We couldn’t believe our luck when we tasted Aula Abo Saada’s food and heard she was ready to not just produce it for friends and family, but also as a vendor at 269.
Aula came to New Zealand in 2019 with Sam, her husband, who lived in Aotearoa from 1991-2002 and had fallen head over heels in love with our beautiful country. Problem was that when he went home to Israel to visit the family, he also fell head over heels in love with Aula – and instead of returning here stayed on to marry and start a family with the “beautiful girl from the clothing shop”.
He always wanted to come back to New Zealand one day, so the whole family (including two now-teenage sons) moved here five years ago – originally to Wanaka, and eventually to Auckland. Aula was as taken with New Zealand as Sam, and in no time was making friends and cooking for them.
“I’ve always loved cooking. I learned from my Mum when I was really young,” says Aula. “I remember baking cakes and learning to make pita bread. My mother still makes everything from scratch, no chemicals, no cheating, and that’s how I learned to cook too.” The couple are very particular about their ingredients, scouring all of Auckland for the right olive oil, meat, flour and pulses. “The only thing we can’t quite find here are some of the spices we love, so we get those from home “Mum grows Sumac for us, dries it, seals it and sends it. It’s so lovely having part of our home in the food here.”
“I remember baking cakes and learning to make pita bread. My mother still makes everything from scratch, no chemicals, no cheating, and that’s how I learned to cook too.”
We feel so privileged to have this beautiful couple as part of the 269 family and once you taste their fluffy falafel, fresh pita bread, salads loaded with zingy flavour you won’t be able to stay away.