A confession.  The real inspiration for my lifelong love and fascination with Lebanon’s cuisine has a sticky, sweet origin — puddings. I think that’s partly because they were rare, for special occasions — Eid, birthdays, marriages and funerals. One of my best memories dates to just before the war. My father would walk with me downtown to one of the old colonial squares that would soon be rendered out of bounds and then destroyed by the fighting. We would go […]

Categories: Lebanese recipes, memory and culture

Well, as I was saying, I tried to grow a pomegranate tree in London.  The bush grew but the pomegranates didn’t. But someone has had more success than me.  The picture shows a pomegranate tree with fruit ripening on it in Richmond in south west London. It’s a hobby of mine to track down fruit trees, both ordinary and exotic, in unusual, urban places.  I’ll be posting more — but would love to hear if anyone else has found incongruous […]

Categories: Lebanese recipes, memory and culture

Lebanon is my home.  I left it many years ago, but it is still with me in its scents, its flavors and its textures.  The wonderful freshness and generosity of its food has always stayed with me as a key part of who I am.   I want to share some of the pleasure and pride that I have in my culinary heritage, both with younger generations who may not have had the luck to learn these dishes as I did […]

Categories: Lebanese recipes, memory and culture