Mahbouba and her red lentil soup Photograph

Born in Egypt, raised in Lebanon, I then moved to Canada where I trained and worked as a professional photographer. The next adventure took me to London (UK) where I trained as a chef before creating Joie de Vivre, my own Mediterranean restaurant, which I operated for 10 fabulous years. To spice up my life, I embarked on a series of culinary explorations of North America, Mexico, Brazil, Europe, Japan, China, south-east Asia and North Africa. These adventures greatly influenced my cooking, food styling and culinary photography. To continue my journey, I am now based in France where I focus on food as art.