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Garlic Sauce and Al Baik - Episode 7
15 Plays6 years ago
Saudi had one good thing going for it - a little ole place called Al Baik. I talk a little about the history of that fast food joint as well as its one special offering!BECOME A PATRONHey guys, if you enjoy my work then you can support it with as little as $2 (one time or monthly). It goes towards paying for equipment, time, all my comedy work including the podcasts, youtube videos and live events I do and MOST IMPORTANTLY towards my family. Help me feed my baby here:https://www.patreon.com/join/salmanzq?
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Transcript
Introduction to Expat Life and Podcasts
00:00:07
Speaker
Hi, guys.
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome back to Expat Brad, and this is Salman Qureshi.
00:00:11
Speaker
If you've been listening to my previous podcast, then you'd know that I cover stories from my past, most of it having been raised up in Saudi.
00:00:19
Speaker
So a lot of my stories come from...
00:00:23
Speaker
having to live in that country but also just hopefully they resonate with people who are expats who've grown up in countries outside of their own I have never lived in my own home country if I can call it that Pakistan and so my most you know it's just a weird existence and I think a lot of people more and more so can relate to that kind of stuff now
00:00:45
Speaker
So I share stories.
00:00:46
Speaker
I share kind of my feelings about it.
Storytelling as Therapy and Connection
00:00:49
Speaker
Gives you a little insight into life in Saudi Arabia in the 80s and 90s and a little bit more around the Gulf and some of the challenges and things I loved and hated.
00:00:58
Speaker
And, you know, I think I share these stories partly because just they're therapy for me.
00:01:04
Speaker
And secondly, I think I just I want to connect with people and see what kind of lives I
00:01:11
Speaker
what kind of experiences they've had living abroad and what are the common themes, common experiences, common lessons we may have learned in this life.
The Albaik Phenomenon: A Cultural Icon
00:01:24
Speaker
In this particular podcast, I'm going to be talking about garlic sauce and Albaik.
00:01:29
Speaker
What the hell?
00:01:30
Speaker
Some of you might be saying at this point, if you've never heard of Albaik, if you live outside of the Middle East, hell, actually even just outside of Saudi Arabia, you may never have heard of this place called
00:01:40
Speaker
Al Beek.
00:01:43
Speaker
It's a broasted chicken restaurant.
00:01:45
Speaker
It's a chain now.
00:01:46
Speaker
It exists only in a couple of cities in Southeast so far.
00:01:49
Speaker
There's some history behind it.
00:01:52
Speaker
I'll talk to you a little in a second about it.
00:01:54
Speaker
It's very interesting.
00:01:55
Speaker
This was essentially broasted chicken.
00:01:57
Speaker
It's the fried, I don't know, I guess it's kind of just fried chicken and they call it broasted for some reason.
00:02:02
Speaker
It's served much like most fried chicken places.
00:02:06
Speaker
You get a box with four pieces and fries and bun on the side.
00:02:11
Speaker
But the thing about Albaik was it was cheap.
00:02:16
Speaker
It was 10 durhams, that's about $10.
00:02:19
Speaker
three less than three dollars i think they haven't really raised their prices to be fair and that's quite incredible so from what i hear i'm talking about these prices existing back in the early 90s so if they've managed to do it i don't know how they've done it they've probably not using real chicken anymore you guys go figure that stuff out
00:02:40
Speaker
But this chain became very
Challenges and Rumors in Albaik's Expansion
00:02:43
Speaker
famous.
00:02:43
Speaker
It was owned, and correct me if you know any better, but I think it's a Palestinian owner in Saudi, and he used his mom's recipes, particularly for the garlic sauce, which is really what I want to talk about.
00:02:58
Speaker
And but just again, like to give you a history, this guy wasn't able to expand out of the main city that I lived in, Jetta, for a while because there are different rumors.
00:03:08
Speaker
But one of them was that he had a spat with one of the one of the prince.
00:03:13
Speaker
Sorry, one of the prince's royal family member who had the KFC franchise.
