Curated by WorkOverTime (Jamie Allen and Louise Carver) as part of the Countryside: A Place to Live, Not to Leave public programme, the event features the material, cultural, and microbial stories behind two of Qatar’s key food systems: dates and dairy.
Guided tour
In visiting Torba Farm and Mazzraty dairy production farm, participants will engage with the interwoven infrastructures that shape life in arid lands—from regenerative agriculture and irrigation strategies to high-tech dairy operations and desert-based food security.
Along the journey, ecologist Dr Aspa Chatziefthimiou and other guests will help frame questions around water, soil, biodiversity, and sustainable living in rapidly transforming desert environments.
Shared meal
The tour concludes with a convivial tasting and reflection session, held at sunset at the Qatar Preparatory School (QPS), a newly restored site of vocational creative education. Here, date and dairy-based offerings will prompt discussion on the intimate connections between people, microbes, landscapes, and foodways.
Sweetness and Sustenance is not only a visit to farms, but an invitation to think about conservation, ecology, and human presences metabolically: about systems of nourishment, the cycles of land and labour, and the futures we are fermenting together.
This guided tour is especially valuable for researchers, local institutions, artists, and the public.
Itinerary
9:30–10:30am – Travel to Torba Farm from QPS
10:30–11:45am – Torba Farm visit (guided walk + short Q&A)
12–12:45pm – Lunch @ Torba
1–1:30pm – Travel to Mazzraty
2–3pm – Dairy tour at Mazzraty farm
3–4pm – Travel back to QPS
4:30–5pm – Date and Dairy tasting at QPS
