A Tale of Two Sisters ( + more)
It’s been just over a year since we started Basima’s Kitchen, and what a year it’s been (in more ways than one, no explanation needed!). To mark this occasion, we wanted to take a moment to reflect and expand on what led us to embark on this wonderful journey in the first place, as well as provide a bit more of our own background and how we each fit into our little enterprise.
As we’ve recounted before, a key driving force of this project was to honour our late grandmother Basima’s lifelong dream of opening a restaurant and sharing her glorious food with the world. Though in our humble opinion we will never be able to fully recreate the magic she consistently made in the kitchen, we wanted to give our best try and vicariously bring to life vicariously her longing to share her food with the public. Having never started a business before, we didn’t know where to begin, and our questions and uncertainties were endless. But we decided to put our best feet (as well as hands) forward, and bring our combined strengths to the kitchen table!
The decision to start a food business wasn’t made in a vacuum. Alia, our head chef, has been a keen cook since childhood, and has always enjoyed experimenting with and learning about different cuisines and recipes. Until recently, Middle Eastern cuisine was something that she had limited expertise and experience with. However, over the last few years, she has been reconnecting with her own culinary roots and expanding her knowledge base of Palestinian and Saudi cuisine. For some time, we had discussed and toyed with the idea of teaming up to launch a food business of various forms – from a Kabsa food truck to opening a little cafe. We eventually settled on what felt the closest to home, a literal homage to and expression of our own culinary roots and what we grew up eating at our grandmother’s house and at home. We – and primarily Alia with her natural cooking ability – embarked on a crash course in making these foods until we got to a place where we were happy with our dishes. Alia has really blossomed into her role as head chef, and wears it as effortlessly as her Basima’s Kitchen chef’s jacket. She’s also picked up a keen eye for food photography, and most of the photos on our website and social media pages are her handiwork.
And this brings us to yours truly. I (Sara) proudly carry the mantle of sous chef. Though since childhood I’ve enjoyed cooking up a storm (and sometimes causing a literal storm) in the kitchen with Alia, in contrast to her, cooking was never my natural forte. However, over the last couple of years I have profoundly enjoyed spreading my culinary wings and especially deepening my knowledge and skills in our own hereditary cuisine. Other than that, I handle customer relations and manage the website and blog, as well as basic accounting and administration – what some might call the ‘boring side’ of a business but something I really enjoy doing since it is our very own.
Off we go to one of our very first catering jobs!
This introduction wouldn’t be complete without mentioning two of the vital forces underpinning Basima’s Kitchen. One of these is our mother Mona – or, as we call her around the kitchen, our ‘Dairy Queen’. This moniker comes from the fact that she makes our yoghurt, which we serve beside some of our dishes, as well as our ice cream; both are 24+ hour processes which she learned from her own mother Basima. Mona recalls her ancestral home never being without homemade yoghurt in the fridge, and so has carried on this tradition in our home and for our valued customers. She’s also passed down the reins to Alia, who has over the past year been sharing in this tradition and making yoghurt herself. Our beloved mother is also always happy to lend a helping hand when we are catering to large events and have many plates spinning. Last but certainly not least, our maths-minded elder brother Aziz is an integral part of Basima’s Kitchen, helping us with balancing our books, pricing our products, and all manner of financial wizardry. Though he lives abroad, he has been there for us from day one in making our dream a reality – not least through strategizing with us and helping us in the initial stages of launching the business. We are so grateful to have such a caring and supportive family that has made us feel like we are never alone; another brother, Khaled, who works as a consultant, even drew up a business strategy document for us some time ago which has helped us shape our plans for the future.
Creativity and inventiveness has always run in our family (our very own Dairy Queen illustrated the drawing for this blog piece), and that’s one of the reasons we were so excited to start sharing our creations and ideas with others. In this endeavour, of course it is of utmost importance to us to strive to produce and share the most delicious and crave-worthy meals. But equally as important is to honour and spread the values of generosity, warmth and hospitality, giving people that feeling of loving care that you always get with a home-cooked family meal prepared with love – just like our grandmother did.