Bedfont mum-of-two Lina Saad releases The Land of White - a memoir of recipes from her childhood
A mother-of-two from Bedfont has cooked up her first recipe book filled with traditional homemade Lebanese dishes.
The Land of White by Lina Saad, 40, is a food memoir from the author’s beloved homeland where her passion for cooking was first discovered in her grandmother’s kitchen in Lebanon where fresh produce was used to prepare meals daily.
From Lebanon to London via Sierra Leone where she was born, and Beirut where she attended school, her interest in home cooking has always been with her, and her mission has been to pass this onto the next generation as it was from her grandmother down to her aunt, mother and herself.
Mrs Saad’s book takes real cooking experiences from the writer straight to your kitchen, and she hopes it will achieve her aim “to transport readers to the country, food culture and the golden days enjoyed with her grandparents pre-civil war and her nostalgia for those days to be experienced again with her younger family and generations to come.”
It is jam-packed with food , from soups, salads and some mezze to main meals with memoirs, and desserts divided into Arabic and European to reflect Lebanon’s influence from the Ottoman rule and French Mandate.
Dishes include aubergine puree with pomegranate rubies, stuffed Swiss chard cigars and kibbe balls stuffed with minced lamb, all providing a real Lebanese adventure.
The golden days
Bedfont mum-of-two Lina Saad releases first cook book 'The Land of White' - a memoir of recipes from her childhood
Mrs Saad said: The Land of White is a unique cookery book; unlike many Lebanese books that hits their readers with a classical approach of the mezze and the rest of desserts and main courses I chose to look beyond my Lebanese nose.
“The book highlights the golden days moments through food experience and demonstrate that food is the language for culture, folklore and traditions; it is only through good food one’s culture and history is determined and revealed.
“Paragraphs in the book share my memories with my grandfather and also my aunts on food preparation, for example walks from one village to another to pick fresh herbs and make taboule, and the reasons why baba ganouj has developed its name and my memories with my aunt and her preparation.
'Your Lebanese buddy'
The Land of White book cover
Mrs Saad is married to Ali, 42, an orthopedic surgeon and is mum to two children Hsein, aged eight, and Lameece, nearly seven.
She graduated with a BA Hons in Hotel Management from Westminster College and prior to marriage ran the Lebanese restaurant Alicia in Warren Street, London.
The business was left to her father and she moved into banking, then recruitment and research and finally into strategy consultancy as well as now a food writer.
She has seen some of her favourite recipes published in monthly magazines published by Bauer publishing.
The foodie says each recipe holds a special place in her memory which relate to her favourite place.
Mrs Saad added: " The Land of White targets a diverted kind of genre, food lovers, gastronomes and gourmets.
"It is not an ordinary cook book, on the contrary, it is a personal one and I believe it has to enter your kitchen and become your Lebanese buddy.”
Projects in the pipeline include a book on Ramadan Feast and another culinary and historical book on a Lebanese village.
