Weekend shoppers, families, bon viveurs and the curious flock to Dubai attraction

Weekend shoppers, families, bon viveurs and the curious flock to Dubai attraction.

Families enjoy the Ripe Food & Craft Market held at Zabeel Park in Dubai. Rebecca Rees for The National

DUBAI // Hundreds of foodies and their families flocked to the Ripe Food and Craft market in Dubai’s Zabeel Park yesterday, hoping to fill their shopping bags with healthy, organic produce from local farms as well as quirky arts and crafts.

“I come here almost every Friday and I think it’s absolutely brilliant,” said Ritu Chopra, a 42-year-old Indian, born and raised in Dubai.

“The opportunity that the artisans are getting for showcasing their work and to be able to buy things that you don’t normally buy at the mall are really nice.”

Mrs Chopra and her 10-year-old daughter tucked into a meal. Nearby were stalls offering arts and crafts, fashion and jewellery as well as organic fruits and vegetables. “We try something different every time we come here because there are so many different types of cuisine,” she said.

“The fact that it opens until 5pm now is great because we were normally rushing, and you want to take your time.”

The Ripe Food and Craft market has extended its opening times by three hours, from 9am to 5pm, every Friday until the end of February, to cope with public demand.

Marko Mancic, a 40-year-old Serbian, was with his wife, Jelena Radulovic, 33, and their four-year-old daughter.

“We come here often,” said Mr Mancic, a Dubai resident for seven years. “It’s a really nice community feel where everybody comes together, there are lots of children and activities and our daughter likes it because she roams around, has pizza and plays for a couple of hours in the playground, so it’s basically a full day for her.”

He said the longer hours helped because finding a parking space could take up to half an hour.

For Iraqi Rana Thamer and her three-year-old daughter, this was their first visit to the market.

“I really like it, they have great stalls for food,” Ms Thamer said. “My sister’s neighbour told us about it because she has a stall for handmade bags. I will definitely come more often now.”

Mohammed Saleh, also from Iraq, said all it was missing was an animal petting area for children. “There used to be animals for kids to play with in Safa Park, but there weren’t any today,” he said.

Abhiji Troy, a 37-year-old from India, and his family agreed. “We come here every Friday,” he said. “We mainly come for the organic food because we started eating organic since we had our daughter four years ago. But today they don’t have one of the features we like, which is the animal area, which is great for children because we live in a city where they don’t get to interact with animals much. After running around, we have a small picnic with our food.”

The family, which lives in Al Nahda, took a two-hour bus ride to reach the park.

“Usually we take a cab and, even if it’s two hours, it’s worth it because we want to spend the whole day out, it’s the weekend and we don’t want to be at home,” Mr Troy said. “We came by bus today because we knew we had until 5pm.”

Ritu Bagri, a 33-year-old Indian, was on her second visit to the market with her 11-month-old baby.

“It’s a great place to come on a Friday morning, especially if you have a baby,” she said. “It’s great to have it until 5pm because sometimes it’s hard to get out with the little one early in the morning.”

Melissa Romana, a 43-year-old from the Philippines, came with her son for the first time, after he discovered Ripe on the photo-sharing site Instagram. “It’s a great market,” she said. “People are used to waking up later on Friday, so at least by extending it, we have more time to enjoy it.”