An Introduction

Ya Hala Walla

Ya Hala wallah

I’m Majed.

I was born in Dubai and raised between Ajman and Sharjah in kitchens where no one measured anything and the food was better for it. Amid the sound of clattering pots and pans and watching my mother cook as child and teaching myself to in bake in teenage days, I fell into food writing. That was ten years ago. I’m still here.

The Cinnaman started as a recipe blog. And identity you could say an alter ego.

It became something harder to explain — part food diary, part love letter to a place, part excuse to keep eating and writing about it.

I’m on Substack now because I wanted to slow down. Write longer. Share things that don’t fit a caption.

I’m Emirati The food is usually the starting point. But what I’m really trying to do is show you a version of the UAE that most people never see. Not the skyscrapers and the yachts. The stuff underneath the way a house smells

The night before Eid, a grandmother’s cozy kitchen in Ramadan, a vintage bakery that’s been in the same spot for thirty years, the specific comfort of gahwa infused with saffron poured by someone who already knows how you take it.

That’s what this newsletter is about. Recipes, for sure. But also memory, place, and the meals that end up meaning more than you expected.

Come as you are. Stay as long as you like.

— Majed Ali