Chef Ameera, most affectionately known as The Food Alchemist, is a culinary consultant, wellness expert and world traveler. With a history in the industry that spans over 15 years, she’s worked for a host of A-list celebrity clients, such as Rihanna, Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne and Common. We were most delighted to have the opportunity to chat with her and learn more about how she is helping to heal the world.
What prompted you to enter this line of business?
My gift is taking ordinary ingredients and transforming them into tools for elevation and overall well-being. As the Food Alchemist, I hold space for my clients using discernment and tools of divinity to bring forth latent talents that help move them past traumas and blockages that prevent them from elevating their lives! Widely known for my intuitive flex on building flavor profiles in foods, I am most proud of my profound ability to bridge the gap between food, spirituality, and physical well-being. My passion for food, travel, and luxury was manifested through my own personal journey and self-discovery using food as medicine. It was my own personal transformation that prompted me to enter this line of business.
How important is it for women to have a voice in culinary arts?
It’s everything. Women in the industry have to fight the “barefoot and pregnant “stigma, as well as a sort of indifference to our presence in the industry because a woman just sort of “belongs” in the kitchen anyway. I don’t mean this in a diminishing or belittling way. Women have long been revered as “the keeper of the kitchen. Not so much because that was her ‘role” but because that is her “gift.” Women are creators. We birth … we feed. I would say, in honor of all of the negative stigmatism lent to “women in the kitchen,” a woman’s voice in culinary arts holds a different weight where “putting food on the table” is concerned. She holds both the masculine and feminine aspects of food service when she is a culinary boss. She has found the sweet spot. Truly, a woman’s domain is her kitchen, and again — that is not a negative, self-diminishing, belittling thing. It is a badge of honor that a woman can claim such a place of transformation and healing as her laboratory to do her most precious work. You’d better want to hear what she has to say.
What are some challenges you face as a Black woman in the workplace?
I am a melanated woman- undeniably and unmistakably, so right away, there is the possibility that I will experience hate, doubt, discouragement, disgust, and a host of other unpleasantries in life — let alone the workplace. But the real challenge is getting over the fear of that propensity! So I have learned to really stand my ground in my divinity and excellence, and I find that my energy precedes me — if my reputation hasn’t — every time.
What are some of the main issues facing women of color and Black women particularly?
In my line of work there is no bigger issue for women of color than those issues which we face internally. Everything that occurs without is a direct reflection of what is occurring within. So mental health and spiritual development are some of the main issues I see that women of color (black women) in particular are facing. And as a melanated woman, my meals, offerings, and programs address these pain points with a certain clarity that is hard to find anywhere else.
What does women’s empowerment mean to you?
Women empowerment is literally about holding space for other women- not about magically making them more powerful than they already are. It’s giving permission for women to blossom and bloom in their own way without judgment. It’s the ultimate expression of love for ourselves when we are able to love other women.
