Food for Love

Being Neighbourly x Ayelet Idan, Olive Leaf

Author/ Being Neighbourly
14 May 2025

I used to be a Special Needs teacher and then I became a full-time mother. When the children got older and I needed to go back to work I really wanted to be flexible with my time and so I realised I needed to do something by myself. I had always loved to host and cook, and a few friends asked me to do it for them, and then it grew from there,” says Ayelet Idan, Founder of Olive Leaf HK, an outfit that provides Vegan Middle Eastern catering solutions, cooking classes, and social dining events.

Like so many, Idan came to Hong Kong and didn’t predict that she would be here so many years later — 16 years in her particular case. A native of Israel with a British husband, she had arrived via Nepal, where she and her family lived for almost six years.

Idan started Olive Leaf about 10 years ago and says that business was slow at the beginning. But, driven by her memories of family-style dining, she wished to recreate these happy scenarios for her clients. As a vegetarian for 43 years, she says she also wanted to show people that you can enjoy non-meat dishes and feel full and satisfied by a vegetarian spread.

“We provide different experiences based around meeting people and eating. It’s all about connection, sharing and relaxing,” she says, adding that they have locals, expats and visitors to Hong Kong attending their events.

“I love people connecting with each other, having experiences, which involve all the senses. I love to see people having good experiences, sharing their memories, and so on. I love what I am doing and I don’t think you can do this without feeling this way,” she shares, adding that the name Olive Leaf was chosen due to the symbol of the olive leaf being a sign of peace. “I don’t mind who comes as long as they are nice people. My place is a place of harmony and even if you’re from warring countries, this is a place where you can put differences aside. It is my deepest prayer that peace will come for everybody.”

Recently, Idan returned to school to study Cooking Therapy and says she finds it to be a perfect combination of the work she used to do as Special Needs teacher and her love for cooking.

In one example of therapeutic cooking, she built a 12-week program for drug offenders in rehab, that involved using cooking together as a kind of support group. “It was a huge success,” she says of the program she has run twice. “I really saw a change in the participants during the three months, and would love to do it again although my travelling makes committing to 12 weeks difficult”

Idan shares that there are a few dishes she feels particularly strongly about, and which she has committed to memory after cooking them so many times.

“One is really strong smoked eggplant with a very rich, spicy tomato sauce and lots of dried hyssop leaf, put together and topped with tahini paste. It takes me back to the dessert and sleeping outdoors, having a fire and being with friends.” Another recipe is date biscuits, which Idan says she makes with anise and orange blossom, just like her grandmother used to make for her and her siblings. “I love to recreate it and teach others to make it,” she adds.

What’s the best work advice you have received?

“I’ve certainly had some good advice over the years, though I can’t recall exactly who gave it to me!” says Ayelet Idan, founder of Olive Leaf HK.

“One bit of advice was just to go for it, not to overthink it, but just do it. Another piece of advice, from my husband, who still says it, is to believe in myself and that what I bring is different, one-of-a-kind and to just be myself. From my friend Michelle, the advice has been to have boundaries and to keep them, which has been very helpful when having a small, one-person business.”

“My late, best friend Keren also had a small business and it was very helpful to talk about the challenges. So one of the best advice I can give is to share your experiences with others and to be present on social media for others to get to know what you are doing.”

Olive Leaf
Pak Kok Village, Lamma Island,
Hong Kong