aromatics, herbs and spices from Morocco to California

Nina Anakar is a cook, gardener, writer, educator and herbalist with an Amazigh Moroccan and European background. She has called the unceded lands of California home for most of her life.

Since 2018, Ziza has been home to a traveling kitchen and garden where Nina has cooked ancestral recipes alongside an in depth research journey and offered different forms of creative nourishment as a caterer and private chef. Through the creation of and collaboration with gardens, schools and community organizations, she also facilitates hands-on knowledge shares and interactive cultural exchange with the networks she is a part of. Nina has tended culinary and medicinal gardens in both urban and rural parts of the state, with a deep care for cultural repair and restoration of life on the land where she lives.

Nina is inspired by her roots in the healing art of Moroccan cooking, as well as the ancient gardens and vital histories of the Southern Mediterranean Basin, which are home to many of the most widely consumed herbs and fruits in the world. As a mixed race and bicultural human she is passionate about the interconnected origin stories behind land-based cuisines and healing modalities that are currently at risk of loss. She believes that tending to plants, seeds, and all living things, and engaging deeply with the labor of care offer keys to help us remember our role in history and our responsibility to future generations in this time that is ripe for change.

Nina is currently based in the Bay Area. Her small batch, handcrafted herbal tea and spice blends evoke some of her favorite places, plants, and wisdom. Shop the souk (market) as it is seasonally available, along with some other pop up treats here and there. Keep an eye out for additional local offerings via social media or the newsletter below, and reach out if you’re interested in coordinating an experience together.