Event description: His tiny Mediterranean-Middle Eastern take-home food shops are a London sensation. His cookbooks are sell out successes. Meet Yotam Ottolenghi and be seduced by his recipes. Mary Taylor Simeti's books on Sicily and its food history are modern classics. She explores the island and its Arab past. Kamal Mouzawak founded Souk el Tayeb - a farmers' market and food network focusing on Lebanon's regional traditions and produce. He joins Melbourne's Abla Amad (Abla's) to prepare classic Lebanese sweets.

Cooking: Yotam Otolenghi, Kamal Mouzawak, Abla Amad

Talking: Mary Taylor Simeti

Blogging: Anna Fedeles blogs at morselsandmusings.blogspot.com

I was bristling with anticipation to see Yotam Ottolenghi in the flesh. His Notting Hill café has been getting rave reviews from London bloggers and I’ve been giving my Ottolenghi cookbook a solid workout ever since I got it for my birthday.

Here I was at the World Chef Showcase watching the inspirational Ottolenghi whose glamorous salads, roasts and cakes are easily within reach for most home cooks, making his food all the more exciting and delicious.

Although he claims he’s “not a fusion person”, he did say he likes to take something familiar and give it a little twist. “Where ever it comes from I’m happy to take it as long as the flavours are bold, the colours are strong and it’s not overly complicated.”

For the tasting sample, he made a simple salad of quinoa, dried Iranian lime and feta that was absolutely divine! There was so much flavour: the strong tang from the lime, freshness from the herbs, wonderful texture from the quinoa and wild rice and the whole dish was heavily scented with olive oil.

When Ottolenghi arrived in London from Jerusalem, he was horrified by the terrible state of take away food in the UK. He was determined to take food out from behind glass cabinets, bringing it closer to the end user and celebrating it with sensual abundance. His success has revolutionised take away food in London, giving the UK something that the Middle East and Mediterranean have always enjoyed.

Afterwards, Lebanese foodies Abla Amad (the Melbournian septuagenarian who opened her restaurant Abla’s in 1979) and Kamal Mouzawak (founder of Beirut’s first farmers markets) took to the stage.

Abla’s unpolished presentation style oscillated from girly shyness, as she proudly displayed her baklava, to bossy grandmother, admonishing the audience and Mouzawak for not keeping up with her train of thought. It was very amusing.

Abla’s baklava was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Perfectly crunchy and not overly sweet. Two sticky thumbs up from me.

She made it in a unique way, rolling the filo rather than layering it. She also used less butter in the process, poured the butter over the top at the end, causing the audience to gasp. Alba was humorously indignant at our gasps, protesting in her thick accent, “Heeey, not eeeven half cup!”

But for me the dynamic and articulate Mouzawak was the star of this session. He explained how food can be used as positive resistance, a way to bring people together. He called it a gastro-political awakening because everyone eats and no matter whether they are sea or mountain people, Muslims or Christians - they all share their food in a united Lebanese eating culture.

Mouzawak demonstrated two Lebanese desserts with ties to Christian holidays and we were able to taste the strange and colourful Amhyieh, made from cracked whole wheat grains, nuts, dried fruits and orange blossom water.

It was an interesting dessert, quite nice in small quantities, with savouriness from the grains that made it moreish and comforting, like a sweet Middle Eastern porridge with an occasional fresh burst of pomegranate.

Mouzawak’s passion for Lebanese cooking and culture was evident and I walked away pleased that I’d discovered him. I’m positive Kamal Mouzawak is very well known in Lebanon, but I’d never heard of him before and now I’ll follow his movements. I’m sure that these types of discoveries were a goal of the Showcase.

Ottolenghi said of the Showcase: “With all the big name chefs that are here, it’s made me feel very special.” That’s how I felt too.