Shakshooka: Kuwait’s first popup farmers market

By Hyacinth Mascarenhas

Trays of freshly baked pies, gorgeous artisan breads, cheese and little jars of jams, salsas and dips line the tables. Baskets of different varieties of tomatoes, Italian basil and tiny eggs are neatly laid out for people to peruse through. Unique homemade desserts with weird combinations like ginger-cayenne vanilla cakes and black pepper-rosemary apple pies sell out within minutes.

These are just a few of the homemade specialty items and delicacies sold at the Shakshooka market, a local popup farmers market in Kuwait. For many people, the best farmers markets in the world are the ones they religiously visit week after week and Shakshooka seems to have captured that with its own cult-like following.

While farmers markets are particularly popular in the U.S. due to an increased demand for fresh, local produce, these outdoor markets have become the newest ‘habba’ (Kuwaiti slang for trend) in Kuwait. With a distinctly local Kuwaiti flavor to them, these markets do more than just sell fresh fruits and veggies.

Founded in April 2013, Shakshooka market was the first to popularize the concept in the country as a nomadic, farmers’ market offering strictly homemade and farm goods. Without a permanent location to tie it down, this market pops up in different locations around Kuwait every week including Marina Crescent, Al-Kout mall, Tilal gallery, Becarre, etc. Open for just a few hours, the market’s location is only announced on the day of the event, mostly Thursdays.

Creating a new market

Local Kuwaiti chef Maryam Al Nusif, the founder of Shakshooka market, says its conception was purely by coincidence.

“My dad had an organic shop that I used to run about 10 years ago, but it closed down within a year since it was ahead of its time. People didn’t appreciate or understand why they should pay so much money for vegetables and meat,” said Al Nusif.

After some persuasion by her father’s older, loyal customers, Al Nusif agreed to sell them and their friends some of the farm’s seasonal produce in a parking lot in Bneid al Gar. However, before her friends arrived, people that were passing by and parking started to get curious and ask questions about her produce.

“Basically, we started selling our produce to passersby and engaging with people on the street before our friends came over. In that half hour, we realized that something was happening. Something was changing,” said Al Nusif. With limited vegetables from the farm in April, the table was filled with just eggs and cherry tomatoes. When people asked what could they make with just eggs and tomatoes, Al Nusif said, “Shakshooka.”

Shakshooka is a Middle Eastern dish made with eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions and cumin. The dish also served as inspiration for the name for the new business and is captured in the egg-tomato logo.

Although the market is quite popular, it is also an unlicensed, unregulated business. As part of a growing “informal economy” in Kuwait where locals and expatriates launch Instagram shops and pop up businesses to avoid bureaucratic loopholes, the market is run for only a few hours every week.

“Not that I’m going rogue or anything, but if I had to follow the rules in Kuwait and do it the right way, Shakshooka would have never started,” said Al Nusif. “I am risking it and all my vendors are risking it every time we go out and sell.” Running the market for just a few hours every Thursday, Al Nusif and her vendors have been caught once and were threatened. Although they have not faced any issues since then, they do make sure to leave behind a Shakshooka logo mark at every venue where they hold their market.

Selecting the right products

Despite the lack of formal regulation, Al Nusif says she does have rules and standards for her market. Everything sold has to be creative, homemade, made by the person selling the goods at the market and cannot be part of an established business.

“I prefer people who are bringing in something original and something a bit more technical. We have the Nitrogen ice-cream girl, the sourdough bakery people, a group of Japanese ladies that do Japanese street food and one bakery that is quite eccentric. She puts blue cheese and pumpkin in desserts, made black pepper, lemon, rosemary blondies, and she always sells out. I like that,” said Al Nusif. “Also, nothing should be processed. And no cupcakes, no cookies and no Nutella allowed. Not that I have anything against these things but in Kuwait, they have been overdone.”

One particularly popular vendor at the market is the Nitrolicks creamery, a made-to-order ice-cream store that makes deliciously smooth frozen treats using liquid nitrogen.

“During the summer of 2013, I had visited the United States and tried ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and I knew that was what I wanted to start in Kuwait,” said Alia Al-Ramly, owner of Nitrolicks. “I would have small ice-cream house parties, take small amounts to my friends’ places and test the ice-cream with my family. After being comfortable with the concept, I decided to approach Shakshooka market.”

Another outdoor market on a larger, more commercial scale is the popular Qout market held monthly at Arraya Center in Sharq. With numerous vendors and a wide range of products ranging from chia seeds to handmade scented candles, the monthly market has attracted local restaurants, homemade businesses and passionate people looking to showcase their best products and crafts.

#Socialmedia for business

Primarily advertised over Instagram, the market’s hashtag #shakshookamarket is very popular in Kuwait and is seen as the most effective, economical way to advertise the nomadic market.

“In the Gulf, many businesses rely solely on social media to exist,” said Nadia Al Soomali, a local vendor and co-owner of Spoonful at Qout market. “It is being utilized in a way that is encouraging creativity and collaborations among inventive people. You don’t need to pay for advertising. The second benefit of Instagram specifically is that there is an archive for every potential customer to go through. They can look at your product or service and see what other people have said and posted. Every post and comment is an opportunity to strengthen their loyalty to your product.”

The opportunity to interact closely with past or potential customers on visual platform such as Instagram also allows for vendors to connect, advertise and intrigue people between market dates as well.

“Each month we sold different stuff, which made people come back to our booth every time.People that bought our food posted pictures on Instagram and tagged us,” said Al Somali. “There was also an amazing turn out every month. There wasn’t a market where we didn’t sell out. We were asked numerous times if we had a shop or did home deliveries, which is very encouraging.”

Focusing on pure, natural goodness

The popular foodie trend of focusing in on natural, healthy ingredients to create fresh, clean meals has been taking over different parts of the globe, including the Middle East, in the past few years.

Yusra Ahmed, the owner of Salt Bakery at the Shakshooka market says there is a special vibe and energy that flows through the market that has changed her life and keeps the market alive.

Al Nusif’s risk-taking attitude and efforts have not gone unnoticed. The young Kuwaiti recently received the Arab Women Award for entrepreneurship that pays tribute to inspiring Arab women in Kuwait.

“To me it’s just honest food made from the heart,” said Al Nusif. “It’s just making things from scratch, from the best ingredients available locally. More importantly to me as a foodie, it’s yummier. It just has good energy that makes the person making it happier and the people buying it happy as well. I think we’re blessed and I know it’s a small market but I hope it is slowly making a change. I hope it stays as beautiful and humble as it is.”

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