Ame
rican doughnut giant Krispy Kreme is set to open its first UAE outlet in Dubai tomorrow (March 16), adding to concerns over the region's mounting obesity crisis. ... Currently the UAE holds the highest obesity rates in the world - higher than the United States - because of easy access to high calorie foods and a sedentary lifestyle. One in five adults in the region also suffers from one of the many obesity-related illnesses, diabetes. ... The Krispy Kreme franchise move comes as the UAE works on strategies to combat mounting levels of obesity in the region. In the United Arab Emirates, 74% of women are obese or overweight according to a 2005 report by the International Obesity Task Force, a London-based think tank. In Lebanon the figure is 75% and in Bahrain, 83%.I was in Villagio with my friend last week and she couldn't stop talking about Krispy Kreme when she found out that it's going to open soon. I guess it must be that good. But the thing is how much would one piece of the famous Krispy Kreme cost. Dunkin Donuts is expensive enough and how much more the Krispy Kreme that everyone seems to be raving about. Well in any case Tian and I love to give it a go and find out for ourselves.I even heard that they have a promo on the opening day, the first 25 customers will get a free box of doughnuts every week for one whole year! I just don't know if we're that crazy enough to really be waiting there at the food court of Villagio Mall hours before the opening to be able to win the promo. But who knows, hahaha...
The ads for Krispy Kreme are almost as plentiful as the flags championing the 2016 Olympic Games whose fate will be decided in fall 2009. By then how many Qataris will have raised their weight and sugar levels to dangerous levels.
On another note, I get a wonderful TV package here which brings me Meet the Press live on Sundays (5:00 p.m. my time, 9:00 am eastern time) and then George Stephanopoulos one hour delayed. Wonderful TV for this primary season. Aftr these shows, I clicked around the dial last Sunday and got an old Law and Order: bizarre. Fred Thompson as the lawyer standing beside Bloomberg (or an excellent lookalike although I think he gave a cameo performance) discussing a case of an Iraqi woman married to an American, she accused of the murder of a former Abu Ghraib attendant in New Jersey. All with Arabic subtitles. I felt as if I were in the twilight zone. U.S. politics mingles with some form of fiction, but is it really any different than the political events? Last night I watched another Law and Order which featured post-traumatic stress syndrome from 9/11 as a defense against murder - subtitles again in Arabic ...
