Our Chefs

Samira Rengert (Germany)

A culinary journey around the world

Samira born and raised in Damascus/ Syria was introduced to different cuisines at a very early age. In fact her family’s home cooking is inspired by many countries and in particularly the Arabic culture. She has learned the basics of cooking and the flavours of different cuisines from her mother and grand mother in Germany and still continues her culinary experiences by observing people of different countries in their kitchens. Her mission is to bring home cooking back into every kitchen and preserve traditional recipes for future generations as part of the culture of a country. She is currently working on her first cookbook and is running Cooking Sense together with her husband. Her special focus at the moment is on traditional cooking of the Gulf which will be also the subject of her first book.

Kathleen Farren

BA (Hons), DipION

Nutritional Therapist, Dubai

Optimum nutrition means giving yourself the best intake of nutrients from a wide variety of delicious foods, to allow your body to be as healthy as it possibly can. Kathleen helps individuals to understand what constitutes a healthy diet and to work through the maze of confusing information available.

Being a parent of 2 children has given her an insight into the importance of good dietary intake in preparation for conception, during pregnancy and in early childhood.

Kathleen works with you, to develop an individually designed nutrition programme which can easily be adapted into your current lifestyle. She can advise on nutritional tests that would help to investigate particular health problems and is knowledgeable in the use of nutritional supplements. She can also give you advice on how to incorporate exercise into a busy schedule and works with a number of exercise experts and therapists to help you achieve overall health and wellbeing.

Kathleen has a BA (Hons) degree from Strathclyde University and studied nutrition for 3 years at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition (ION) in London, graduating in 2001. She has also worked as a tutor at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in Putney, overseeing students practicing their consultation skills with their first public clients. She is a member of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists which means that she is on a register of nutritionists in UK and continues to update her knowledge by attending courses as part of her continuing professional development.

Kathleen is also the recommended practitioner in Dubai for Patrick Holford. She has recently become certified in NLP, Time-Line Therapy® and Hypnosis, which complements her work in nutritional therapy.