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Ai LIVE: Chef Mojy Shahab, Owner of Atlanta Haute Cuisine, Gives her Insight

In this episode of Ai LIVE, host E. Vincent Martinez chats with chef Mojy Shahab, owner and caterer of Atlanta Haute Cuisine. They discuss how Shahab got her start, what advice she would give to aspiring students, and what her personal favorite foods are.

Shahab’s culinary passions started when she was young. Around the age of ten or eleven, Shahab remembers that her mother had to go run an errand, and she wanted to surprise her mother when she returned. Her mother was indeed surprised when Shahab presented a Persian dish for lunch. Shahab believes she’s always had an instinct for flavors and for cooking, which grew into a lifelong passion.

“Cooking is the job, food is the art,” Shahab says, describing her career. For her, every dish is a canvas and her presentation is how she gets to be creative with it. When she works with her clients, she interviews them to get an idea for what they want, and then she takes that and creates a self-described masterpiece. Her ultimate goal is to make her clients happy.

For Shahab, she enjoys tasting each individual flavor of the ingredients, and taking in the aroma. She doesn’t like it when one flavor overpowers the others. Her personal favorite food is salad since it’s very easy to pick out individual flavors.

When it comes to passing along advice to culinary students, Shahab notes that if students want to run a catering business, no matter who the client is, they need to give one hundred percent. Regardless if it’s a private, more personal client, or a more relaxed, group, corporate event, it is their job to make the clients happy and to give their best work. She adds that it shouldn’t be about money or title, it’s about presenting your job and yourself.

If you want to learn more about the culinary arts, visit https://www.artinstitutes.edu/academics/culinary to learn more.