Abdullah Al Awayed, Trustee
Abdullah Al Awayed, head chef at Damascus Chef, grew up in a small farming village in Syria’s North Easterly Fertile Crescent, in an area that is locally known as the “Jazira” region, which lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. Life revolved around raising and tending to the ingredients and hospitality and the overarching importance of making and sharing food was ingrained in the whole community. He left home at 18 for Damascus, over 600 km away.
As a sous chef, and eventually a hotel manager in the old city, he learned the versatility of the each ingredient, without losing touch with his instincts for foraging, herding, growing and rearing his own ingredients and the Bedouin kitchen lore of his childhood.
He left Syria with his partner Fabienne, a Londoner in 2012, and their son, and after living in Amman for almost a year, they came to live in the UK.