Chef Lana Nasser

I graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan in 2003, after which I worked at a restaurant called ‘Annisa’ in the West Village under Chef Anita Lo, named by ‘Food & Wine’ magazine as one of the ten ‘Best New Chefs’ in America. This is where I learnt the fine art of handling delicate ingredients and the beauty behind fusion food. In 2005, it was my work at ‘Above & Beyond Carering’ in the south end in Boston under owner Mark Haley that inspired me to start my own catering company when I moved back to Abu Dhabi.

In 2008, I founded and managed my own catering company called Lana's Partiperfect Catering, where the delicious and powerful magic of food took place in my kitchen, in the homes and lives of so many, mainly in the UAE for 10 incredible years. We catered for high profile private dinners, VIP corporate receptions and events, memorable birthday parties and joyous occasions, and provided a diverse range of cooking classes, some of which were tailored to go hand in hand with the curriculum of several schools to help raise awareness of healthy eating habits among students of all ages.

I sold Lana’s Partiperfect before Covid hit and graduated from Institute of Integrative Nutrition in March, 2020 as holistic chef and health coach, where I learnt to use my culinary experience and food background to coach, guide, support and inspire people in their journeys towards wholesome eating habits and well-being. I believe you can cook your way to better health; it all starts in your kitchen and that's why I enjoy experimenting with a lot vegetarian and vegan cuisine, along with discovering and working with healthier substitutes for people with allergies and intolerances.

On of my favorite projects that I worked on was developing the back of house for a beautiful restaurant called Alkalime on Mamsha Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi, where I also curated a clean menu, where the main focus of every dish was to keep the body in an alkaline state using good solid and nutritious ingredients.