DINA MACKI
Award winning Author Dina, has been working within the F&B industry since 2019. Beginning with pop-ups in London and Oman. She now works with international brands to develop recipes and consult for restaurants and hotels in the GCC. Dina is also a food presenter and writer, with her debut award winning cookbook, Bahari, signed to DK Books being released on 1st February 2024.
Influences
Dina’s food is heavily influenced by her Middle Eastern background and particularly by Oman’s geographical position, along with it’s maritime history, allowing Dina to combine the best of Asian spices, with the abundance of beautifully coloured produce from Iran, home comforts of the Middle East & East Africa along with the delicate touch of the West. Alongside this Dina’s British upbringing with her travels reflects a lot within her hybrid creations.
Background
Born and raised in the UK to an Omani & Zanzibari family, Dina has constantly been surrounded by an eclectic mix of food. Although not ashamed to devour a whole bowl of freshly cooked rice everyday, she did spend her youth being so embarrassed by a rice odoured house that her friends would come to.
It wasn’t until University, when leaving home for the big city to study Fashion & Marketing, that she realised her student loan didn’t cater to fine dining everyday… So from a la carte to the kitchen, all the years of helping her mother & grandmother make dinner finally paid off, to which she was able to start experimenting and using her housemates as guinea pigs to embark on Dine with Dina. To say the least they became well fed students and everyone knew which house to come to should they miss home cooking (oh, and Dina became so proud when they’d comment on the rice aroma!).
