Royal Repast

Photos: Maxim Denisenko, Personal Archives

The call couldn’t have come at a better time. With COVID-19 scaling down weddings significantly and erasing social events from the calendar, hotelier and caterer Arieh Wagner of Golders Green, London, found himself without a single job since Purim. Then came the groundbreaking peace deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel in August, followed by the treaty between Bahrain and Israel a month later.

As soon as the Bahrain deal was announced, Wagner received a call from a former Sheraton Hotel colleague of 20 years ago. “Do you remember me?” the fellow asked, explaining that he is now the manager of the Ritz-Carlton in the Arabic country of Bahrain.

Their conversation continued in person shortly after, with a handshake, er, elbow bump, all the way in Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf with a small 150-year-old Jewish community. The manager contracted Wagner to supply double-wrapped kosher meals for the Ritz-Carlton, to serve the expected influx of Jewish tourists.

A friend from London then introduced Wagner to the Habtoors, a wealthy Emirati family that owns a few hotels in the UAE, one of which was suitable for a kosher program. Because COVID-19 is not so rampant in Dubai, it is business as usual there, and the Habtoors wanted to be able to cater to a Jewish crowd. They offered Wagner the job.