Mathaq: Who needs men when there is food and art

It's not often that there are public, outdoor events focused on art, food, and crafts in Saudi so when one rolls around, it's very popular. On March 14 and 15 female small business owners and artists set up booths and showed off their wares at Mathaq: Taste of Art and Food, an event held in Prince Saud Bin Naif Garden. It was a family event, meaning no single men were allowed to attend, other than participating artists and food vendors.

There was an outdoor seating and eating rental service,

Elegant Night

a painted glass maker,

Zooz by Zainab

jewellers,

Hanadi Kurdi Design. Her necklaces, earrings and bracelets were made up of material such as coral and rose quartz.

Juri Jewellery

Loomer Jewellery

Purplish

designers,

artists,

By Artusion

This art was painted live by Nugamshi, who did the same outside of Al Riwaq.

"Fisherman's Sunrise-Qatif"

 "ArTecture" and the one above were done by Filipino artist Juben Iwag.

Meem Art created this portrait of one of the most famous female Arab singers, Umm Kulthum.

a perfumer,

By the same woman who did Juri Jewelry.

a coffee maker,

12 Cups

dessert vendors,

I couldn't actually find Spatula's booth, but I loved the sign! They make Belgian min waffles with different toppings.

N&M Cookies and Non's Pop Cakes

Soul Food

Turkish Delight. They were selling iced tea that was SR30 per glass. Too expensive, no thanks!

Lindo sold Mochi, a chilled rice ball with different fillings inside. I tried the chocolate and mango peach  flavours. Yum!

and of course some of the bigger name vendors too, such as Antr

and Burger Nook, which is a local burger joint. They were all out of their different kinds of burgers except for three. Unfortunately when I went to Mathaq I was so hungry I opted to eat a burger with fries so I didn't try any of the other vendor's food. It was a tasty burger, but I should have skipped the fries so I could have tried some yummy cake pops or cookies.

I'm glad that I went Sunday afternoon because I heard it was super busy at night and on the first day of the event, but a lot of the stalls were not set up when I went midday. That's just bad business to me. Maybe I should have gone the first day, that way I could have seen the artist paint his mural live and I could have seen some of the stalls that were next to or completely sold out. Either way I had a great time walking around seeing the kind of creative industry that women have here in the city. I think it's really important that we support them and I look forward to seeing what Mathaq will become in the future!