Ghalia Taman or if you prefer UOO (Unidentified Orange Object – My friends believe I am not of this Earth!)
An AUCian and a Psychology major student with a minor in writing waiting eagerly to graduate in the Summer of 2020!
Born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where I attended the British International School of Jeddah for ten years and made a wonderful group of friends from countries like Singapore, Sudan, India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and England. It allowed me to be exposed to a multitude of cultures from a very young age.
I love travelling the world especially to volunteer. I completed a one month mental health placement in Bali, Indonesia wherein I worked with a variety of service users such as children with autism and orphans with the aim of promoting positive mental health through a wide range of activities.
Another passion of mine is writing. Last semester, I wrote several chapters of an autobiographical fiction about a gender non-conforming wealthy Saudi Arabian girl who constantly attempted to express her identity despite the consequences she had to face from her strict, domineering father. I also did some travel writing and one of my pieces was about my hometown Alexandria.
I left my biggest passion to the end. Obviously it is food! Other than my love of eating which I am sure many of you can relate to, I also have a strong passion in delving deeper and learning more about food in terms of its history, its anthropology and its diversity. My devotion to food lies in its ability to be a common, unifying factor in human life. We all eat food regardless of our nationality, gender, age and so forth. That is why I hope that this blog can bridge the gap between countries and even lead to a unification of cultural ideas between Egypt and the world. I also hope that it can inspire young Egyptian foodies and travelers to create innovative restaurants and dishes that incorporate the successful features of the countries mentioned in this blog.
Egyptian Gastronome 