GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip who master the art of cooking prepare in their own small kitchens large quantities of food and meet customers’ requests as efficiently as restaurants. The women are creating online profiles offering to cook and deliver meals to customers in exchange for a price based on the cost of each meal and the effort it takes to prepare it. The orders are placed one or two days ahead so the women can get the ingredients and prepare the meal for the agreed delivery time.

The women show off their skills and compete for customers by posting photos online of the meals they cook, such as Umm Said who created the Facebook page “Original Mandi Kitchen.”

Sabreen Sununu runs a home-based food business called “Our Kitchen Is Different.” Sununu, 38, told Al-Monitor that she learned the art of cooking from her husband, who is a government employee and a great cook. She taught herself how to prepare tasty dishes by watching cooking programs on TV and online; she has now mastered most of the Middle Eastern cuisine and a large part of the Western cuisine.

“After my home was indirectly targeted and destroyed by the shelling during the recent war on the Gaza Strip [summer 2014], I began looking for a small project to contribute to my family’s income and help with expenses. Since I only excel in cooking, I resorted to the online kitchen project,” she said.