DEARBORN – It’s been eight years since Denise Hazime moved to California and turned her cooking hobby into a thriving internet-based business that now draws thousands of daily visitors to her website.  

On www.dedemed.com, traditional Mediterranean recipes are adjusted to her taste and given a modern-day presentation through social media. Hazime’s YouTube channel contains over 150 tutorials that cover everything from appetizers, salads, side dishes, main dishes, desserts and beyond.   

Growing up in Dearborn, Hazime acquired dozens of recipes, and she later sharpened them to her liking. But she never thought she would become a chef.

After graduating from Wayne State University with a degree in History and a minor in Chemistry, Hazime attended UMD-Mercy Law School for two years. She then married and moved to California. 

There, she found that her acquaintances would constantly ask her to share some of her Middle Eastern recipes. 

“There was no good Middle Eastern food there. You couldn’t just drive anywhere to get a shawarma sandwich. I had to start making it myself. None of our mothers measure, so I had to start measuring to figure out the amount that I would need,” Hazime recalls. 

But it was the accidental success of one side dish in particular that motivated her to sink her teeth into the culinary arts industry.

On a whim, in 2006, Hazime and her husband, whose professional specialties lie in the technology field, decided to upload a step-by-step YouTube tutorial of her making her signature hummus in her home kitchen. Eight years later, that one video alone now has 800,000 views. 

“We had a large feedback. This was before there was a big food following on Youtube. We started making more videos and people really liked them,” Hazime says. 

Early on, Hazime discovered the tremendous advantage of using the internet as a tool to further her business. Interacting with viewers is essential to her growing success. She is constantly answering questions and taking requests from viewers about her recipes. 

Her website is frequently being updated and constantly adapting to newer technology. This month, it will be remodeled and relaunched for a fourth time. She believes the internet is a key component in establishing a successful business in the 21st century. 

“I think the internet is the most fabulous tool that we have. I feel bad for businesses who don’t understand how to use it. We are a very technology-driven society now.  Everyone has mobile devices. Everyone has to be connected. People taste hummus and they want to immediately find out how to make the dish,” she adds.

In 2010, Hazime caught the attention of The Wall Street Journal, who dubbed her “the queen of hummus.”  But it’s not just the chickpeas that are luring visitors to her website. Hazime has grown a following for a number of popular Mediterranean foods and dishes that include pita bread, garlic spread, falafel and shawarma. In total, her videos have garnered millions of views on YouTube.

But even the internet has its downside. Hazime, like many other social media based entrepreneurs, has to constantly deal with negativity and criticism. She says she has learned to filter out those types of comments by keeping politics out of her brand. She doesn’t like to affiliate dishes with a specific country.

“I get negative comments about everything.  The type of food I’m making, people saying I’m making it wrong. I’m too skinny, I’m too fat,” Hazime says. “But the good thing is that you can moderate those comments. We are a very anti-political website. It has nothing to do with what’s going on in the world. I don’t claim it’s from one area. It is just Mediterranean food.”

This type of food seems to have captivated the country’s attention in the last few years. Hazime believes there are a number of reasons behind it.  

One factor is foreign policy. Americans in the military are coming back from the Middle East and looking for dishes that they were introduced to in the region. Hazime and her husband even opened up a shawarma stand at a Marine base in San Diego.

“Mediterranean food is where Mexican food was 10 to 15 years ago. Look at how many different Mexican chains there are. The food is slowly infiltrating the supermarkets. People want to save money and make it fresh at home. I think that’s why the website is getting more notoriety,” Hazime says. 

Mediterranean food is healthy, and that is another reason it has become so popular. With the country currently battling high obesity rates, more Americans are becoming health-conscious, and they have found an outlet in Middle Eastern food. 

Earlier this month, Hazime was announced as the winner of the “Hidden Valley Ranch Sandwich Superstar” contest. The contest called for individuals to create a sandwich using the company’s ranch spread. 

Contestants were flown to New York City to compete at the “Food and Wine Festival” televised by the Food Network. Hazime’s shawarma sandwich incorporated Hidden Valley Ranch and ended up being the biggest hit there. 

While many of her recipes contain traditional ingredients, a section on her website is called “Mediterranean Americana,” where she shares recipes for American foods like cheesecakes, hamburgers and meatballs, but infused with a Mediterranean twist. She finds that it’s a good avenue to slowly introduce people to a genre of food that they might not be familiar with. 

She also takes pride in knowing that her recipes have helped improve people’s lifestyles in various ways. She is constantly receiving feedback from people who are trying to reconnect with their Middle Eastern roots or others who say her recipes have refreshed their taste buds.

“You will be surprised at the type of people who eat Mediterranean food. I got an email from a cancer patient who said she couldn’t taste a lot of things. Mediterranean food has a lot of robust flavors and my garlic sauce has helped her. It’s nice to get feedback knowing you are doing something good,” Hazime adds.  

This week, Hazime returned to Dearborn to promote her first published cookbook titled “Idiot’s Guides: Mediterranean Diet Cookbook,” which includes over 200 recipes.  She says that while the cookbook doesn’t focus on dieting, there is a section on recipes that are beneficial to a healthy diet. 

The book contains a breakdown of recipes as well as tidbits on how they can be altered to an individual’s preferred tastes. It also serves as a guide for individuals who want to stock up their kitchen with Mediterranean-friendly ingredients. 

If the first cookbook is successful, she and her publisher would like to release future installments with more visuals. 

Hazime will be signing copies of her book at the Arab American National Museum on Saturday, April 26 from 4:00 p.m-6:00 p.m. Her cookbook is available to purchase for $18.95 at bookstores across the country and on her website.