00:03:18
Speaker
And because KFC was just comparatively empty versus Albaic, Albaic was killing it and still does.
00:03:25
Speaker
He didn't want him to expand across.
00:03:27
Speaker
Or I think there's different stories.
00:03:29
Speaker
I've heard that one.
00:03:30
Speaker
I've heard he wanted to buy into Albaic and the guy refused.
00:03:32
Speaker
So either way, they put a lot of red tape and confined him there.
00:03:36
Speaker
Slowly, slowly, I think he's kind of making his way through Saudi Arabia.
00:03:40
Speaker
and maybe at some point they might go international, although the price thing, I don't know how they're gonna do that.
00:03:45
Speaker
But I guess they could just sell it at a higher price here in Dubai or other countries, wherever they decide to open.
00:03:51
Speaker
Now, that's one aspect of Al Baik.
00:03:55
Speaker
This place was incredible because
00:03:58
Speaker
I could go anytime and there was a crowd there and I think it still is like that it was always busy and There were loads of people right up outside you could smell it like a couple of blocks down and it was a good smell and And it just was but it moved really fast You could go in there and there was a counter you get a coupon
00:04:21
Speaker
ticket number and you might get like 36 and then you look up and it's 50 and you're like hey what the hell so the ticker actually has to go all the way to 100 and reverse back uh but you're done in 5-10 minutes uh there's just speed it is like a an assembly line there just and you know when they say fast food that was fast food no other fast
00:04:43
Speaker
fast food joint serves food like they do that quickly.
00:04:47
Speaker
So that was incredible.
Personal Anecdotes and Fond Memories
00:04:48
Speaker
And KFC did try to compete with them.
00:04:50
Speaker
So they'd open up their stores right next to, there were a couple of places where they were right next to El Bake.
00:04:56
Speaker
And it was a sight to see because KFC would be completely empty and El Bake would just be packed.
00:05:03
Speaker
with loads of people.
00:05:04
Speaker
It might have something to do with a little bit with price, but I think it was just good food.
00:05:08
Speaker
So my main thing, this is just a history of the restaurant, and I loved it, and I would eat it.
00:05:13
Speaker
In fact, one of my mom's brother, my uncle, who lived with us in Jada, he still is there, Jamal, uncle, he once challenged me.
00:05:22
Speaker
He said,
00:05:22
Speaker
If I get you'll bake every day, you'll get sick of it because he knew how much I loved it.
00:05:26
Speaker
And I was like, you're on.
00:05:28
Speaker
And I think he did it for three, four days.
00:05:30
Speaker
He went, OK, you just love this too much.
00:05:33
Speaker
I'm not doing this.
00:05:34
Speaker
And so he was just surprised that I love it that much.
00:05:38
Speaker
But the main thing that you loved about it, well, the chicken was good, and obviously it's the standard.
00:05:43
Speaker
It was different to other fried places, but they served this garlic sauce.
00:05:47
Speaker
And at that time, not a lot of places served garlic sauce.
00:05:50
Speaker
This was one of the few places that did, and they did it very commercialized,
00:05:54
Speaker
And that was the recipe I was talking about, the owner's mother's recipe.
00:05:59
Speaker
And it's the best garlic sauce as far as I can remember.
00:06:02
Speaker
Other places now in the city do serve garlic sauce, this creamy white garlic sauce around.
00:06:08
Speaker
But that was just really great.
00:06:10
Speaker
and so my first arabic line that i can remember learning was which translates to uh can i have extra garlic because they give you a few like a few packets with your meal but they were generous as hell you could just go hey tombs yeah and just keep saying that until they just gave away like loads of packets they weren't stingy with it
00:06:31
Speaker
I don't think they still would be and that was one of the charms with that place just be very generous and and and that for me that was just one of my childhood memories was this garlic sauce and when I moved outside of Saudi that was one thing I really missed I craved it and I would go to play anytime my siblings or any of us heard about a place serving garlic sauce we'd rush over and try it and and most of the times we'd be disappointed
00:06:56
Speaker
I think a lot of places do it decently now.
