Farah Shammas Superlative Passion for Veganism and Life in Cyprus

A vegan diet is not only a way to eat and cook, but a bond as well, for some people. The number of such people is growing as more people are becoming aware of the benefits this lifestyle brings to them and their environment. There are a few names behind this awareness-creating process. And Farah is one of them. If you ask her about her career, she would say she is a mother of three. Her nearest people see her as the Managing Director of the St. Raphael Resort and Marina (NAMED WINNER IN 2016 INTERNATIONAL HOTEL AWARD), situated on one of the largest Blue Flag accredited beaches on the outskirts of the lively cosmopolitan town of Limassol.  This resort is just one of a collection of five boutique hotels on the southern coast of England. But the world sees her in another light. For the past twelve months and more, she is inspiring the world to adapt to a vegan lifestyle. Her stance is non-judgmental yet persistent.

A Little about Her Business Background

Farah’s grandfather, Shukri Hanna Shammas, originated from Lebanon. There, he built his construction When Civil War broke in Lebanon in the 1970s, he moved to Cyprus. Here, he built his life from scratch focusing on his long-lived dream of building a resort. He asked help from his son, Farah’s father in building this resort. And soon enough, it grew into a collection of what it is now – five resort hotels and a pub. Although her grandfather, and then father, was an engineer, hospitality was what her passion was. Because of this trait, she is managing the affairs of St Raphael Resort for the last six years.

Her Passion for Vegan Food Evolves

Farah has an untiring love for nature. It’s just natural! What else would you expect from a girl who grew up among the beauties of Cyprus beaches? And she wasn’t even living in any part of Cyprus! Her residence was in her family resort in the middle of New Forest National Park. She got to experience nature from close. And it had just as profound effect on her as it could have. Veganism was an aftermath of this connection with nature. Her love for animals had a huge effect on her being vegan. It was her lifestyle from an early age. But this was a matter that was personal to her. Upholding her non-judgmental viewpoint, she never advocated this diet solution at any event and any presentation. People used to ask her questions about her lifestyle and her cooking decisions. But that discussion was on a one-to-one basis and was never presented her desire for a vegan culture. This changed with the birth of her third baby. Or we may say that this changed when she researched another one of her voices – the voice social media could lend her. In December 2019, she started spending more time on social media. This included surfing on Facebook and connecting through Whatsapp. For that time, she remembers how she fell into the misconception that Facebook was outdated and its users were taken over by TikTok and WhatsApp. She says that her misconceptions were proved wrong when she dug deeper into Facebook’s potential and algorithm. After searching promising stats of Facebook, she searched its groups with two niches that resonated with her life and her mission: hotels and vegan cooking. Later, she decided to pursue her passion for vegan cooking on this platform and that is how her vegan cooking group was created on Facebook.

Evolving Passion to Help Non-vegan Try the System

It’s a no-brainer that changing lifestyle is not easy. You have to be mindful and then you have to be vigilant. Even these two skills are not enough. You have to step out of your comfort zone to understand the ins and outs of the lifestyle you want to pursue. Sometimes, you have to get relevant advice from an insider. Other times, you rely on your own experiments to understand the trick. Because of growing awareness around veganism, people have started loving the concept of vegan cooking. They can do so because of three different motives. First, they want to pursue a healthy lifestyle. Secondly, they don’t want to take part in cruelty against animals. Thirdly, they want to remain conscious and friendly towards Mother Earth. Yet, for most people, their transition towards a healthier way of living and dieting – vegan dieting – remains stuck on the stage of willingness. They don’t dare to embark on this journey because they don’t know how they can. They become afraid of difficulties they may face during the transitions. And we shouldn’t forget the commonly cited notion: vegan dieting looks like starving. All these discouraging thoughts and prevalent beliefs prevent people from finally committing to an easier way of life. Farah’s choice is to help these people by letting them experience the ease and taste one can enjoy by simply shifting towards a vegan lifestyle. She insists that people should start small. This small start can happen as ‘meat-less Monday’ or ‘vegan Tuesdays’. Or it can be a side dish that is free of animal-based nutrients.

Birth of 40 Delicious Vegan Recipes

Farah used her understanding and knowledge from her certificate in Plant-based Nutrition from eCornell and T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. Using these understandings, she responded to these bottlenecks in her book, ’40 Delicious Vegan Recipes’. She wrote this book in the Lent period and you can see it’s all about what Lent advocates – detoxification. The recipes are easy and even non-vegans can use them without worrying about spending lots of time prepping and cooking meals. So, if you were thinking about converting to veganism for a long time, now is the time to stop thinking and start doing. Get regular doses of inspiration from Farah directly through her social media handles: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/farah.shammas Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farahshammas/   You can meet her through her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/straphaelresort  Or Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/cookveganinsta/ Her vegan cooking website is: https://www.cook-vegan.com/ For quick recipes check out her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CookVegan

Mention ‘CEO Go Global’ when you pick up your copy of ’40 Delicious Vegan Recipes’: Cookbook and Guide from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/40-Delicious-Vegan-Recipes-Guide-ebook/dp/B08YRQ6LK7/