- I'll be in the kitchen working, and you know what, it just feels good and it feels right.

It feels like I shouldn't be doing anything else.

My name is Sarah Cole, and I am the owner and chef behind Abadir's, which is a small pop-up eatery in Greensboro, Alabama.

Abadir's is a family name.

When my mom moved to the United States, they changed their last name, which was Abidir to Anton, because they were afraid of what people would think about them if they had this very sort of unique name.

I just always thought Abidir was really beautiful.

So it was nice doing what my family didn't feel like they could do.

Share this name, and share that culture with people in the community.

So... when I was younger, I spent a lot of time sort of watching my mom, and spending a lot of time watching my aunts and everybody cook in the kitchen.

My mom, so she moved from Egypt to rural Alabama when she was 28.

And so a lot of the things that she would make were either very somewhat, like I say, southern traditional Egyptian dishes or very southern dishes.

I had her, and then we would venture out of rural Alabama and go see my family in Jersey City.

(laughing) It was a very sort of different experience from being in this small southern town to around some very Egyptian women and men who were just... they're always yelling, and talking loud, and talking over one another.

And, but everything was always like, every time we got together, it was always centered around food.

So there was so much food on the table.

I don't know.

When I was around them, I really got to experience more of the traditional side to my heritage.

And it was just a...

I don't know.

It was a nice experience.

With Abidir's, I do a mix of traditional north African and sort of my take on more wholesome southern dishes.

But a lot of the ingredients I use, like the flavors and things are all the sort of like spices, and seasons and stuff from Egypt and the Middle East.

And then a lot of the flowers that I use, or I do more whole wheats.

I use a lot of spelt flour.

I also use a lot of rose water and orange blossom water.

And so it's a lot of just flavors that I'm sort of familiar with, or my, how my mom used to cook.

Then I just kind of put my own spin on things that people might be familiar with.

But also do a lot of traditional dishes as well.

So like Macole and the Pita Pockets and things like that.

But I'll include different fillings.

A lot of people see me as the healthy bakery, or the really fancy bakery.

And I don't see myself as either those things.

I'm just trying to feed people real food.

I source as much as I can locally.

And at this time, I'm able to source from various farms in and around the area.

And then I also source from my own garden.

I have a big, nice vegetable garden that I do in my backyard.

And I source a lot of my ingredients from that.

When I came to Greensboro, and sort of initially started looking for a space here, before I had actually made the move down, A lot of people found out that what I was trying to do.

It is a small town.

And everyone got really excited, or they're referring to me as "The Egyptian Baker Lady."

It sort of took off almost immediately, which is not something that I had really expected, and I'm already having a hard time keeping up at everything.

So the response has been really nice.

People have been supportive of me in Greensboro and every sort of city and town that I go to.

Somehow people know about Abidir's and it feels really strange.

(laughs) I just spend a lot of time alone in this kitchen space and I'm just here baking and cooking.

And so for so many people, if I go to pop-up, someone will always come up to the table and say "I've been calling you for so long and I'm so happy that I can be here."

And it feels so weird because I'm the one that does that to other people.

So for people to do that to me, it's, I don't know.

It's strange, but it's kind of exciting having people get just as excited about food as I do.

It's really encouraging.

It's nice.