Food
Artigraze, Artisanal grazing boards
What happens when three women step away from their corporate careers and get creative?
This is exactly what Shaheera Al Gaoud, Soha Al Awadhi and Fatima Al Gaoud did and the result was the very impressive creation of Artigraze, Artisanal grazing boards.
What started as a hobby for Shaheera turned into a successful business run by the three women.
Coming up to a year of the business, Habibti Magazine sat with the ladies to discuss all things cheese.
Officially in business on 1st Jan 2019, the business started a year before as a hobby; where Shaheera a cheese aficionado, would create cheese boards for the house, for her husband and his friends.
So impressed with the boards, the friends started ordering and Shaheera started getting paid orders. As the orders grew, Shaheera teamed up with Soha and Fatima and officially started the business.
The women had known each other from when they worked together in the corporate world and setting up their own business was a natural and instinctive step for them.
All three women bring a different skill set to the business, with one being creative and knowledgeable in cheese, and the others focusing more on the day to day running of the business.
One of the main ethos of Artigraze is sustainability and being environmentally friendly, fair trade conscious and supporting local suppliers:
Buying locally when they can, and outsourcing what isn’t available, using biodegradable cellophane and glass jars as apposed to plastic.
And sourcing handmade and fair trade boards as well as offering the option for clients to reuse the boards, which not only reduces waste, but also enables a discount on future purchases.
Another important aspect is the social element of the cheese boards.
“The concept brings people together. It’s a very social thing to be stood next to someone sharing food; it’s the ultimate icebreaker. It’s also about taking time to really appreciate the flavours and the taste. It’s a exploration of different textures and tastes, sweet and savoury, soft and crunchy.”
The pairing of the cheese and the fruit is paramount to the experience and not as simple as just putting cheese, crackers and fruits on a board. It’s important that the food pairing is correct to fully elevate enjoy the experience. “When we ask people to put this cheese with this chutney and that nut on that particular cracker – it’s a different experience and people love the concept because of the combinations. It’s really very interesting and we feel that there’s a whole culture of cheese lovers who just don’t know it yet.”
Atrigraze have also run a number of master classes and plan more for the new year, with their most recent Master Class sponsored by AlOsra.
“Everyone was given their own board and we taught them how to pick and taste combinations of cheeses, fruits and crackers based on what they like.
We had such positive feedback and are looking to run more master classes’.
The boards range in size and price, starting with the Eye Pleaser, the Spread, the Fairest of Them All, and the Graze Craze. In addition, they offer the deluxe board with artisanal cheeses, and the Gilded boards with edible gold leaf. For the younger grazers, there is the popular children’s board, The Hungry Caterpillar. Boards can also be customised and can cater over 100 people for special events.
For more information:
Instagram @artigraze
Whats App +973 33075885
Email artigraze@gmail.com
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