Meet #MedFoodHeroes Ambassador: Sahar Elhallak
Celebrating the diverse colours and flavours of veggies
Nine years ago, Sahar left her home in California and landed in Morocco in a quest to find herself. While she started a new life in Marrakech, she found some challenges to find restaurants that catered to vegetarians like herself. Since she always enjoyed hosting dinner parties and food-related fundraising events, she started cooking for friends. “Later, I started taking orders, and before you know it, I was running a kitchen from my house,” Sahar says. She now lives in the ancient city of Fez in Northern Morocco, where she welcomes people into her beautifully restored 100+ -year-old house, for unique culinary experiences.
Sahar started cooking for her family years ago, when she was still living in Northern California. “Food is a universal language, an art that tells a story,” she says. With roots in the Middle East and Lebanon, she wanted her children to learn about all the different tastes and flavours she enjoyed growing up.
“I had many women in my life who guided me and contributed to my culinary journey,” Sahar says. “Food connects me to my lost identity and helps me share my culture and traditions with others.”
Her first memories of Lebanese food date back to when her mom, aunts and cousins gathered to roll stuffed grape leaves, also known as Dolma or Warak Anib.
“Young girls are usually in charge of separating the leaves before they start learning the rolling techniques,” Sahar shares. “The perfection of a rolled grape leaf is the right of passage from a little girl to a young woman. Mothers brag about their daughters’ rolling skills to potential mothers-in-law,” she explains. “Later while eating, one can tell by the style of the rolled grape leaf who was behind the rolling. The energy of the ladies is what flavours the food. The stories that are shared during the rolling ritual are among my fondest memories.”
Sahar is constantly inspired by Mediterranean and Moroccan cuisine. “I love how resourceful people are here in Morocco and in my home country Lebanon,” she says. “They can take something as simple as a chickpea and make it into so many different dishes. Both cuisines rely on what’s available seasonally and make great use of pantry items,” she adds.
“I love the use of different spices to bring a dish to life without over-empowering it. I also love how most often, meat is not used as the main ingredient, but to flavour the food. It’s exciting that many dishes vary from one region to another and that most dishes have a vegetarian version.”
Like many of our #MedFoodHeroes, Sahar applies sustainable cooking in her own kitchen. According to her, sustainable cooking starts by acknowledging how we harvest our food, where it comes from and how we prepare it. “Sustainable cooking is also about respecting resources and avoiding waste, whether in the kitchen or before the food reaches my kitchen,” Sahar says. “I buy locally and hardly ever from supermarkets. I don’t buy or consume processed food, period!”
Sahar appreciates the fact that in Morocco she has access to locally grown produce that are always fresh and available at her local market. “I rarely go out to eat and I cook what I need to avoid waste,” she says. “I am a big fan of leftovers and I create amazing dishes with them. I also save food scraps to give to the local donkeys in the area when possible.”
Sahar shares RootedEveryday’s vision that consumers have the power to positively change our food systems. “I genuinely believe that with everything in life, we – the consumers – play a significant role in creating sustainable farming and cooking. We have the power to say no to mass production farming,” she says. “By supporting ethical farming, respecting our environment, and reducing waste, we can slowly shift our standpoint towards mother earth. As one Indian Chief said: Mother Earth is the source of life, not the resource.”
Photo credits for all: © Sahar Elhallak
In her daily life, Sahar finds joy in the vibrant colours and freshness of the vegetables she prepares. “I am happiest in the kitchen when I know I’m going to share my meal with others, when I know that I can share my creation and my love for food with people that are as passionate about conscious eating as I am,” she says. Sahar gets great satisfaction when re-creating an heirloom recipe with her own touch. “I feel happy knowing that what I’m cooking is not just food to withstand hunger; it is food made with love to nourish not only the body, but also the soul.”
One of her favourite Mediterranean dishes is a Palestinian dish called Rummaniyah, derived from the word Rumman, which means pomegranate in Arabic. It’s a lovely dish her mom used to make with lentils, eggplants, and pomegranate juice. “The texture and flavours are phenomenal,” she says.
Her favourite Moroccan dish is Zaalouk, a traditional eggplant salad, prepared in hundreds of different ways. “Zaalouk has a similar taste to Rummaniyah,” Sahar says. “I love Zaalouk because it is versatile; it can be eaten as a side dish or as a main dish – with fresh baked Moroccan bread and a drizzle of some olive oil. I love to add pomegranate seeds on top when they’re in season.”
Moroccan women and their love and pride for traditional cuisine are a great source of inspiration for Sahar, who loves watching women from the local village kneading bread dough. “The relationship between women’s hands and the dough is fascinating, and one can learn so much from it.” Her biggest idol in Moroccan cuisine is Dada Aïcha, a tiny woman with powerful hands and a gracious heart, as Sahar describes her. “She is the village’s midwife and medicine women. She uses whatever she has in her kitchen to provide for her family,” Sahar says. “Watching her prepare a meal in her humble and tiny kitchen is a privilege and honour.”
Sahar sees cooking as a form of art similar to the layering of Moroccan tiles or Zellige. “All pieces and ingredients come together to form a harmonious dish or a pattern,” she says.
Inspired by her love for Morocco, Sahar is currently writing a manuscript for a plant-based cookbook, focusing on conscious eating from a health and spiritual point of view. Curious to learn more about this lovely lady? Follow Sahar’s culinary journey and adventures on Instagram or visit her website:
www.athomeinmorocco.com.
Recipes to try
Zaalouk (Moroccan Eggplant Salad)
Zaalouk is a traditional eggplant salad that can be prepared in hundreds of different ways. It can be eaten as a side dish or as a main dish – with fresh baked Moroccan bread and a drizzle of some olive oil. Make it extra special by sprinkling pomegranate seeds on top when they’re in season.
What Are You Cooking?
When you make a dish using sustainable Mediterranean ingredients share the love with a photo of your culinary creation @RootedEveryday #MedFoodHeroes
What You Put on Your Plate Can Change the World
Share A Dish Night
25-27 June 2020
#MedFoodHeroes
Let’s celebrate sustainable food
rootedveryday.org/medfoodheroes
What You Put on Your Plate Can Change the World
Share A Dish Night
25-27 June 2020
#MedFoodHeroes
Let’s celebrate sustainable food
rootedveryday.org/medfoodheroes