DUBAI: Part-Palestinian model Gigi Hadid’s hotly anticipated debut on the Food Network aired this week.
The 25-year-old celebrity shot the episode of “Beat Bobby Flay” - her self-proclaimed favorite show - last October. Last week she revealed to her 54.7 million Instagram followers the teaser for her appearance on the competition, which saw her team up with chef Anne Burrell to out-cook Iron Chef Bobby Flay.
During the episode, the mom-to-be helped the US cook to prepare a falafel dish. But it was not the catwalk star’s first time cooking it, she said.
“I used to go to this restaurant and form falafels in the back with my dad,” Hadid, who is expecting her first child with former One Direction star Zayn Malik, told Flay as they rolled the dough, adding that she loved her falafels to have a “really crispy outside.”
Hadid’s love for food and cooking is no secret. She documents her kitchen skills on her social media and has a separate highlights section of Instagram Stories called “From My Kitchen” that is dedicated to showcasing the delectable treats she cooks up, from banana muffins to pesto pasta.
Earlier this year, Hadid spoke about her favorite Middle Eastern meals on Twitter.
One of her millions of followers asked her in February what her favorite Palestinian dish is, to which she replied: “Kibbeh w labneh and tabbouleh or just simple eggs and zaatar breakfast.”
It is likely that her father Mohamed instilled in her and her siblings, Anwar and Bella, a love for their Palestinian roots. Hadid came to the US as a refugee before he became a billionaire real estate developer.
During a 2019 interview at the Arab Conference at Harvard, the Nazareth-born businessman said: “One of my dreams is to have my kids carry the name Palestine with them everywhere they go, because it seems like we are losing that name as we go on. We want to make sure my family always carries that on.”
