< Back to Oral History project: Arkansas Cottage Bakers

< Back to Oral History project: Southern Baking

ORAL HISTORY

Amanda Arafat

Amanda Makes

Amanda Arafat was born in Gaza City, Palestine. From birth, Arafat had strong ties to the baking world, owing to her family’s century-old bakery, Heluwiat Arafat in the Palestinian state of Nablus. However, because only men work in the bakery, Arafat was never encouraged to follow in the family business. After splitting her youth between the United States and Cairo, Egypt, Arafat eventually settled in Memphis, Tennessee, with her family. A few years later, in December 2019, she followed her partner to Northwest Arkansas.

After initially working in retail during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arafat’s dormant interest in cooking was reignited by lockdown meals and she soon found her professional stride cooking in the food industry. Although she was a new arrival to the area—and had never been a self-described community leader—she quickly found her place in northwest Arkansas’s LGBTQ community as a co-founder of the Big Gay Market. Arafat is quick to note that her bakery—which has come to specialize in Middle Eastern fare that emphasizes her family’s heritage—and the market have grown in tandem. In addition to baking under the name Amanda Makes, Arafat supplements her income teaching baking classes and working as a private chef.