(DEARBORN, MI) — Lebanese-American chef Amanda Saab has made it to the final rounds of Fox’s home-cooking competition “MasterChef.”
Saab, 26, is the first Muslim woman to compete on the Fox program, hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
Saab moved to Seattle, Wash. in 2012 from Dearborn, Mich., where she grew up baking with her mother and grandmother. Dearborn is home of one of the largest populations of Arab-Americans in the country.
One of the meals she created on “MasterChef,” lamb kafta with sumac and jalapeño-dusted potatoes, represents her Mediterranean style.
“I really love Mediterranean flavors, things that are fresh with lots of garlic and olive oil and lemon,” she told the Seattle Times. “I love that flavor profile.”
Saab started posting photos of her meals to Instagram, which resulted in friends asking for recipes. Last July, she created AmandasPlate.com and started posting recipes.
Now she’s one of the country’s up-and-coming chefs. Muslimgirl.net called her the “first headscarf-wearing chef on American prime-time television.”
The home chef winner ultimately receives a cookbook deal, $250,000 and the title of Master Chef. The competitive cooking reality show is open to amateur and home chefs.