Bucking tradition, Qatari mom happily cooks breakfast for the masses

At the crack of dawn, Shams Al Qassabi is already in the kitchen.

The Qatari mother of five – and grandmother of 10 – spends her mornings preparing mixes and batters at home before she heads to Souq Waqif to open her restaurant.

Only a year old, Shay Al Shoumous specializes in Qatari breakfast foods, including piping hot plates of baid o tomate (eggs and tomato), baid shakshoka (scrambled eggs), khobiz regag (crepe-like bread), and balaleet (saffron-infused vermicelli).

With a smile on her face, the 52-year-old Al Qassabi opens the restaurant for business at 6:30am each day, alternating between welcoming her guests and cooking up plates of traditional fare.

“She’s always loved to serve,” Al Qassabi’s daughter Eman told Doha News. “That’s how we know her.”

“We’ve had maids all our life, but whenever we had guests over, it was our mother serving them,” Eman added.

Although women do lead some of Qatar’s top institutions, there aren’t many female-owned and managed businesses at the souq. And at an age where many people might be looking forward to retirement, Al Qassabi shows no signs of slowing down.

“We’ve learnt humility and service from her, that there’s no shame in doing this…I’m proud to call her my mother,” Eman said.

Original article by Chantelle D’Mello

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Bucking tradition, Qatari mom happily cooks breakfast for the masses