Ramadan might be a time to reflect on tradition, but not for Arabic food channel Fatafeat. The network, which launches its Ramadan programming next week, is focusing on innovation.
“We’re moving forward. Arabic countries are different, what we like in Lebanon is different from what they like in Egypt, but we all share the same ingredients,” said Darine Al Khatib, the head of programming at the Dubai-based channel. “Our mission at Fatafeat is not to do what we know, it’s to take it to a new level. Food travels. We are all aware of French food, Italian food, Asian food, so why not Arabic food? Some of our chefs are taking local ingredients or traditional ingredients and just playing with it, creating new recipes, others are just taking something very traditional and tweaking it, some are sticking to something traditional and doing it the ultimate way.”
The station’s Ramadan programming begins a month before Ramadan, and while it is the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan is also a time when families come together to share meals at iftar, the end of the fast, signalled by sunset. Hence food and cooking are major elements of the period.
Al Khatib compared the channel’s preparations for Ramadan to those seen in Western countries at Christmas, where festive preparations begin early, and said it helps those who have to cook family meals to avoid stress.
“The entire look and feel of the channel changes; we start a countdown; and we start a slogan, ‘prep your table today and relax tomorrow’. There is no need to rush the last day before Ramadan to the supermarket and start thinking, ‘what am I going to put on that dinner table?’. Watch Fatafeat a month in advance and we will give you all the solutions that you need.”
Chefs get to work
Of the channel’s 11 chefs, four lead the Ramadan programming with new shows, which are now in production at Fatafeat’s Jebel Ali studio.
Algerian-born baker Houria Zanoun returns for the fifth season of Houriat Al Matbakh; Mohammad Orfali showcases Arabic cuisine, molecular style, in Matbakhna Al Arabi; the singing chef Tarek Ebrahim will present meat cookery in 100 Lahma; and dessert queen Nermine Hanno returns in Wala Bil Ahlam.
“Tarek gives a lesson in every episode, as well as three recipes,” said Al Khatib of the chef, who often sings during his shows. Last season, he showcased 100 pasta recipes in 100 Makarona. Al Khatib is a familiar face to fans of the channel, having appeared in Soups and Snacks and My World To You, in which she travelled to Thailand. She is set to return to screens in a new season of My World To You. Asked who is the most popular chef on the channel, she wouldn’t choose.
“Truly, all of our chefs are great, some people would love one over the other, but that’s just personal taste; for me they are all good.”
The seven-year-old channel came under the ownership of Discovery Networks in November 2012, the first food-focused channel that Discovery has ever owned, anywhere in the world.
“Our key success in the past seven years is that we are very focused. We are a food channel, we are safe for the entire family, our slogan is al haya heloueh — ‘life is beautiful’,” said Al Khatib. “We were a niche channel, crawling among the big channels. And now everyone is watching.”
“When we [first] launched there was war everywhere. There was always bad news. Our Arabic drama is full of people crying, and we were fed up of all of that. We thought, somebody has to take on that mission of telling people life is ok. You can choose to be happy. I think our key strength was positivity.” 70 per cent of the programming during Ramadan will be original Arabic content, with the rest being English-language shows such as Cake Boss and Take Home Chef. Of the Arabic shows, 100 Lahma will be subtitled in English.
