Christiana (she/her) is the founder and owner of a micro-business, Ard, that specialises in plant-based bakes inspired by her Lebanese heritage.
“The journey in the kitchen brought my two worlds together: my lebanese culture and my passion for health, wellbeing, sustainability and all sentient beings”
Ard (ﺃَﺭﺽ) means earth in Arabic - ingredients from mother earth.
Christiana is the founder and owner of Ard, a self-made bakery which specialises in plant based bakes. Growing up, Christiana was lucky enough to be surrounded by an abundance of food, elaborate diners and hearty cultural meals. Food was ‘always a special part of life’ for her, coming from a Lebanese background she said that everything was done through food from barbecues, dinners and to how her mother would communicate her love for her children. “My mother is my closest link to memories of food…because her love language is food. Struggling with emotional expression, the only way she knew how to give love... was through an abundance of food.”
Coming from a Lebanese background, Ard originally started with a plant-based version of her mothers baklava recipe and has since grown to include many aesthetically enticing and equally delicious cakes, scrolls and other baked goods.
What does Ard mean to you? Is the preservation of culture, and continuation of stories and food, the reason why you started Ard?
It is definitely one aspect. Being plant based is where the core of it is because when I made the switch to plant based I did lose a lot of ties within my culture. There is a lot of plant-based food within Lebanese culture but I guess they just didn't have the privilege to choose ok, I don’t want to eat dairy, it was what they got served and they appreciated it. Having bbq, meat was involved, dairy was involved, all my mums sweets have dairy and making that switch, I lost that. I thought this can’t be it. Two years in, I was more focused on preserving that [cultural] link and had to do something about it and that is why we veganised the traditional baklava recipe and have just built on it. That preservation of the culture came from thinking ‘How do I keep [my culture links] but also keep it in a sustainable way to help the environment and to align with my values and goals?’. Plant based living extends beyond food, it's for animals, the environment and so many better and greater things - It is really important to me. It was creating that perfect balance between the two and that is how Ard came about.
Family and food have been linked for centuries through rituals of communal eating as well as ingredients, recipes and lessons we get taught around the way we cook food. Christiana’s mother, Mama Marie, plays a significant role in Ard and has had a ‘pivotal influence’ on Christiana’s baking process and recipe development. Marie holds a wealth of knowledge that extends far beyond traditional food studies and harbours a deep understanding that can only be gained ‘through the experience of raising a big family and having to help her mum back home with cooking’.
Christiana credits her mother for inspiring the essence of Ard, in carrying on her cultural heritage and inheriting her mothers’ wealth of culinary knowledge through her recipes. Having grown to appreciate her ‘culture more than ever’, Christiana found that a sense of re-connection and deepened love for her heritage led her to “wanting to be more present around [Mama Marie] making food and her process, recipes and practice.”
Christiana shows deep admiration for her mother and sees her baking practice as a vessel of connection through a continuation of culture. Ard to her is not just a business but a way of maintaining a legacy of traditions and practices that span generations and represent something much deeper than a baked good. Christiana says “Culture, if we don’t keep it alive through our generation, it’s honestly dying out so I am really grateful to be able to have that ethnic link and it is very important for me to keep that alive”
As a vegan baker, how have you found navigating the baking world? It sounds like there is a lot more recipe and method testing involved. Have you found any backlash against the vegan element? As a lot of the time ‘vegan’ can come with negative stereotypes.
So true - I’ve had some people who have walked past and very few, when they find out it’s vegan…[they go] like eugh I don’t want that. I don’t scream or shout it when I’m at markets, my marketing is very implicit and not in your face, it's just there. I think the most important thing is flavour, so I have always been so big on not compromising on flavour. It’s not about no sugar and making it healthy which a lot of people do think vegan baking is all about. There is a huge misconception that comes from people who become plant based because of health [reasons] and not because of the ethics. For that reason a lot of people think it’s just not going to taste as good so when they do taste and don’t know its vegan, they go omg its vegan!? I love having that little realisation when people are quite shocked by it. If people don’t align with [the vegan aspect], it is not my place to push it upon them or want them to like it. It is what it is. I am happy for people to enjoy it, especially if they are open minded with it, it’s great to see.
With the baking side of things - being vegan for about 10 years, my knowledge of plant based foods came before the baking side. I built a really big knowledge base of ingredients and plants and have always been obsessed with fruits, nature and foraging. The baking side came after, I was always really scared of baking because I found it really difficult. I was very impatient when it came to waiting for a bake to finish so I first got into raw desserts and things that took less time. When I got into the baking world that I’m in now, that knowledge came through strongly and I was able to pair things really well and it came naturally to me. That’s the art of it. The baking side is something I’m still working on; some bakes are so beautiful and others are work in progress, it’s just a learning process. I don’t think I’m a professional or perfect at it, I just navigate problems and go from there. I also use my mum's knowledge with it, her baking knowledge is so great so I always ask her questions of ‘Will this rise?’ What do I need to do? How do I do this?’. You learn as you go.
Speaking to the ingredients you cook with, what is your process of sourcing them and picking flavours such as lemon olive oil with orange blossom or almond and elderberry? Is it seasonal or the produce you grow yourself?
