Lebanese Cuisine Past and Present

About the Book

Winner of the Gourmand Best Arab Cuisine Cookbook Award

Lebanon offers a unique variety of fragrant and refined dishes, enriched over centuries by new flavours and spices brought by traders from across the Mediterranean. Appreciated the world over, Lebanese cuisine is renowned for its savoury and sweet specialities: from falafel, tabbouleh, spicy grills and simmered stews, to succulent rose and pistachio pastries.

Andrée Maalouf and Karim Haïdar (Comptoir Libanais) share this rich culinary heritage through more than one hundred easy-to-follow recipes, along with an explanation of key ingredients and their place in Lebanese cooking. Traditional recipes have been subtly re-interpreted with a modern twist, which will delight lovers of Lebanese cuisine of all generations.

This is authentic Mediterranean food at its best – perfect for everyday eating and entertaining alike.

About the Author

Andrée Maalouf is a Lebanese chef who has been living in France for the past forty years. Maalouf has adapted her recipes to local ingredients while celebrating her country’s culinary heritage. Alongside Karim Haidar, she has published two bestselling cookbooks in France which celebrate forgotten and modern Lebanese dishes.
Karim Haïdar is a world-renowned chef and food consultant noted for reinventing Lebanese cuisine and giving new life its forgotten recipes. He has created contemporary Lebanese cuisine in his award-winning restaurants in Paris, London and Beirut, including the fast-food chain Comptoir Libanais in London. Haïdar recently founded the Academy of Arab Cuisine in Paris with the most prominent chefs and personalities in Oriental gastronomy and culture.