Today we’d like to introduce you to Yvonne Maffei.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Yvonne. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I have been interested in food writing, photography and international travel since I was very young. I began taking photos of homemade food creations in my teens and during college began traveling globally, which was quite addictive! The more I traveled and explored a variety of cultures and their cuisines (around southern Europe, North Africa and Mexico), my interest in global cuisine became something I wanted to dive deeper into as a profession, but wasn’t exactly sure how to do it. In 2001, I became Muslim and embraced a halal dietary lifestyle. It was so interesting, eye-opening and really woke me up to the importance of conscious eating. I was already interested in the sustainability of the environment and this approach to a holistic lifestyle that included animal welfare, human welfare and more, really felt authentic to my core.
In 2008, I started a blog about halal food and cooking because I noticed that there wasn’t much information out there in the culinary sphere regarding the meaning of halal, how to cook in a halal way or how any type of cuisine could be made in a halal way. I had already been experimenting with French, Italian, Latin, Asian and American recipes that I grew up eating- to make them in a halal and healthy way – that I found myself with an intense desire to share what I knew to be possible and the blog was the perfect platform to share this knowledge.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Nothing good comes easy, as they say, but I knew I was in the right place when I was willing to lose sleep by working harder than I ever had before on this website and the subsequent books I wrote as an extension of it. The biggest scare came when I lost all of the content on the website one day in the early years. It was scary and upsetting, but it made me realize how invested I was in this work and that I would never take the privilege of doing this work for granted. Miraculously, my tech team was able to bring it all back, but during the interim period of waiting, I had a lot of time to think about how important this really was to me and that I was willing to sacrifice a lot to bring this information to the world because I felt I really had a purpose in doing so.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about My Halal Kitchen, LLC – what should we know?
My Halal Kitchen is an entity that includes a website (www.myhalalkitchen.com) full of resources for halal cooking and eating, but it also includes my books, videos, cooking classes, and culinary presentations. I have also started an online marketplace for halal food and lifestyle products called My Halal Market (www.mhkmarkets.com).
As a home cook, I am most known for making any cuisine halal and for teaching people how to source healthy, wholesome ingredients as substitutes for non-halal ingredients in their cooking.
I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to spread the message that halal cooking is not just possible for anyone to do, but a delicious way to enjoy food and all its pleasures, that it’s an abundant way of cooking and not limited to anyone who likes to try a variety of foods. I imagine this sets me apart from other cooks, but I don’t really focus on being different, I just focus on doing what I know and what I like to do best.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
No one succeeds in a vacuum and I have certainly not been alone in creating My Halal Kitchen. It started first with God-given talents and with my parents who encouraged me to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. My father planted the seed of learning when I was very young by taking me to libraries where we spent hours reading and in awe of the photos and articles in National Geographic magazines. He opened my eyes to the miracle of gardens, plants, and animals by taking me everywhere there was a natural landscape- gardens, conservatories, greenhouses, animal sanctuaries and more. He encouraged me to keep a diary of our adventures and to document these experiences with photos taken with my first camera, a gift from him. Cooking was later a natural outlet for all of these trips and adventures, as I was able to express my love of the natural world through food. My mom gifted me with all of my kitchen tools and appliances while I was in college, so she definitely had confidence in my abilities as a cook, which was a subtle message to keep going.
Along the way, I’ve had the most amazing mentors – successful women who lifted me up with advice, encouragement, tough conversations about personal accountability for one’s life and achievements and more. There is no replacement for real talk and I’m so incredibly grateful for that.
Once My Halal Kitchen was started, I needed to create a small team and have since been blessed with an amazing family with my web developer who has been with me for many years, wonderful designers along the way and social media support, too. None of this would be possible without them and their dedication.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.myhalalkitchen.com
- Phone: 773-392-6798
- Email: contact@myhalalkitchen.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/myhalalkitchen
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/myhalalkitchen
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/myhalalkitchen
Image Credit:
My Halal Kitchen by Yvonne Maffei
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