Zahra Abdalla was born in London, England, and she is half Sudanese, half Iranian. she thinks of herself as a contemporary Bedouin; She was blessed with the opportunity to live, experience, and become a locale of various cities around the world when she was a child, and she led a very typical expat life. she has been fortunate to call Khartoum, Riyadh, Athens, Sacramento, London, Windsor, Vancouver, Toronto, and Dubai her home. She is now a cookbook author and social media influencer. In addition to her public roles, Zahra is an avid food entrepreneur who has established Picniq, a Persian-themed kebab restaurant.
Zahra is married to a Jordanian husband; the father of her three young boys. Her home serves as her workspace, where she can prepare mouthwatering dishes based on ancient Persian and Arabic recipes that have been handed down through the generations. Her culinary journey began in 2010 with her online blog. Soon after, she hosted the fourth season of the food and travel documentary show Maggi Diaries on MBC1 and presented her own cooking shows on MBC3. Zahra develops and creates modern interpretations of Middle Eastern recipes from her studio, influenced by her childhood, travels, and the flavors of the region. Her art, therapy, and joy revolve around food. She enjoys cooking, eating, and most importantly, feeding other people. Her life has always been dominated by food; Reminiscences of certain scents, flavors, recipes, and customs are reassuring. She wants to instill the same joy in her children now that she has her own young family. She also loves to travel, listen to Latino music, keep fit, and collect art in addition to her food obsession.
Zahra’s enthusiasm for investigating a variety of components, flavors and culinary strategies was taught in her since early on.“I was six years old when I bought my first cookbook at a community fair in Khartoum, called The Little Cooks which featured recipes from all around the world for boys and girls,” said Zahra Abdalla.
“This book had beautifully illustrated pictures which inspired and intrigued me to enter the kitchen to cook and taste the wonderful recipes from around the world.”
In addition, having considered many cities as home, She quickly realized how important taste is to different cultures around the world. When she was a young child, she always had trouble figuring out her identity. She considers herself to be both traditional and contemporary, as well as Eastern and Western. Living in the middle of all the opposing viewpoints, on the fence, was always something she enjoyed.The fact that she was raised to respect people of all walks of life and backgrounds is her greatest blessing. This set of values is reflected in the recipes in her first book, Cooking with Zahra (2019). “It truly is a celebration of and respect for tradition and modernity, as well as Eastern and Western culture and food.” Said Zahra.
The book was Zahra’s passion project, an opportunity to document and share some of her favorite recipes. The Persian, Sudanese, and Levantine cuisines are heavily incorporated into the majority of the featured recipes. Most recently, Zahra started a new food delivery service called Zahra’s Kitchen, which specializes in Middle Eastern versions of her signature recipes. “Our focus is to deliver quality food made with whole ingredients, no additives, no preservatives; wholesome, handcrafted and simply good,” said Zahra.
