Khalil Abdesslem

Khalil Abdesslem

Khalil Abdesslem is a Moroccan based in London since 1987. He founded the Nomades range in 1998.

Khalil arrived in London to study at the age of 19, at first he found it difficult to adjust to the new life style and above all the new eating habits. Having grown up in a household where eating daily-prepared fresh meals was the norm and where the mother did most of the cooking assisted by her daughters (no room for the boys), not only did he miss his mothers home cooking but he was unable to reproduce it..

The craving for the food that Khalil had taken for granted became far too important to ignore; Khalil decided to learn to prepare it himself. But where do you start when youve never cooked in your life?.

Khalil says:

Use your memories, because the first time I wanted to prepare a lamb tagine, I had no written recipe. All I knew is what it should taste like and which aroma it should have.

Everything starts at the local market. I have known my mother to go around two to three markets in the same morning because according to her the best tomatoes were at this one and the best lamb had to be bought from the other one.

My endless trips to the daily markets were an eye opener for the six-year-old I was. In the middle of the hustle and bustle and the endless haggling my mother so adored, I remember smelling all the vegetable, the herbs the endless colourful fruits.

Growing up in a household where the girls outnumbered the boys and where going out to play football in the street was considered a sin (according to my mother). I had no choice but to spend most of my free morning running around the kitchen. I still remember all the smells: the charcoal grilled green peppers, the caramelised onions with cinnamon and orange blossom and so on...

And thats how it all started. After years of practising dish after dish, Khalil developed a passion for preparing the cuisine of his homeland. He observed the growing interest in Britain for ethnic food. Khalil wanted to share his love of Moroccan food. Inspired by his mothers home cooking, Khalil reproduced his childhood favourites dishes which he arranged in a selection of ready made tagine sauces, typical Moroccan hors douvres and the rare Argan oil.

Aimed at the specialist fine food market, Nomades products are packaged in glass jars adorned with a contemporary designed label. The aim is to enable you to discover a traditional cuisine set in the modern context.

Nomades Moroccan Recipes is the first unique food manufacturing company in the UK, specialising in the production and distribution of fine Moroccan food. Nomades is a young, dynamic and innovative company, which since its creation has been at the fore front of promoting the finest Moroccan food through its exclusive own brand range of tagine, sauces, typical Moroccan appetisers, spice blends and marinated olives.

Recently Khalil has opened his first bar/restaurant Doukan in Wandsworth Town, London SW18. Doukans concept revolves around a Moroccan deli where you can find all Nomades branded sauces and spices as well as a relaxed dinning and drinking space.