DUBAI: For more than a decade, Arva Ahmed has led curious diners through Dubai’s backstreets with her company Frying Pan Adventures. Now, she is taking those stories to a new audience with “Ditch the Silver,” a YouTube series that has grown into a 10-part exclusive docuseries for OSN and OSN+.
Launched in late 2023 in collaboration with Ti22 Films, “Ditch the Silver” shines a light on food cultures that thrive away from the city’s fine-dining glare.
“We’re not trying to go viral, but we’re just trying to document the food stories the way they are,” said Ahmed in an interview with Arab News. These stories range from Ethiopian vegan fasting platters to why Dubai is a contender for the world’s number one bread city.
The OSN series, filmed over an intense three weeks, dives deeper into those narratives. In the process, Ahmed has witnessed a shift in Dubai’s dining scene: High-powered chefs leaving corporate hotel kitchens to open intimate, accessible eateries. She points to a former Cantonese hotel chef now serving an expanded menu in Oud Metha, an Italian chef experimenting with fermented date fiber and a Moroccan cook inspired by his grandmother. “Luxury food is becoming accessible without losing authenticity,” she said.
Ahmed’s route to the screen was not straightforward. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she grew up in Deira with humble, frugal parents who valued simplicity over show. After an MBA in the US and a career as a strategy consultant, she returned to Dubai to join her father’s business — but a growing love for food, nurtured during her student years abroad, kept pulling her away.
Raised on her nutritionist mother’s home-cooked Indian meals, Ahmed only began to think seriously about food when she moved overseas. She learned to cook with a roommate, ran a small Indian takeout service and discovered that feeding people helped her connect beyond her usual circles. That curiosity deepened in New York City and Houston, where she sought out small, authentic eateries over flashy venues.
In 2012, unable to ignore her passion, Ahmed launched Frying Pan Adventures, offering walking food tours through Dubai’s lesser-known neighborhoods. But by 2023, she felt she had plateaued. An invitation from Ti22 Films’ founder Reem Al-Marzouqi to join an on-air presenters’ boot camp changed her perspective.
“I’d always dreamed of a TV food show, but I was waiting for someone to hand it to me on a silver platter,” said Ahmed. “The boot camp made me realize that dream wasn’t relevant anymore — YouTube had democratised content, and I had to take ownership.”
The answer was “Ditch the Silver”: A weekly video series built like a miniature food tour, each episode tying together multiple restaurants with a thematic thread. It has taken Ahmed beyond the set routes of her walking tours, forcing her to explore new corners of the country and uncover under-told stories.
Her recommendations for GCC visitors reflect that ethos. She points to Laki, a small Safa eatery run by Chef Mary and Chef Mae (“the food’s full of love — just be patient with the air conditioning”); Yin Kigi, the Cantonese gem in Oud Metha; and Moto Moto, an Omani-inspired food truck in Al-Khawaneej serving mishkak skewers and slow-cooked shuwa from the owners’ home garden.
For Ahmed, whether she is guiding a tour group or presenting to camera, the mission is the same: To celebrate the many food cultures that call Dubai home. “It’s an incredible time where some of these stories are popping off, and you need to kind of celebrate them, because it’s really hard right now to get your voice heard in a market that’s so saturated,” she said.
