Maisa Miqdadi
Founder and Cook
Maisa lets talk food culinary school and coffee house
(Previously Lets Talk Food Dubai)
Maisa Miqdadi is the founder, and ‘self-taught’ Chef of Let’s Talk Food, one of Dubai’s first cooking schools specializing in Levantine cuisine and offering a unique immersive experience combining food and culture.
Maisaa offered the bespoke cooking workshops to a culturally sophisticated audience since 2013 in her apartment in Dubai, allowing participants to learn more about the Levant, talking ingredients, back to basics techniques and identity. Building pride, self-confidence, sharing beautiful moments and delicious gossip
At the same time, Maisaa has expanded her reach and offers these experiences in cooperation with some of Dubai’s leading schools and Restaurants, including culinary boutique, 1762 JLT, and top chef cooking studio.
Maisaa has collaborated with some of the region’s leading food brands to Increase awareness of their brands across key audience segments, and multiple platforms including Television, and Digital, including Vitamix blender, Nour Oil, Goody Pasta, sun white rice, and KIRI cheese, puck cheese ,aseel food, alalali food(Saudi Arabia), yakult probiotics no 1 Japanese drink and many others.
Maisaa contributed every year in the Dubai food festival as a foodie ambassador licensed by Dubai Tourism promoting #mydubai #visitdubai through visiting hidden gems restaurants and covering cooking events such as cooking demonstrations and hands on classes meeting with celebrity chefs from all over the world invited to Dubai every year.
Maisaa appeared on a number of leading lifestyle shows across many Arab Television Channels and shared her experience and passion for Levantine cooking with regional audiences, including Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab on MBC. In addition to that, Maisaa appeared frequently on Citruss TV, the Arab World’s first dedicated home shopping TV Channel, to represent global brands and promote their kitchen appliances and cookware. The Hashemite kingdom of Jordan official tv channel, Roya tv and Amman tv.
Maisa’s experience and cooking journeys featured in albayan newspaper several times and alsharq al- Awsat London newspaper as the first Farm to Table experience in the UAE, and classified by whatson dubai magazine as the second best cooking classes in Dubai.
Maisaa collaborated with alkhaeej times posting healthy recipes in the holy month of Ramadan for two years.
Maisaa is a ‘whole food mother’, using only homemade, unprocessed, organic ingredients in her cooking classes to promote healthy lifestyle and support local communities and farmers, and has collaborated with the leading organic farms in the UAE, such as Emirates bio farm to host a unique ‘FARM TO TABLE’ experience in the farm fields in Al Ain for school students and corporate events and VIP visits.
Since moving back to Jordan late 2020, obligated to COVID19 precautionary measures maisaa proceeded with the online virtual cooking classes via zoom connected to clients from all over the world and will launch the online cooking courses on udemy platform soon shooting a detailed cooking courses focusing on the back to basics techniques.
Maisaa is collaborating currently with the world food program WFP to develop new concept for the school meals distributed to students in need among Jordan and the refugees camps funded by the United Nations and the government of Jordan inspired by seasonal ingredients and the need of the local community in parallel with a training program for the women in the approved operational kitchens supporting the farmers in different cities in Jordan.
Maisa covered the conditions and needs of AZRAQ Syrian refugee’s camp to her social media audience during her special visit to the camp which was arranged by the UNJordan and WFP , followed by fundraising a campaign with Share The Meal program by the UN and hit the target of 10K meals in three days. Thanks to her organic niche followers.
In this two years period in Jordan, Maisa was chosen by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Jordan to contribute to the Farm to Fork Initiative highlighting Culinary Tourism and sustainability in the country putting Jordan on the Culinary Map of the World celebrating our seasonal harvest specifically the olive season with a uniquely curated Dinner cooking with the first Michelin starred chef visiting Jordan, Maisa served the first of five courses on World Olive Day reimagined a traditional appetizer featuring pure flavors of premium local ingredient..
Maisa is writing her own cooking book inspired by the cuisine of her roots of home land Palestine and through her journey in diaspora exploring the ingredients, techniques and the lifestyle. Studying and researching the impact of local ingredients in the Palestinian cuisine such as the famous jaffa oranges (also known as shamouti) and the life of Palestinians as orange groves farmers to preserve heritage and develop new recipes using this magical citrus ingredient inspired from cooks and chefs she met through her food journey.
Maisa is excited to open her dreams Space at Rainbow street Amman on March of this year. This Food Space is presenting Maisa ‘s inspirational journey as Food Entrepreneur hosting events and cooking experiences, selling her Delicacies, and serving food and beverages in the first Levantine vintage style coffee house in Jordan representing her four Elements in life:
Culture, Health, Sustainability, and Roots.
Last but not least Maisa is a food lover by heart and a civil engineer by profession, born in 1978 and raised in Jordan, graduated from Jordan university of science and technology in 2001, worked in the most leading engineering companies such as Dar Alhandasah and the French INfilco degremont, Inc Richmond for 7 years in Jordan.
Life has taught her to always carry a spoon.
You never know what you will be tasting next and where it will be.
Her specialty is creating smiles wherever she goes with the magic of her spoon.