[gallery size="full" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="On The Road with StreetChef" ids="69221,69222,69223,69224"] Dona Paranayil Saudi Gazette StreetChef, the first official mobile restaurant of Saudi Arabia was launched in Jeddah recently. Ahmad Mesawa, food critic and founder of StreetChef got the idea six and a half years ago and tried to introduce it then but failed due to certain government policies. In a second attempt about a year and a half ago, he made his dream come true with the help of Dr.Hani Mohammad Aburas, Mayor of Jeddah. "This took a lot of stages in my life and this is the final stage which I'm so proud of. Assistant of Dr.Hani Aburas saw my hashtag once that mentioned "we need street food trucks in our country" and he contacted me. I met with him and other officials and I was so happy. After we agreed to certain criteria, they gave me the green light to start the project. Since then it took me a year and a half to open StreetChef because I had to buy the cart from UK, and fix the system inside locally. We also faced some hard times and last minute regulations but I talked to Dr.Hani Aburas and finally it was launched two weeks before this Ramadan," Ahmad told Saudi Gazette. During Ramadan, StreetChef opened at Comedy Club and Aya mall in Jeddah. Now it is also opens at Obhor. Every time Street Chef opens for business, the restaurant announces their venue, time and menu in advance on their social media platform. "The movie ‘Chef' inspired me a lot to open StreetChef and if you notice, the idea here is similar to the movie where the chefs can cook any type of food and we can go anywhere around the city. However,due to Ramadan, we were stuck at two locations and we served sliders with Canadian AAA Angus beef, hot dog made from our own recipe and brisket. As Ramadan is over now, hopefully, we will present more items soon," said Ahmad. The response has been good so far with a number of Saudis both men and women coming to StreetChef to experience the new trend and have fun. They are served with high quality food at a reasonable price. "The sales are surprisingly increasing all the way. We are serving high quality meat but at a regular price. We created this trend and hope it can go on. As you can see, people are gathering around and having fun, so it's not just about food but it's the spirit that you witness; this is the experience," said Ahmad. Ahmad started cooking when he was 10 years old but he didn't follow his dream back then to become a chef because of the conservative culture of his community. So he worked in many multi-national companies. Later he decided to take part in MasterChef Arabia, the biggest TV cooking competition in the world, to prove himself. He qualified to the top 20 and then he withdrew due to a personal emergency. But participating in MasterChef Arabia was a breaking point in Ahmad's life. "When I was at MasterChefArabia with other amateur cooks, I discovered that I knew a lot about food. So then I decided to follow my passion. I quit my job and took a year off. First I thought about opening a restaurant but it didn't work, then I decided to create something new; the science of food tasting. There is a certain criteria based on which one should judge or taste food, so that they can give a valid point when talking about food. I travelled abroad and researched but I couldn't find this science. So I decided to write a book on food tasting. Hopefully, the book will be published and launched this year. While writing the book, I did seminars and established ‘Just Gastronomy' club. And I was surprised to see how people in Saudi Arabia admired food tasting. Indeed, it has become a trend now," he said. Ahmad is also the first Saudi member of AFJ (Association of Food Journalists) and a certified WACS judge (World Association of Chefs Societies). He believes in working as a strong team, so he has hired many talented young chefs to work at StreetChef. "A lot of chefs and foodies are my community, they are my team. And I always believe in the capability of Saudis and Arabs that they can do the impossible. I mean, this is a new job for Saudis, as they usually don't choose to work as a chef or a cook. So this project is for the next generation not for me. A lot of them are young but they follow their passion, they love the idea, they love food so they are all working enthusiastically at StreetChef. We came together because of my specialty. I prohibited myself from cooking because it may create a conflict of entries. If I cook and judge other restaurants, it would be unfair. But I'm practicing food tasting. So anyone from our team can create his own recipe and then I'll judge it based on the scientific rules that we created and decide if that recipe should go in to the menu at StreetChef," he said. Ahmad has great ideas and expectations for the future. If StreetChef succeeds in the Kingdom, he hopes to expand this trend and provide opportunities for many more talented young chefs. "This is a food trailer not just a food truck, why? Because this is risk management; I thought I should begin something with minimum risk of capital. If StreetChef keeps performing well, then I'll bring two or three carts and deliver them to any chef who has the capability to work in it and present it to the market," he said.