It is seasonal and also a mix of cultural ingredients that are used in a lot of Lebanese sweets. I love mixing the two. That's my favourite thing to do because we normally use very traditional ingredients like orange blossom and rose water and have used it in so many things in the Lebanese culture but using it with new seasonal Australian fruits, it creates really beautiful combinations. I like to compliment things based on the colour, you’ll notice orange blossom is always combined with a citrus or if there is a rose I like to pick a red thing. I also like to look at traditional bakes across all different cultures, so even European or English bakes and build off their pairings as well. A Victoria sponge cake is an icon, but building off that flavour pairing I find so beautiful - what if we add a bit of rosewater to that cream what would it do to it?
You find inspiration from a lot of different bakes around the world, where else do you find creative inspiration? Is it just limited to food?
No, I think art is a huge part of it as well. I like to visit art galleries. Art inspires the way it’s going to look; I will see an artwork and automatically think, it has to look like that and I will fixate on it until I get it right. It can also weirdly and oddly incorporate into the ingredients, just by the colours of the artworks. If I see an artwork, especially Matisse, I want to use those colours in a bake, I don’t know how I am going to do it but I just work backwards to do it.
What does a day look like? What fuels you to pursue Ard outside of your legal profession or dayjob?
That is something I ask myself all the time . It is hard to do, it’s a lot of effort and I have to make a lot of sacrifices socially and sometimes I sit there and think why am I doing this but then if I am not doing it I am so unhappy. I think the best way to answer that question is that I know how it feels not to be chasing something that I really love or pursuing my passion and it feels absolutely horrible. I have been there and I don’t want to be there. What makes me happy is fuelling my passion, and it definitely is a passion for me. I think the core of it is maintaining happiness when I have seen life without it. I need to go after it otherwise I am a grump, unhappy, moody and not living my best life. I am also a bit of a workaholic but that is another story.
You currently bake out of your garage and do a lot of markets and pop-ups and were featured with Gordon Ramsay on Food Stars, could you ever see yourself extending Ard beyond that and opening up a shop/cafe or something more permanent?
Yes definitely, I think having a space where people can enter your own environment would be so cool and I envision to have that one day. I am not in any rush because I want to build it with a really strong foundation and be able to be financially stable while doing that. I know that taking a risk is really important but at the same time I don’t want to be so stressed that I actually can't be present. It is really important for me to be present while I’m baking and communicating with people. It will never be a big thing, even if I open something it’d be a really small and cosy space, where people can enter, sit and have a coffee and a sweet treat, and a good chat.
Do you feel part of a larger community, in the baking world or as part of the food industry, or do you see this as an independent venture?
I think it's definitely part of something bigger. I see that in the way I can connect with people via social media all over the world; bakers from NY, South Korea and Europe. It’s really cool to chat with them about their bakes; I’ll help them and they’ll help me. It’s definitely part of something bigger but it will always be something that is authentic and real to me. My business is a reflection of me - my mum asked me the other day ‘ Why is your logo changing every 2 minutes?” and it’s because I am changing so it reflects me. I don't see business as serious, it’s just doing me and I hope that comes through. I feel like I will have an impact somehow, if I am reflecting who I am truly and holistically am in every single way and I hope that helps people do that too. I am still getting there because it is hard to show up on social media all the time, especially when you are a more lowkey person on the private end of things, you may feel exposed and there is backlash. I think it's important to do it when you see the impact it has.
You hope that there will be an impact - what do you hope the larger impact of Ard to be?
What comes to mind is just scattered words. It’d be that being a woman who hasn't had financial privilege growing up can succeed. That's a huge one. Being really authentic to who I am through business is another one. Also, the plant based side of things; being able to link culture and sustainability is huge.
Lastly, some quickfire questions:
1. Favourite Dish?
Savoury or Sweet? It has to be one for each. I think sweet would be custard pudding. It’s one of my favourite things. Savoury….honestly, roasted pumpkin with salt but I also love Nachos.
2. Ingredient you couldn’t live without?
It would have to be coffee. Coffee beans are an ingredient.
3. Best food experience?
So many…it’s hard to pick…I think the first time I ate a cake with a fork, the day after my birthday. I didn’t even cut the piece and I just felt like this is adulthood. It was so good.
4. Chef/Baker inspirations?
I am always inspired but so many so I can’t just say one. It’s not all those famous people, it’s just random people on social media that I enjoy their process. They are always from different countries and I get inspired by the way they do what they do. Also by elderly who bake or cook and have been doing so for so many years, especially when I go back to Lebanon. I see the neighbours doing it and it's not glorified; people just do it and sometimes I feel like an imposter where I am glorifying one little bake of a cake when they have been doing it for years.
5. What is your current food obsession?
Currently it’s a plant based chicken schnitzel.. I don’t know why but that with bbq sauce.
Christiana works with her Mama Marie, on her micro-bakery, Ard, out of their home kitchen in Punchbowl. Her continued passion for plant-based living and love for her Mama Marie and Lebanese Heritage inspires her to create pieces that pay homage to both her cultural upbringing and the ever-changing seasons of the Australian Landscape. Her unique vegan treats combine traditional Lebanese and native Australian ingredients to offer seasonal bakes and custom cakes that are a vibrant display of creativity and are as delectable as they are enchanting.
Instagram: @ardsydney_
Website: ardsydney.com.au
Substack: ardsydney.substack.com
