Passionate about traditional agriculture, Sarah Lalou launched Doura, a brand of Algerian local food products. Their uniqueness: they are cultivated and processed by women. The entrepreneur travels across the country to identify, highlight, and preserve local cultivation techniques and recipes.
How to combine permaculture, quality products, culinary and cultural heritage with support for the economic rights of women in rural areas? Sarah Lalou, 38, has found a solution that she summarizes in one word: Doura. Doura, which means "tour" in Algerian Arabic. “It refers to the journeys I undertake to meet women across the country. It’s also the circular economy, which I envision as very short, with women who cultivate, process their products using traditional techniques, and sell them for substantial profit. I also learn the techniques, the idea being to document all this knowledge to preserve the collective memory of our elders,” she explains.
Sarah seems to have had several lives. After studying hospitality in Algiers, she worked as a coordinator for airport operations for the Algerian company, Air Algérie, and then for an international group. She then traveled to Asia and Europe to train in body care to open a SPA in the heights of the capital. “This experience lasted only a year,” she regrets. But Sarah is still searching for herself; after a stint in Oran, her mother's hometown, she returns to Algiers. There, she joins an association that helps sub-Saharan migrants. It is there that she becomes aware of the effect of the land.
Serenity
“During the post-Covid period, I had the idea to restart a vegetable garden for the members of the association. A woman from Cameroon who suffered from psychiatric disorders had been in charge of the small garden. One day, upon arriving at work, I saw this woman lying under a tree contemplating the sky. She seemed calm and serene. In reality, working the land had completely transformed her. She had confessed to her psychologist that she felt a real sense of well-being while gardening, an activity she practiced in her home village. This experience gave me the idea to launch a permaculture training for the members of the association. For me, it was the trigger: I discovered that I loved working the land even though I had never done it before,” she recounts.
Since then, the element of earth has guided Sarah's personal and professional journey. After a period of unemployment, she meets a woman from the village of Thyzza, in the Boumerdès region, east of Algiers. This woman had cultivated her plot of land for decades. “She told me how she was able to support her family by producing fruits and vegetables that she then sold in a small shop. She perpetuated an agricultural tradition that dates back to ancient times as she used seeds from her own crops. It is thanks to her that I understood the necessity of preserving heritage. I also understood that this challenge is primarily that of rural women,” she says.
For two years, Sarah had the opportunity to cultivate the land that this elderly villager made available to her. “This work helped me personally; it gave me incredible energy,” she acknowledges. Sarah continues her research; she wants to highlight the productions of female farmers. In early 2025, she travels to Touggourt, a city in southeastern Algeria, to meet women who cultivate fruits and vegetables in the palm groves. “I arrived at the time of the harvest of local varieties of peppers and carrots. I witnessed the picking of purslane, a plant called Bendrag by the locals, which is used to enhance certain dishes like couscous. They do not just cultivate; they also process. The peppers and carrots are preserved using an ancestral technique with only spring water, coarse salt, and lemon juice. Everything is natural, without any additives,” Sarah observes. Regarding the purslane, she quickly has the idea to transform it into pesto sauce.
During her stay in Touggourt, Sarah meets another woman who prepares the famous Ras-el-hanout, a spice blend that serves as a condiment for many Maghreb dishes. “A recipe that the women in her family have passed down for five generations.” This spice expert from the city of Oued-Souf also makes B’khour, a traditional incense that is burned during ceremonies and celebrations.
Full South
Sarah loads her car with products and returns to Algiers to launch the Doura brand through her company Sois & Crée. She sells her stock of spices and condiments in jars within a few days. Most importantly, she quickly manages to take orders from several gourmet shops in the capital. “This type of business has been thriving in all major cities for a few years, confirming that consumers are looking for high-quality local products,” she notes.
She needs to meet other women to expand the product range. So the entrepreneur hits the road again to Timimoun (1300 km south of Algiers) to establish a partnership with a family of female farmers who grow a variety of local wheat and transform it into couscous. Here too, everything is done traditionally, from harvesting the grains to the semolina that is ground by hand in a stone mill. “In addition to this couscous, they make Rob, a date molasses, highly sought after for its energy qualities. What is interesting is that a young woman from this family has understood through my interest the importance of preserving this know-how passed down by her grandmother. She has also realized that their activities help restore confidence to women, make them more financially independent, and offer them the opportunity to pass on their skills,” she shares with a certain emotion. After Touggourt and Timimoun, Sarah's quest continues. At the beginning of April, she is preparing to head to a village in Kabylie where women cultivate saffron.
The young entrepreneur is constantly launching initiatives. She is currently working on a project for a seed bank of different species from Algeria and the Mediterranean. Her dream? To acquire agricultural land to practice permaculture and create a guesthouse. In the meantime, Sarah continues her Doura through the regions of Algeria.
Cover Photo: It is necessary to meet other women to expand the product range ©Sarah Lalou