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Tiny chef Salma Hammad may only be seven but she is already chopping and dicing her way into the hearts of food lovers around the world.
She showcases her culinary skills online via her own YouTube channel with the aim of encouraging other children to cook up delicious homely and healthy meals.
“I love to cook different kinds of food from different countries like Italian, Middle Eastern, Asian and French and I especially love it when I’m helping my mama and baba (dad in Arabic) in the kitchen,” she said. “I love the colours of the vegetables, the smell of the spices, the taste of different flavours and basically everything about cooking. Also, I only cook at home under my mama and baba’s supervision.
“I decided to create this cooking channel to teach other children how to make healthy home food and stop eating junk food. Also, I hope that kids will learn from my channel and start helping out their parents to cook and help around in the house.”
Salma’s passion for food and cooking stems from helping her mum Cristalyn Pastrana, Sheraton Hotel’s director of marketing, and her dad Ayman, the general manager for a hospitality consulting agency headquartered in Bahrain called HSP Marketing, in their Seef home.
Being both Filipino and Jordanian, she learned to enjoy all types of international cuisines from an early age. Salma, a Grade 1 AMA International student, said: “I had been dreaming about launching my own YouTube channel for a long time but my baba had said I was too young and he promised that when I turned seven he would let me put up a show.
“Just before I turned the magic number he gave me the green light and asked what my show was going to be about and, of course, it was going to be about cooking!
Salma Junior Chef launched a month ago and so far she has uploaded four videos on how to cook spaghetti bolognaise, a burger, chicken fillet and shrimps and salmon. She already has a growing number of subscribers and her videos have been viewed more than 600 times.
In her videos, Salma proves her prowess at the stove as she flips and fries salmon and shrimps, reminding children to get assistance from their parents when it comes to lighting the stove top and searing the fish.
Salma embodies what a cooking show host should be, exhibiting the ingredients neatly and talking the audience through every step to make it as easy as possible to follow.
Her ultimate dream is to someday host her own TV food series. She said: “In my show, I encourage children like me to know what they are eating and showing them that home-cooked food is healthier because you know exactly what ingredients are fresh and are going into your dish.
“I would love to have my own TV cooking show someday. I love watching cooking shows and chefs like Jamie Oliver. He is my mama and baba’s favourite too because he cooks up simple, healthy recipes that are easy to make. You don’t need to complicate food - all you need are fresh ingredients and a simple touch of passion to make your food delicious.”
Soon Salma aims to share her favourite meal which is mansaf, a traditional Jordanian dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice – a dish Salma says her baba cooks the ‘best in the world’.
