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About us
From the Beginning
Ataya is the fruit of an encounter: between two individuals, two cultures and two cuisines. Between a mother’s sensitivity to nutrition, and a chef’s dedication to quality. . Between passion and experience. Welcome to Ataya, and enjoy your time with us!
How it started
AtayaCafe’s origin spans continents and cultures. Our story begins in the bustling streets of Senegal and among lush Sardinian vegetable and fruit groves. We are influenced by life, nature, music, art, eco-politics and the joy of healthy, bright and simply delicious vegan food. Ataya fulfills a life-long dream of merging our passion for fine vegan cuisine, community and activism. We see food as medicine, as a political choice, and as a path to heal the planet. Our wonderful team has a strong professional background with classically trained professionals whose culinary artistry was cultivated at fine restaurants in Italy and Europe. Our space was created to give guests the opportunity to focus on friendship, harmony and connection with themselves and others as part of an individualized, enjoyable and unique experience. The restaurant’s menu consists entirely of fresh, seasonal plant-based ingredients, which are 100% organic, vegan and sustain-ably sourced from local farm cooperatives and partnerships in Italy and Germany. Our kitchens are plastic-free, and no artificial ingredients are permitted. We invite you to into our home and are delighted to serve you meals that will nourish your body and spirit. Let eating be your activism!
Betta’s passion for vegan cooking goes back to her childhood in Sardinia. From her grandmother, who was steeped in the tradition of Sardinian cuisine and prepared every aspect of her elaborate meals herself, she inherited a deep respect for the environment and an instinctively vegan approach to nutrition. As a young girl, she would spend part of the summer picking tomatoes with her friends, which they would then dry and sell – a popular pastime in a world where nature, food and socializing went hand in hand. Frequent trips to the local market provided another source of inspiration.
In her early twenties her ever growing interest in nutrition as a sustainable and solid path to wellness led her to study traditional Chinese medicine and later, macrobiotic cuisine at the Sana Gola macrobiotic cooking school in Milan and the Kushi Institute in Amsterdam. Adopting a mindful lifestyle went hand in hand with a new, plant-based approach to nutrition. At the same time, she began pursuing a distinct but related interest: reflexology – a passion which would accompany her for the next 20 years. Also during this period, the birth of her first daughter led her to make a series of important choices: natural childbirth, breastfeeding, natural weaning and infant massage. After working in various fine dining restaurants in different cities in Sardinia, Betta became head chef at the first-ever vegan restaurant in Cagliari. It was during her eight years there that she developed many of the ideas – including her interest in fusing culinary cultures – that would later come to fruition in Ataya.
Our other protagonist is Bachir, a musician and cook whose twin passions are rooted in the rhythms and flavors of his childhood in Dakar. For Bach as well, markets were an early inspiration, and awakened his sensitivity to the quality and value of local produce (foreshadowing his later vegan orientation). He soon found himself preparing meals for his family and quickly earned a reputation as a talented chef. And there was always music in the background: after studying music theory and jazz bass at the Dakar Conservatory and at the Center for Exchange in Modern and Improvised Music in Limoges, France, he formed his first Afro-Jazz band and by age 23 had embarked on a professional music career, performing in prominent jazz clubs throughout Europe (including the famed Baisé Salé in Paris) and at numerous festivals including the Saint Louis Jazz Festival in Senegal, Francophonie de Limoges and the Winterthur Festival in Switzerland. He has produced two albums with Iris Music label. one of which was awarded the “Afrique en Creations” prize of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies. To Ataya Bach brings his lifelong passion for cooking (the ability to prepare delicious food from simple ingredients, one of his many talents, is also one of Ataya’s guiding principles) and his openness and flair for hospitality – as a citizen of the world who welcomes his guests in six languages (Wolof, French, English, Italian, Spanish, and German).
