q&a with chef haya
Step into the heart of Palestine with Chef Haya! Inspired by cherished memories of her Palestinian heritage, Chef Haya brings a heartfelt tribute to life at Haya's Kitchen. Through authentic flavors and traditional recipes passed down by her Tetas and mother, she celebrates the essence of Palestinian identity and preserves old traditions with every dish.
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I grew up eating incredible food. I was blessed to be around incredible food that was made by my tetas and my mom, and all my memories growing up were of what I had eaten. And I always knew I wanted to do something in food, I just didn't know what. When I quit my corporate job in PR in 2018, I went on this journey of what I wanted to do in my life and what I wanted to focus on. And I had realized that I was missing a piece of my identity. As a person who's lived as an expat all of my life, I felt like I needed to connect back to my identity and my heritage. And I wanted to connect back to Palestine since I can’t go visit. I decided that I was going to create Haya's Kitchen as a tribute to that.
So, Haya's Kitchen was born in 2020. And I dedicated it as a tribute to Palestine, to Tetas, or to grandmothers, and to old traditions that are fading away with time. And my logo was actually not the logo that exists right now. It was initially just a very basic Canva made design that I had done. And then I worked with an incredible designer who used to be based in Jordan. And I basically gave her the brief of what I'm trying to do. And she came up with the lemon and the olive branches, which are essential and core to my whole identity and to the identity of Palestinians. Going back to the basics of our beautiful land.
I’m not a trained chef but I’ve learnt from the OG cooks in our world - tetas and mama. And I’ve come to earn a title I hold very dear to my heart, which is the community teta.
Q: What's your favorite childhood food memory involving your Teta, and how does it inspire your cooking today?
It's more of what my tetas represented. It was the nurturing and loving way of how they included food in our lives. My grandparents from both sides fled from Palestine with their families in 1948 and settled in Jordan. And because of the struggles in their lives of being displaced from their home and having to build themselves up again, they were deprived of many things in their lives. And when us grandchildren came into the picture, they wanted to make sure that we would want for absolutely nothing.
Both of my tetas always had this ready-to-feed mentality where they would accommodate any request. You want koosa and warak? Sure. You want mu’ajanat? Sure. Lemonada? Ice cream? Chocolate? Pickles? Mlukhiyeh? Literally anything, they’d be ready. It's the equivalent of the Mary Poppins bag. Anything and everything is available in their kitchens. And that's what resonated most with me. They never made it seem like they were tired to do it. It's just the concept of feeding us, especially as their grandchildren, it was just such a reward. And that's the identity that I try to encompass through everything that I do in Hayas Kitchen.
Q: If you had to create a dish that encapsulates the spirit of resilience and hope of the Palestinian people, what would it be, and how would you express that through your cooking?
It's a pastry that actually exists, but it has such a beautiful representation and symbolism towards Palestinians that I love to share with people. It's about the Akkawi and wild za’atar mu’ajanat or pastry balls that I make. And the reason why this is such a beautiful story is because of the wild za’atar in it.
Wild za’atar is referenced in a lot of poetry and written word and scripts about Palestinians and our culture. And typically in these pieces, wild za’atar is used as a symbolism for the resilience of Palestinians. Wild za’atar grows in the mountains and Palestinians are actually banned from foraging for it. When you cut the plant from the ground, if the roots stay intact, then it will continue to grow and flourish. And so it is used as a symbolism for Palestinians. In the same way that Palestinians are constantly being put down, and there's currently a global attempt at erasing the Palestinian culture, we will continue to come back up and we will continue to grow, to flourish and to succeed.
It’s a story I love telling my guests and it’s an incredible symbolic reference to the resilience of Palestinians. With the new generations that are coming from my generation to the next generation, we are becoming more proud, more vocal and more certain of our identity.
Q: Share with us a quirky food tradition from Palestinian culture that many people might not know about but should definitely try.
So, interestingly enough, in Nablus, they have a tradition of eating dessert before the meal. And the reason why they do that is because the sweet element opens up their appetite. So instead of ending the meal with dessert, they start the meal with dessert to open up their appetite so that they can eat as much of the food as possible. It's a beautiful tradition, and it's specific to Nablus, and I don’t think a lot of people know that.
Q: Can you give us an example of a dish that is uniquely Haya?
My Fish Sayadieh! So, obviously sayadieh is a dish that we all know and it's a very popular dish, but the way that I make it is different. This is a sayadieh that I came to know about, which is also pretty distinct to the north of Palestine. It’s a traditional dish, but it's not the typical way that we would eat. The way I make it is in the format of a maqloobeh - the fish is partially cooked, put in the pot with a lot of caramelized onions and spiced rice, and it's then cooked in the fish stock, so it comes out as a tower like the maqloobeh. Still a traditional dish, but it's a lesser known format of it.
Q: What’s one thing you wish someone had told you before you started Haya’s Kitchen?
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and don’t be so hard on yourself. Things I definitely try to remind myself on a daily basis.
Q: After dazzling the crowds with your incredible msakhans, it’s time to put on your comfy pants and unwind. What’s a dish you’d cook for yourself when the spotlight’s off and what TV show or movie are you watching?
An ultimate comfort dish that my Teta used to make and we call it Spaghetti Jaj Teta, which is basically chicken spaghetti. This dish was a Palestinianised spaghetti that Teta used to make and literally no one in the world has heard of it. I would always ask her to make it. And when she passed away, it was never written down. I took it upon myself to try and recreate it and I shared the recipe with the rest of the family. It’s my go to comfort dish!
With a plate of spaghetti Jaj Teta in my hand, I’d switch on the TV and tune into the latest crime show. Shadi and I are obsessed with that stuff!
Q: Let’s switch gears, outside of cooking, what’s one fact about you Haya that you think people would be surprised to know?
At one point in my life, I wanted to get into theater and go to Broadway! I used to sing in school musicals and thought I’d go down that path.