Amaal Salie grew up in Cape Town, where food was a central part of daily life in her Cape Malay community. Through shared meals and cooking, she developed an early interest in how food connects to culture, identity, and place.

She studied City Planning at the University of Cape Town and later completed a Master’s in Programme Evaluation. Her academic work focused on how residents in low-income areas navigate both informal and formal food economies to improve household food security.

Professionally, Amaal has worked on large-scale data collection and evaluation projects across Africa, combining spatial analysis with qualitative methods to understand how communities are affected by a range of social issues. 

At KITLV, Amaal will explore the foodways of the Indonesian diaspora in South Africa as part of the Trajectories of Taste project. Her research will focus on how culinary practices reflect adaptation, memory, and identity within transgenerational diasporic communities in Cape Town.