GQ Middle East

3 days ago | gqmiddleeast.com | Chris Cotonou

This is an approach he shares with Nour El Safoury, who runs Esmat Publishing List in Cairo (another must-visit destination bookshop). Akkari met El Safoury when Bao Books started, and they have remained friends ever since. At first, they bonded on the same frustrations around importing, distribution, and the limited reach of artists and writers they supported in the region.

3 days ago | gqmiddleeast.com | Emily Laurence

We think of tea drinkers as pretty chill. No one’s getting hyped up on chamomile. But yerba mate drinkers are a different breed. Yerba mate tea is the pre-game drink of choice for many athletes, including soccer players Luis Suárez and Leo Messi and NBA player John Collins. Hugely popular in South America, Yerba mate, a bitter herbal tea, is becoming more sought after in the States, in large part because of its health benefits.

4 days ago | gqmiddleeast.com | Dean Stattmann

If you're shopping for the best running shoes for flat feet, you're far from alone. “The majority of the population actually have flat arches,“ says Shital Sharma, DPM, CEO and medical director at LuxStep Concierge. In fact, the range of severity for flat feet is so wide that you may not feel any pain, or even know you’re affected at all.

4 days ago | gqmiddleeast.com | Dalia Al-Dujaili

In neon-lit barbershops across Iraq, transformation takes shape as both ritual and rebellion. Towering hairdos, glossy skin, sculpted brows. When we think of Iraqi men’s hairstyles, we might cringe. With the amount of hair spray and gel needed to keep them in shape, the towering jet black manes could be a major fire hazard. We love to hate them. Across the Arab internet, they’re a punchline – memeified, parodied and obsessed over.

5 days ago | gqmiddleeast.com | Gerald Ortiz

If flip-flops are a little too advanced for your feet, try a canvas sneaker, fisherman sandal, or a no-frills rubber slide. It’s hard to say for sure when shoes got so weird. Once Crocs became cool, though—followed, in no particular order, by water shoes, garden clogs, and the type of sandals your grandpa wears to the beach—it felt like a rubicon was crossed. We had reached the point of no return, and I, for one, was happy to be there.