A Culinary Coincidence
Noor Al Mazroei, a Qatari chef at Rosado Café, has loved cooking ever since she was a child, and with time she turned her passion into a profession. Coming from a highly educated family, cooking was seen to be more of a hobby and not something to base your life on. She grew up and went on to earn a master’s degree in special education — Mild/Moderate Disabilities but still, she was not able to let go of her first love, cooking “being in the academic field is something really important. But it was the way that, I like it, I couldn’t leave it through my journey.” So how did she do it? How did she go from special needs to culinary art?
Her story is inspiring to say the least. At the age of 9, she started cooking and experimenting using different recipes with her mother and grandmother. This passion followed her through her time till social media made an appearance. That is when she started to post pictures of her dishes and followed them with written recipes and videos of the process. “I did this out of love, nothing else.” She stated, “ I didn’t post my picture. I didn’t post my name but after some time people started to enjoy what I’m doing and contacted me.”
When interest started to grow from her online presence, she finally made the decision to pursue it as a career. She began by taking courses, both locally, and abroad and improved her skills, yet she still refused to sell her food for a profit. She held her integrity because she wanted people to view food as art instead of business. Fast forward a bit; she got the opportunity to work with French-born Monégasque chef Alain Ducasse and incorporate a Qatari touch, which is what Chef Noor is famous for, to his menu. This experience made her realize that food could be made into a successful profession, and three years ago, she decided to leave her job to focus on the culinary part of her life.
Chef Noor started to develop allergies to some types of foods later in life. She was unable to consume eggs and dairy. Finding restaurants to cater to her needs during the time seemed near impossible for her, which made her think about how Qatar would be able to host FIFA 2022 if they did not have variety in their food. Additionally, how would vegan and vegetarians enjoy Qatari cuisine? From then on, she started to modify traditional dishes, adding her own unique healthy twist to them. She turned Qatari food healthy while still keeping the same delicious flavors. To this chef, the integrity of the food is in its spices. it doesn’t matter whether you use chicken or vegetables as long as you keep the flavor the same “ If you want it very authentic go for the authentic machboos if you want to make it vegetarian you can keep it authentic and vegetarian.”
The road to Qatari food with a healthy twist wasn’t so straightforward. “When I first participated in the food festival everyone knows I provide little bit of healthy food with a twist. The first day of the festival my booth was empty.” People would come and ask her what she sold. Salads, healthy oats, and spinach mathrooba, and when hearing this, they would shy away from her booth, saying they don’t want anything beneficial and wanted to eat burgers instead. The second day a little more foot traffic started coming her way, and by the end of the festival, she was selling more than 600 dishes daily. “I was crying because I could not cook, I could not do more and everyone was waiting before I open the booth for two hours making a long line.”
She had proven to people that it was possible to create delicious alternatives to the dishes we know and love. You could say she was the first stepping stone towards Qatar’s view on healthy eating. It might not have been a quick and easy road, but Chef Noor Al Mazroei made a difference with her food, a difference that not only proved being a chef was a worthwhile profession but one that would also make her family and country proud.