Rawaan Alkhatib is a home cook, writer, and artist of Palestinian and Indian descent who was born and raised in Dubai, UAE, where she experienced first-hand the warmth and generosity of a date-centric culture. Rawaan holds an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Iowa and Kean University. Currently, she works on the content development side of museum exhibit design. She is an illustrator and textile designer with a deep roster of collaborations and independent projects, including children’s books, cover designs for an independent poetry press, exclusive silk scarves for Cole Haan, and much more. In 2020, Rawaan developed recipes and art for a date-themed cookie collaboration with the award-winning Mirzam Chocolate, Dubai’s first bean-to-bar chocolatier. In 2022, she created a date-themed spice blend collection in celebration of Ramadan with Atef Boulaabi of NYC’s legendary spice and rare ingredient purveyor SOS Chefs. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she continues to hone her cooking practice.