Designing Bon Appétit Boards is the perfect balance of work and play for Muslim artist

Photo courtesy of Maha Imseitef

Maha Imseitef makes her chocolate truffles, bite-sized cookies and frosted mini-donuts from scratch. Charcuterie boards can be ordered in either board, box or cups, and savory or sweet combinations.

The magic of good food brings everyone together, and Maha Imseitef has made her livelihood by way of sweet and savory halal food boards. Using various combinations of meat, cheese, fruits, nuts and crackers, Imseitef creates her boards by finding the harmonies between each food, resulting in beautiful, appetizing displays that are guaranteed to brighten up any social function. Bon Appetit Boards takes orders through Instagram and is available for both pick up or delivery for Milwaukee and surrounding counties.

Imseitef makes boards for many different occasions, ranging from weddings to graduation ceremonies to birthday parties. During her peak busy times, she handles up to 100 boards a week or over two dozen a day.

“My busiest time of the year is now, around Christmas and the New Year,” she explains. “All summer I’m busy with weddings and graduations, baby showers and bridal showers.”

Originally a French concept, charcuterie boards did not become popular in the U.S. until recent decades, and at this point they are a staple of both formal and informal social gatherings.

“I come from a big family, and my mom loves to gather us with our favorite meals,” Imseitef says. “Even if we’re not there, she tells us to come pick up our plate. It’s how we were raised.”

A Milwaukee resident of about 20 years, Imseitef was first drawn to food boards by her love for many kinds of cheeses. With charcuterie boards, her favorites could all be in one place.

Imseitef sharpened her creative instincts overtime as a longtime makeup artist, which now suits her passion for creating visually-pleasing food boards well. When folks started asking her to make boards for them, Imseitef saw the perfect business opportunity. After all, quality boards are made with quality ingredients, which is not always cheap.

“If you want people to enjoy a board, it’s not just any kind of cheese you can put there,” Imseitef affirms. “It started costing money, so why not start a business?”

She launched Bon Appetit Boards in 2021. The name comes from the phrase “bon appetit” meaning “se’ha we Afya” in Arabic, which Imseitef often says upon serving food to her family at home. She describes her business as “a perfect balance of work and play.”

“Taking and doing the orders from home, I don’t have to leave my kids, and it makes it feel like work is not a burden. I get to enjoy the art that I’m doing and I’ll put some music on, and my kids will tell me how much they love my boards.”

“I used to just put cheese, fruits and snacks in one tray for my kids, or for any friends and family who come over,” she recalls. “Me and my sister-in-law would have outings with just girls, and I started liking the idea of making the boards.”

Imseitef sets up each board based on foods that the customer requests, as well as whether they want it arranged in a particular way. Her design strategy pays close attention to color patterns and flavor palettes. Certain foods should not touch others or are stored differently, so crackers and vegetables usually come as separate boards. “Crackers will go soft if you put them in the fridge,” she notes.

Imseitef sources her ingredients from many different grocery stores including Costco, Woodman’s and Sendik’s. When picking cheeses, she looks for the right colors and textures. Brie is her go-to, although goat cheese is another of her favorites. “Cheese is life,” she laughs.

Sliced beef salami, often arranged in flower-like shapes, is the meat that Imseitef most commonly uses, although she also incorporates turkey and beef mini-sticks. “When I first went to the store, I didn’t know there were that many kinds of salami with different tastes and flavors,” she remarks. 

Maha Imseitef, a longtime makeup artist, uses her creative instincts to design visually-pleasing food boards.

Various salted crackers as well as mini-breadsticks, mixed nuts and chocolate-covered pretzels are mainstays of a Bon Appetit board. For extra flavor, Imseitef adds rosemary, pickles, and several types of olives. Her vegetable boards variably contain carrots, broccoli, celery and radishes, with hummus and Greek yogurt on the sides for dipping.

In terms of fruits, Imseitef frequently adds both red and green grapes, many different berries, and dried fruits like mangos and apricots. The picture is then completed with condiments of fig jam and honey. 

Desserts are a whole menu of their own, and Bon Appetit Boards sells them by board, box or in cups. Imseitef’s homemade selections contain chocolate truffles, bite-sized cookies, frosted mini-donuts and more. Although not much of a dessert person herself, she knows how to make sure there’s a little something for everyone.

“The cups are better for big events because you don’t need to cut and serve, everyone can just their individual cup and enjoy it,” Imseitef adds.

She also creates themed holiday boards for occasions like Halloween or the Fourth of July. One of the biggest orders that Imseitef fills every year, this time of year, is for a local dentist office that sends out boards to each of their 28 locations. “I personally deliver them, and seeing the front office people when they walk in and watching how joyful their faces get is always rewarding for me,” she mentions.

Imseitef plans to implement shipping into Bon Appetit Boards’ operation so that she may cater to customers from a distance. She is also interested in teaching classes on how to build charcuterie boards.

“I am really content with what I have, and I look forward to my busy seasons,” Imseitef concludes. “I’m in my comfy zone.”