"God's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet" are the country's constitution and Arabic is the official language with the capital at Riyadh. And there ain't no first ammendment to that.
I went out to eat last week at a Riyadh eatery called Nejdi Village, which is known for its camel. Like, to eat. I was not surprised; in fact my first encounter with traditional Saudi food came from Anthony Bourdain: No Reservation in which he goes to a desert tent and they eat a whole. baby. camel.
T.E. Lawrence, in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom (that amazon recommended me when I searched "arab novel"; be advised he is not arab though his biases do make it somewhat of a novel), described the feeding of his army. They slaughtered the weakest camel each night and the men, rotating by tribe, would have at it until only the bones remained.
Needless to say, my expectations were high. One of my colleagues suggested Nejdi Village would be like a seafood place, and we'd be able to pick out our camel upon arrival. It was not. In fact, we were not allowed into the restaurant. Our folly? Trying to bring a woman with us.
Yes, we were a diverse bunch, not just for Saudi. The multi-cultural Monitor team consisted of consultants from the New York, Cambridge, London, Munich, Dubai, Riyadh, Mumbai, Beijing and Seoul offices. And the woman, who tipped the scale. They suggested we try the other Nejdi Village, which supposedly made accomodations for womenfolk.
So we went. The food was okay; but we sat on cushions on the floor and the novelty made up for the lack of flavor. Our cushioned area was closed off by a door from the main serving area. The servers would not incessantly each time they entered, and made sure to close the door as they left. One of the consultants told them to just leave the door open. In the ensuing muddled conversation, it became clear that the staff believed our lady-friend was in fact our entertainment for the evening.
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