Food is artistry and therapy, with Zahra Abdalla

Welcome to Season 7 of Savvy Talk, I am excited to bring you leading voices from those shaping Dubai's cultural scene. Today we are joined by Zahra Abdalla, someone I personally have been following and enjoying her approach to cooking. She considers herself a modern-day Bedouin.

Her culinary journey started with her online blog in 2010 and soon thereafter she presented her own cooking shows on MBC3 and hosted the fourth season of a food and travel documentary show called Maggi Diaries on MBC1, where she traveled to Egypt, India, Spain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, and met amazing, inspiring and wonderful women of change who addressed important social issues including food wastage, hunger, environment, mindfulness and women empowerment.

Working from her studio, Abdalla develops and creates modern interpretations of Middle Eastern recipes, inspired by her childhood, the flavors of the region and her travels. For her, food is her artistry as well as therapy, and a medium through which long-forgotten memories can be brought back to life or new ones can be made. She is a keen advocate of sustainability and the importance of being mindful of how we source our food, prepare our food and eat our food.

In addition to her public roles, Abdalla is an avid food entrepreneur and founder of Zahra’s Kitchen, a retail frozen food range available for sale in over 35 Spinney and Waitrose locations across the UAE. She is married and has three young boys and a little puppy. She loves to travel, stay fit and collect art when she is not obsessing over new recipes.

You can find Zahra Abdalla on her Website, and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and on YouTube.