Salma Hage (born 8 January 1942) is a Lebanese author and

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

. She is the author of the bestselling

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

''The Lebanese Kitchen''. Her second book ''The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook'' won her the

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...

in the Vegetable Cooking category.

Early life

Hage was born in Mazraat El Toufah in northern

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

in 1942. Her father was a

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

priest, and she was the eldest of 12 children, learning cookery skills from her grandmother.

Life in the UK

In 1967 she moved with her family to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in south London, UK. She worked as a Kitchen Hand in her mid-twenties, then worked her way up to the role of Head Chef for a large catering organisation, learning to appreciate

English cuisine English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but is also very similar to wider British cuisine, partly historically and partly due to the import of i ...

while bringing the flavours of home, of Lebanon, to share with others wherever she cooked. Salma and her husband continue to visit Lebanon every year and remain deeply connected to their roots.

''The Lebanese Kitchen''

In 2012 Salma wrote ''The Lebanese Kitchen'' for

Phaidon Press Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional of ...

. A definitive guide to traditional cuisine from Lebanon, the cookery book contains more than five hundred of her recipes from her fifty years’ experience of cooking, ranging from light, tempting mezzes to rich and hearty main courses.

''The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook''

The second cookbook followed in 2016 with one hundred and fifty new recipes in line with the current Western trends of consciously reducing meat, and the ancient Middle Eastern culture of largely vegetarian, mezze style dining. Salma incorporates some new ingredients too, creating a modern approach to authentic Lebanese food with many options for

Vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

and

Gluten free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of prolamin proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats ...

diets.

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

chef

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants, including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career D ...

authored the foreword for this prequel which later won great acclaim including recognition as the

Winner in 2017, in the Vegetable Cooking category.

Awards

*(2017)

‘Vegetable Cooking’ for ''The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook''.

Works

Hage, Salma (2024). ''The Levantine Vegetarian.'' London: Phaidon Press, Hage, Salma (2021). ''Middle Eastern Sweets.'' London: Phaidon Press, Hage, Salma (2018). ''The Middle Eastern Mezze Cookbook.'' London: Phaidon Press, Hage, Salma (2016). ''The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook.'' London: Phaidon Press, Hage, Salma (2012). ''The Lebanese Kitchen''. London: Phaidon Press,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hage, Salma 1942 births Lebanese chefs Lebanese Maronites Living people People from Zgharta District Vegetarian cookbook writers Women chefs