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UAE: Meet 'Queen of Arab Cuisine' who cooked for children at refugee camps

When asked what meal she would choose to send to space with the next batch of Emirati astronauts, she said it would be a date cake

Published: Tue 19 Nov 2024, 6:00 AM

Updated: Tue 19 Nov 2024, 8:50 PM

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Photos: Supplied

Photos: Supplied

Named 'Queen of Arab Cuisine' with a decade-long cooking show on Abu Dhabi TV and two published books, Manal Al Alem shares her culinary journey, refugee camp experiences and best meals to cook in conflicts, space and challenging times.

Al Alem stood behind a stove for the first time when she was nine, when the cake she prepared impressed her mother’s visitors so much it motivated her to become a culinary artist for life.

“They taught us how to make a cake in school and I decided to implement it at home, at first, my mother was horrified of the idea of me lighting up the stove", she said.

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“Coincidentally, her friends visited us that day, I can still hear their comments of praise; my mother couldn’t believe that I managed to prepare such a perfect cake,” said the Jordanian mother of two, now in her sixties.

“This was the first spark of my love affair with cooking, and until this day, my favourite thing to make in the kitchen is cake.”

While growing up at her family home in Saudi Arabia, she helped her mother cook all kinds of meals.

Al Alem’s culinary journey evolved after she got married at 23 and moved with her husband to Kuwait.

“We were seven sisters in the house, and my mother taught us all kinds of dishes.”

Nonetheless, when she was no longer cooking under her mother’s supervision after moving away with her husband, she felt clueless in the kitchen.

“I started taking lessons, buying books… every time my husband asked what to get me for my birthday, I said a cooking book, or a cake pan, or a measuring cup.”

‘Happy cooking’

When she became a confident cook at home, her friends and neighbours started asking for tips and recipes.

“I told them I cannot just teach you orally like that, I will host live cooking sessions for you, and it worked out and they were very happy.”

Al Alem decided to widen the circle of ‘happy cooking’ and involve more women in her cooking meetups.

“My mind was set on helping housewives enjoy cooking without feeling like it was a mandatory obligation, I did not even think I would start a career doing so.

“I started renting kitchen space in hotels to include more participants in our live cooking sessions.”

Keen on carrying on with the happy cooking vibes when she started appearing on TV, she said: “I made sure I always wore chic, colourful outfits and used nice-looking tools to cheer up viewers.”

Kicking off Sufra Da’ima (Always a Fest) on Abu Dhabi TV in the year 2000, the show continued to be a hit for nine years during which Al Alem became a renowned figure in most Arab households.

In addition to her televised work and publications that feature her versatile cooking techniques, Al Alem said the highlights of her culinary life were from her experiences cooking at refugee camps in Jordan.

“Whenever I visited these camps, I experienced something far deeper than teaching people how to cook, the ladies there are also housewives, but with limited supplies, so we would innovate recipes using whatever was available, like bulgur.

“I explained to them that we were not just cooking to feed the children’s hunger, but we were creating healthy tasty meals to make them happy.”

The workshops served as incubators for the participants, who secured jobs cooking for schools afterwards.

Dish in the desert

Al Alem swears by the value of bulgur and olive oil and says if she were stranded on a deserted island and had to choose only two ingredients, she would pick them.

“One can create so many nutritious meals just from them; they are the most nutritious ingredients on Earth.”

If she were to cook a meal in Gaza during the current turmoil, she said she would make it with bulgur.

“It would not only satisfy their hunger, it also initiates cosiness; a meal should have psychological value – more than just [being] filling," she said.

“I feel when one chews warm bulgur it satisfies their soul as well as guts, it may bring them some feeling of security and warmth,” she said emotionally.

If she were to send a meal to space with the next batch of Emirati astronauts, she said it would be a date cake.

While Al Alem lived most of her life between Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE, she said she still dreams of cooking a sophisticated dish in the desert.

Now in her sixties, Al Alem is active on social media and community events.

She just finished filming a show featuring 90 types of dessert for the cooking channel Fatafeat, in addition to a Ramadan show for the same channel; "so in one month I came up with 120 different ways to make dessert,” she said.

It is not necessary to make up new ‘out of this world dishes’ to produce content, she explained.

“One of the signature items we came up with is the luqaimat cake; after preparing the traditional dough balls we use them to create a cake,” she added.

With hundreds of innovated recipes and infused dishes, Al Alem says her most comforting food is cake adding: “I don’t often feel upset but when I do I like to eat plain sponge cake, maybe it brings back happy memories that elevate my mood.”

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