Anissa Helou, author of "Lebanon: Cooking the Food of My Homeland." (Credit: Kristin Perers)
What sets Anissa Helou apart, and makes her a leading figure in the culinary world, is above all the consistency and scope of her work. In just over three decades, she has built a prolific bibliography of 10 books, now joined by an eleventh, “Lebanon: Cooking the Food of My Homeland.”Through her works, she has done more than establish herself as a food critic, or even demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the Middle Eastern and Levantine cuisines she explores. She has gradually carved out a different, rarer role, almost without equivalent: that of a food anthropologist. More like this Came to Beirut for a year, stayed 33 more: The Lebanese story of French pastry chef Lionel Pellé Her approach is precise, almost academic, in the way she documents, dissects, and recreates. Something meticulous in the truest sense of the word, which...
What sets Anissa Helou apart, and makes her a leading figure in the culinary world, is above all the consistency and scope of her work. In just over three decades, she has built a prolific bibliography of 10 books, now joined by an eleventh, “Lebanon: Cooking the Food of My Homeland.”Through her works, she has done more than establish herself as a food critic, or even demonstrate an in-depth...
