— Founder
Born from two cultures.
Fawaffles is a new take on one of Egypt's oldest foods.
I was born and raised in North Carolina, the son of Egyptian immigrants. My father has run a successful Italian restaurant for more than thirty years — but the food I was always more drawn to was the Egyptian cooking we did at home. It excited me more than anything on the menu.
Growing up in his kitchen, I learned what it takes to keep a real business running, and what it takes to make great food. When I moved to New York, I noticed Egyptian food was almost absent from the city. So I started popping up at events with my father's secret ta'ameya recipe — a dish our family had mostly kept to ourselves.
Ta'ameya is Egypt's original falafel, made from fava beans rather than chickpeas. It has been a staple of Egyptian households for generations and remains one of the country's most beloved foods.
Running pop-ups with a deep fryer wasn't sustainable in New York — it limited where I could go and what I could do. So I started researching new ways to cook ta'ameya. First a panini press — which actually worked. Then it struck me: a Belgian waffle iron. More surface area. Crispier edges. The same fluffy inside.
I grew up in the South, where waffles are everywhere — waffle houses on every corner, chicken-and-waffle lines down the block. The marriage of ta'ameya and the waffle felt authentically me in a way I didn't expect.
The mission has never changed: represent and differentiate Egyptian cuisine from the rest of the region, and bring a piece of my family — and my culture — to more tables. The vehicle has just been reimagined to fit who I am.
I can't wait for the world to taste it.
— Micho Hanna
Founder, Musha
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