Madelain farah biography channel

WHEN THE NEW version of “Lebanese Cuisine” came out recently, Leila Habib-Kirske began getting very specific messages of gratitude.

Fans of the original not only shared their joy about decades of happy cooking (and eating!) — they also shared photos of their dog-eared, falling-apart first editions. Some were held together with rubber bands around them; some were carefully kept in plastic freezer bags. 

The book stood as a simple, spiral-bound revelation when Habib-Kirske’s mother, Madelain Farah, first self-published it in 1972, fulfilling orders by mail herself (with young Habib-Kirske’s help).

Back then, recipes for the likes of hummus, tabbouleh and ful imdammas (falafel) weren’t easy to find, and “Lebanese Cuisine” became a treasured underground classic to cooks from Lebanon, other parts of the Middle East and far be