Nobody wants a food scene completely dominated by familiar multinational names, serving up the same old grub you find the world over. That’s why the organisers of the 10-day Flavours Festival, at Abu Dhabi’s Umm Al Emarat Park, decided to give home-grown concepts, lovingly created in the kitchens of local families, a chance to shine, too.
The event has proved to be the perfect platform for a trio of Emirati university students to jump-start their Italian pasta business.
Moza Saeed Al Blooshi, Reem Saad Al Jaumeibr and Fatima Saeed Al Muharmi are friends about to graduate with business management degrees from Abu Dhabi University.
While Al Blooshi and Al Jaumeibr confess that cooking is not their biggest strength, Al Muharmi is a dab hand with pasta, which she makes at her family home in Abu Dhabi from a “secret recipe” she has devised.
“We enjoy organising gatherings of friends and family at our homes and in parks, and every time we meet, our chef is always Fatima,” says Al Blooshi. “She always cooks pasta for us, using the amazing pink sauce she created. In fact, she only knows how to cook pasta – but it’s the best pasta you will ever have in your life.”
When the friends spotted adverts for the Flavours Festival in January, they decided to show the rest of the world just how good it really is.
“We wanted to do something new and different,” says Al Jaumeibr. “We decided to make this festival our start in the business world. ”
Al Muharmi explains that before signing up, they asked friends and family to be brutally honest about the quality.
“We tested our pasta on everyone we know, and they all told us it was perfect," she says. "That’s why we thought, together, we should give this a try.”
They decided to call their pasta business Elpatron, which means "the boss" in Spanish, not because the sauce has any Spanish influence, but because they wanted a name completely new and distinctive to the UAE.
About 150 local entrepreneurs are taking part in the festival and many already have their own brightly-coloured food trucks – and in some cases, a restaurant. The Elpatron founders served their pasta from a tent, and didn’t let their lack of experience put them off.
As well as their signature pink sauce, they also created a creamy white sauce, and say they were approached three times at the festival by people from other businesses offering them money for the recipe.
“People have been asking us to come to their kitchens, and teach their chefs what the secret of our pasta is,” says Al Jaumeibr.
“But we will not reveal our ingredients to anyone, because we have decided we would like to open our own restaurant.”
artslife@thenational.ae
