian food and visits the occupied territories of the West Bank. Jordan is home to many Palestinian influences and they are a major influence on the cuisine. In the occupied territories of the West Bank, despite many years of strife, there is a thriving Palestinian food tradition. Bobby visits the cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Jerusalem, and takes day trips to the West Bank date farms and olive groves.

Cairo and Alexandria
The two World Wars had brought an edge to Egypt, with cuisine influenced by the French, Italians, Turks and Greeks. Bobby finds out that while the food of Egypt has much in common with that of her Arabic countries, there are a few distinctive national dishes as well. One such dish is ful medames, made from cooked, brown-skinned fava beans crushed with garlic; another great specialty is melokhia, a soup made with Corete, a green vegetable native to Egypt; and ta'amia also known as "falafel" in other countries.

Tehran and Isfahan
Bobby checks out the cuisine of Iran which is directly descended from the great Persian dynasties and considered to be the richest of all Middle Eastern cuisines. The Iranians have long seeked to balance the 'hot' and 'cold' aspects of their cuisine. Butter and oil are used abundantly, often drizzled over rice and for cooking, but sour ingredients such as dried limes, lemon juice and pomegranate and sour grape syrups are also found in a number of dishes as well.