Imaye Dabo grew up in the Beta Israel community where dabo was not everyday bread — it was Shabbat bread, holiday bread, bread that marked the moments that mattered. Sweetened with honey and spiced with coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, and fenugreek, it was traditionally wrapped in banana leaves and slow-baked, then brought to be blessed before being shared at the Shabbat table alongside agavat cheese and honey. At the end of Sigd — the Beta Israel holiday observed 50 days after Yom Kippur — the women of the community hand dabo to the Kessim for blessing before breaking the fast. Dabo was never casual food. It was ceremonial, communal, and made with intention.

Her work is rooted in Beta Israel baking tradition — dabo in its Shabbat form, spiced and honey-sweetened and shaped into a round loaf, dabo kolo which are small fried pieces of dabo dough eaten as a snack, and the particular knowledge of how honey, teff, and spice work together in Ethiopian Jewish cooking. Imaye understands that this is a cuisine shaped by centuries of practicing Judaism in Ethiopia — distinct from both mainstream Ethiopian food culture and from Ashkenazi or Sephardi Jewish traditions.

In Universo da Doçura, Imaye represents a food tradition that is ancient, specific, and often overlooked in global Jewish food conversations. Her dabo is made for Shabbat, blessed before eating, and always offered with warmth.