DUBAI: When Elias Saoud was growing up in Lebanon he would watch his mother cooking. She worked with simple ingredients but treated them with care, building dishes around freshness and balance.
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“Food in our house meant connection,” Saoud tells Arab News. “It wasn’t just about eating, it was about bringing everyone together.”
He remembers the patience involved in shaping kibbeh by hand and preparing stuffed vegetables, tasks that required focus and care rather than speed. Those experiences quietly shaped his standards long before he realized cooking could become a career.
When he enrolled at École Hôtelière Dekwaneh in Lebanon, he says, “Cooking stopped being just emotional and became disciplined and technical.”
