Zahra Abdalla considers herself a modern-day Bedouin. The half-Iranian and half-Sudanese cookbook author, entrepreneur and social media influencer was born in London, England and lived in various cities across the world including Khartoum, Riyadh, Vancouver and London, before moving to Dubai and calling it home for the past 18 years.

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. As part of her work on Maggi Diaries, she had the opportunity to travel to Egypt, India, Spain, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, and meet 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, Zahra develops and creates modern interpretations of Middle Eastern recipes, inspired by her childhood, the flavours of the region and her travels. For Zahra, 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. Zahra 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, Zahra 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.

Zahra 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.