Founded in London with food at its heart, Mahamri has evolved to bring together meditation and the art of cooking through intimate retreats.
Foundations
Mahamri was founded in 2019 by two sisters, from a shared love of feeding others and celebrating the cuisine of East Africa. It began as supper clubs hosted around long, communal tables, introducing the flavours of a region which represent an amalgamation of cultures that traded along its coast.
In 2020, their paths took them in different directions. One sister Trish, returned home to Kenya to establish a bakery - Tandeli, while the other, Sonali, remained in London growing Mahamri. With the arrival of the pandemic, the communal tables temporarily disappeared and Mahamri adapted into a meal delivery service.
In the same year, another chapter began with hosting meditation retreats in Kenya, rooted in the Buddhist tradition. Food remained integral to the practice and experience of the retreats, which have continued regularly since.
Over time, these two strands of Mahamri - food and meditation, have come together as one.
A Personal History
While founding Mahamri, Sonali has been working as a chef in London for the past seven years, in the renowned kitchens of Ottolenghi, Michelin-starred Lyle’s and BiBi, as well as collaborating with chefs across England.
She began practising meditation in 2018 and has since been studying under the guidance of Buddhist teachers, including Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. She maintains a daily practice and has undertaken a number of personal retreats, including a 30-day silent retreat in 2019.
Meditation has had a profound impact on her life, and from early in her own practice, she felt strongly about making these teachings accessible to others, while remaining true to the traditions they come from. This intention is at the heart of the retreats and workshops she has been bringing to the world since 2020.
For Sonali, food is not simply an accompaniment to the retreats, but an integral part of the practice. And it is for this reason that food and meditation are given equal care and attention at her retreats.