At a thoughtfully organized dinner in Oakland, Palestinian culinary activists shared more than just food — they offered their stories, their resilience, and their patience
Like many of my favorite Bay Area food content creators to emerge since 2020 — when COVID reshaped our access and connection to restaurants and so much more — Maxine Sharf’s journey into food didn’t unfold according to any sort of plan. She always had a knack for being in the kitchen, something her mom and grandmother instilled in her from a young age, and which she later explored as an undergrad, when she signed up for extracurricular classes at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley. But that passion was always something she kept in the background — until it really started to pop off.
Currently, Sharf’s food content account, Maxi’s Kitchen, has over 4 million followers across various social media platforms. She’s most known for making simple, health-forward recipes with Californiasian overtones: panko-crusted salmon with cream cheese, lemon, and dill; seared scallops with shaved fennel; blueberry zucchini bread. And with her mom, dog, and husband regularly appearing as guests, her personality is all smiles. Her dream has always been to have her own cooking show one day.
Author Maxine Sharf. (Photo courtesy of Penguin Random House by Amy Neunesinger)
This March, she’s getting one spoon closer to that by publishing her debut cookbook, Maxi's Kitchen: Easy Go-To Recipes to Make Again and Again, full of dishes that read like love letters to her East Bay upbringing — to a childhood of family dinners where everyone pitched in. Nightly meals have been a longtime tradition for Sharf’s family, where her parents and grandparents could pass down their culinary love language. The book features 20 of her family’s recipes to go along with 75 original dishes that Sharf imagined on her own. The book is out March 3 on Clarkson Potter and she’ll celebrate with a reading on March 11 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (details below).
Sharf began to first publicly document her early cooking experiments in 2018, as a hobby. At the time, she was working fulltime in tech sales and would post “horrible” videos of her recipes, in which the viewer would only see her hands mixing ingredients in a way that she now sees as impersonal. You can go back and see them on Instagram for yourself. The quality of the videos are subpar compared to her current production skills, and though the recipes focused on health-conscious foods (pickled onions, vegan cookies, Instant Pot artichokes, et cetera), they were far simpler and less involved than the dishes she now offers.
Everything changed when, after a decade in tech, she unexpectedly got laid off from her job. Suddenly left with more time, and wonder, than she’d ever had as a working adult, she realized the kitchen had always been her haven while growing up in Orinda.
Sharf's fresh, simple recipes are inspired by her California upbringing, rooted in family dinners she often prepared with her Chinese-Korean mom and immigrant grandmother. (Photo courtesy of Penguin Random House by Amy Neunesinger)
“Standing in a kitchen assembly line with my mom and grandma, folding wontons together, that’s just something I’ve always known… I don’t remember when I first learned it, but I was young,” she recalls. “[It] instilled my love of cooking, and food became associated with being at home and cared for. When [the layoffs] happened, I was upset. I was so bummed and cried. But then I realized maybe it’s a chance to chase my dream.”
The feeling was surreal: a mix of worry and self-imposed pressure to succeed. But over time, those feelings evolved into opportunities and creative thrills. Food, as it often does, became a deeper source of connection to those around her, as well as to her own identity and she began to care less about the metrics and views online. She also put herself into more of her videos as a primary focus. Her mom appears from the very earliest videos, but later on her dog, husband, and other guests become a rotating cast of characters.
Orinda isn’t especially known for its foodmakers or cookbook authors. Though she’s now bicoastal, splitting her time between New York City and Los Angeles, Sharf frequently visits her hometown to posts videos from inside her parents’ kitchen, often with a half-her-height Chinese-Korean mom flanking her side like a loving mentor who provides maternal approval and supportive laughs.
Sharf's mom, whom she describes as her best friend, is a major part of her journey with food. (Photo courtesy of Maxine Sharf)
“One year in 7th grade, I had friend drama, and for almost the entire year I was at home and not hanging out with anyone except my mom,” Sharf says. “My mom and I were so close. She became my best friend. Whenever she cooked we did it together and taught me her recipes. My mom’s parents were immigrants. Their languages didn’t get passed down, but we connected to it through the food.”
With her cookbook, Sharf pays homage to her family’s ritual of sharing nightly dinners, and she directly honors her parents and grandparents with a handful of recipes. There are times she alludes to borrowing from her grandpa while making marinated pickled radishes, and in more than a few instances, she denotes her mom and dad’s recipes (see her mom’s Benihana chicken recipe excerpted below).
As for her local inspirations, she lists a litany of dishes from eateries around the Bay that she and her family frequent: sundubu jjigae at Pyeong Chang Tofu House, plus a round of Korean barbecue at Ohgane in Oakland; kakiage at Iyasare in Berkeley; dim sum at Hong Kong East Ocean in Emeryville; Cantonese salt and pepper crabs at R&G Lounge in San Francisco; and of course, Szechwan Restaurant in Orinda, a staple in her memory Of course, there are also the nearby Ethiopian, Mexican, Californian and other culinary delights she grew up enjoying. It’s all reflected in her recipes.
You can hear Sharf read from her cookbook at 7pm Wednesday, March 11 at JCCSF; a $42 ticket includes a book, and more details are here. But here’s a sample taste in the meantime, you hungry coyotes.
After getting laid off, Sharf pursued her aspirations in the kitchen. She'll speak about that, and her debut cookbook, in San Francisco on March 11. (Photo courtesy of Penguin Random House by Amy Neunesinger)
The following excerpt is from Maxi's Kitchen: Easy Go-To Recipes to Make Again and Again.
Mom’s Benihana Chicken Fried Rice
Serves 6 as a side or 4 as a main
Buttery, salty, and packed with umami, this fried rice has been a family favorite for as long as I can remember. My mom based this recipe off the fried rice at Benihana, where she used to waitress in college, and it quickly became one of her signature dishes. When she was dating my dad in her early twenties, she’d surprise him after work with chocolate chip cookies and a big batch of this fried rice. (Safe to say, her cooking won him over!) What makes it even better is how versatile it is. Sometimes we swap the chicken for sliced mushrooms to keep it vegetarian, or go with bacon for a richer, more indulgent version.
4 large eggs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons avocado oil or other neutral oil, such as grapeseed, divided
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 7 ounces), cut into ½-inch pieces
4 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
1 medium carrot (3 ounces), cut into small dice
½ medium yellow onion (5 ounces), cut into small dice
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 cups day-old cooked jasmine rice (see Tip, below)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with a sprinkle each of salt and pepper.
2. In a wok or large nonstick skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of the avocado oil over medium-high heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring, until scrambled, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
3. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the chicken to the skillet. Spread the chicken into an even layer and cook, undisturbed, until golden brown on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce and cook, stirring, until almost cooked through, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the carrot, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the onion starts to soften and become translucent, about 3 minutes.
5. Add the rice, the remaining 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of the butter, the sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until everything is combined, about 2 minutes.
6. Create a small well in the middle of the rice and add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the well. Cook, undisturbed, until the butter melts and the rice is crispy, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir the rice to mix up the buttery pieces. Cook, tossing once or twice, until there are more crispy bits, about 2 minutes.
7. Add the scrambled eggs and mix, breaking them up into smaller pieces with a spatula. Add the scallions and cook for about 1 minute, tossing two or three times until combined. Divide among bowls and enjoy!
Tip: Day-old rice is best, but fresh rice works, too. Use 1½ cups uncooked rice to make 4 cups cooked.
Alan Chazaro is a traveling Bay Area dad and writer currently based in Veracruz, Mexico. His forthcoming poetry collection, These Spaceships Weren't Built For Us, will be published with Tia Chucha Press in 2026.
