Dima Al Sharif
Dubai-based Food Artisan, Author of ‘Plated Heirlooms’, Owner of brand “Dima Sharif” & Founder of MOONEH LLC
Dima, who grew up in Jordan, was always surrounded by quality food. Her family owns the first and largest citrus farms, vegetable and date farms in Jordan and so Dima learnt, from a very young age, the importance of quality ingredients.
As such, to date, she is an active advocate of organic farming and supporting local farmers and local seasonal produce. She is proudly the founder of the UAE’s first company dedicated to preserving local organic produce.
After years dedicated to work with NGOs and community-based organisations – in the fields of social development, training and communications – Dima decided to change her career path and began her professional food journey.
In 2006, she started a catering service in Dubai, creating high-end bespoke menus and quality food items that catered for private and corporate events.
In 2009, she began providing culinary training to home cooks, aspiring chefs as well as industry professionals. At the same time she took on food writing, where she regularly wrote for different publications in print and online. With time, Dima expanded her services into an all-encompassing food training and communications service, incorporating workshops, writing, blogging, photography and film. She runs one of the most celebrated food blogs in the UAE, dimasharif.com, with articles spanning across culinary travel; culture; food history; recipes and, above all, insights into the art of cooking. dimasharif.com was awarded top 60 culinary blogs worldwide ranking 37th.
In 2013, Dima started MOONEH FZC, a trading company selling her unique food products (preserved/fermented local organic vegetables). The company & its line of products were created to support the local organic farmers. The products having become well loved and in high demand by the community lead to her starting “MOONEH LLC”, a foodstuff supply and catering services company (in 2018), where she established a commercial kitchen in Jebel Ali industrial area to produce and distribute her MOONEH products. From 2013 to 2022, dima had founded 3 food brands “Mooneh”, “Aklat” & “Pantry Monkey” all of which were operated under MOONEH LLC.
In 2017 Mooneh was awarded Slow Food Dubai Snail of Approval, making it the only Slow Food certified locally produced food brand/products in the UAE.
In 2022, The registered trademark MOONEH & its operation were bought by a large and well known food industry group in the Middle East.
Today, “Dima Sharif” is a multi award winning food artisan, author of the cookbook Plated Heirlooms, founder and owner of the brand Dima Sharif. Founder of MOONEH LLC & food brands MOONEH, Pantry Monkey & Aklat. “Dima Sharif” is proud to be the UAE’s first dedicated preserver of local organic and seasonal produce. A sustainability champion, and a pioneer in online specialty grocery stores and championing causes such as: support local, integrating a fully local supply chain system, local organic food industry, running a zero waste food operation… all while supporting many local and regional small businesses, and other social causes…
In Media:
She is a sought-after and respected culinary figure in the Middle East. She had partnered with local and international brands like Kenwood, Al Alali, Nestle, Italian Cuisine World Summit, Italian Cuisine in The World Forum, ITChefs, IRC, IFOAM, The Dubai Mall, Home Centre, Miele, MBC Group, Fatafeat, Abu Dhabi TV, DECIDE – Diabetes Awareness Organization, Sister Olive Oil and OBE Organic, Spinneys Food magazine, as well as being a regular guest on Dubai Eye Radio. Dima was also the organizer and training chef of the annual specialty Food Styling & Photography Workshop in Dubai (2013-2016), and was appointed as the public face and official blogger for the Italian Cuisine World Summit and Italian Cuisine In The World Forum (2014-2016).
Finally she was a participating chef in the United Nations by Italian Cuisine 2016 and a key speaker in the Italian Cuisine World Summit (2015-2016) exploring topics spanning from Specialty Restaurant Operations, to Opportunities and Challenges of Authentic Concept Restaurants and The Historical Arab Influence on Italian Cuisine…among other topics.
- Awarded Top 60 Culinary Blog Worldwide (rank 37th, see badge at bottom of page)
- UAE Top 10 Food Blogs – The National
- Hotelier Middle East 15 Top Influential Foodies
In 2015, Dima published her first cookbook “Plated Heirlooms”
a 500-page exploration of her native Falasteen (Palestine) and its rich culinary history through generations of Palestinian cooking. (see introduction Video on this link)
In May 2017 Plated Heirlooms won the title “Best In The World” for Arabic Cuisine by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards that was held in Yantai, China.
Previous to that, Plated Heirlooms also won 3 international awards:
1. The national winner of The Dun Gifford Award for “Best Mediterranean Cuisine”.
2. The national winner of “Best Self Published Book” by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
3. The national Winner for “Best Historical Recipes Book” by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
In 2020 – 2021 Plated Heirlooms was included as a text book studied by VISS students for their IB programme (see the discussion video on this link) and was also included by Purdue History Department for their students doing Middle Eastern Studies (see clips of the discussion on this link)
Plated Heirlooms is available to ship worldwide you can order your copy on this link.