00:06:58
Speaker
So we're like, okay, this is close enough.
00:07:01
Speaker
Or have you forgotten how good old bakes the garlic sauce was?
00:07:06
Speaker
Or maybe it's just fond memories.
00:07:08
Speaker
And so we think it was amazing, but it's really just like any other garlic
The Impact of Fast Food on Personal Memories
00:07:12
Speaker
sauce.
00:07:12
Speaker
And I just, you know, it kind of tells me how much food adds meaning to people's lives and to our memories.
00:07:18
Speaker
And sadly,
00:07:20
Speaker
especially with corporate food, I would call this all corporatized fast food joints, how much they own our lives and our memories.
00:07:30
Speaker
This shit got dark real quick.
00:07:32
Speaker
But the thing is, it is true.
00:07:34
Speaker
They do have some sort of hold over us in that context.
00:07:36
Speaker
And it was just...
00:07:46
Speaker
I we had that.
00:07:48
Speaker
That's one of the things I miss about it.
00:07:51
Speaker
And it's so bizarre that I, you know, I should have other memories.
00:07:55
Speaker
But this is what it was and what it people need to think about what they're giving their children sometimes.
00:08:04
Speaker
Because you're really impacting and I get why a lot of people don't want to have their kids eat fast food all the time.
00:08:10
Speaker
I get all the time.
00:08:11
Speaker
I get, you know, sometimes there's some parents are like, no, no McDonald's ever.
00:08:15
Speaker
And I think whatever, like just let the kid have a childhood.
00:08:19
Speaker
And yeah, so this is just a little bit of history of Albaik and the garlic sauce.
00:08:23
Speaker
And I think garlic sauce now is a big deal.
00:08:25
Speaker
It's served in all Lebanese restaurants and other chains.
00:08:29
Speaker
Even McDonald's in Dubai gives you garlic mayo.
00:08:33
Speaker
So there's a lot.
00:08:34
Speaker
You can actually go to supermarkets and get mayonnaise that is garlic flavored and whatnot.
00:08:38
Speaker
So...
00:08:39
Speaker
So, yeah, it's bread a lot.
00:08:41
Speaker
And I guess it just says a lot of people love it.
00:08:44
Speaker
I wonder how bad my bread was back in those days when I was a kid.
00:08:48
Speaker
But it's such a little thing that's just commercialized so much.
00:08:51
Speaker
And I know how I feel about that, too.
00:08:53
Speaker
You know, it was like a nice, sweet memory.
00:08:55
Speaker
But now it's everywhere.
00:08:56
Speaker
And that's one of the elements of today's life is that.
00:09:01
Speaker
Everything is available in such large quantities that nothing is special anymore.
00:09:07
Speaker
You've got Netflix and all these other channels, just gluttony of entertainment.
00:09:13
Speaker
All these food chains that are everywhere.
00:09:16
Speaker
And part of the charm of traveling somewhere was to have it there, but now it's just everywhere.
00:09:21
Speaker
So part of me, while I crave Old Bake, almost would be disappointed if it opens up.
00:09:27
Speaker
because it's just another another common thing it's pretty bizarre but if you have any stories around garlic sauce or any food item that you remember from from your childhood especially in the middle east let me know what it was for me for anyone who's listening that was from saudi garlic sauce from albaic that was i yeah i loved it i miss it and uh it has a special place in my memories in my life
00:09:52
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this rather bizarre episode, my ode to garlic, garlic sauce.
00:09:58
Speaker
Maybe I should do a song or poem about it sometime.
00:10:00
Speaker
So if you're on the page like it, I might post a song in the near future.
00:10:05
Speaker
That might be funny.
00:10:06
Speaker
But yeah, thanks very much.
00:10:07
Speaker
Keep listening.
00:10:08
Speaker
I will be back with other stories and experiences from life as a Middle Eastern kid as an expat kid.
00:10:16
Speaker
See ya.