Where to Start with Salma Hage
Salma Hage is a Lebanese home cook and cookbook author from Mazraat et Toufah (Apple Hamlet), a small village in the mountains of the Kadisha Valley in northern Lebanon. She learned to cook from her mother, her mother-in-law, and her sisters-in-law while helping raise her eleven siblings, and she spent over 50 years perfecting the recipes of her family and community. Her debut cookbook, The Lebanese Kitchen (2012), won the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook and became the standard reference for Lebanese home cooking in English. She has since published The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook (2016), The Mezze Cookbook (2018), Middle Eastern Sweets (2021), and The Levantine Vegetarian (2023). Her books are published by Phaidon and are known for their authenticity, clarity, and comprehensive scope.
Start here
The Lebanese Kitchen
Salma Hage · 496 pages · 2012 · Easy
Themes: Lebanese home cooking, mezze, Middle Eastern cuisine, family recipes, traditional cooking
The book that introduced Salma Hage to the world and established her as the foremost authority on Lebanese home cooking in English. With more than 500 recipes, The Lebanese Kitchen covers the complete range of the cuisine: mezze, salads, soups, fish, meat, vegetables, breads and pastries, desserts, drinks, pickles, and preserves. It won the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook.
Why Start Here
The Lebanese Kitchen is the obvious starting point because it is Hage’s most complete and most personal work. Every recipe in the book comes from her own family tradition or her community in the Kadisha Valley, and that authenticity sets it apart from more restaurant-oriented cookbooks. The instructions are written for home cooks with clear, step-by-step guidance that assumes competence but not expertise.
The book’s breadth is its greatest strength. You can start with a simple hummus or tabbouleh and, as your confidence grows, move into kibbeh, stuffed grape leaves, or elaborate pastries. Unlike her later, more focused books, The Lebanese Kitchen gives you the full picture of Lebanese cooking in a single volume.
What to Expect
A 496-page hardcover published by Phaidon with photographs throughout. The recipes are organized by category and range from 15-minute preparations to multi-hour projects. Stock your pantry with tahini, sumac, za’atar, pomegranate molasses, rose water, and orange blossom water. The writing is straightforward and practical, focused on getting you cooking rather than telling stories.