Jad Choucair's spring salad with his 5-year-old son, Lazare

For the salad

1. Peel the peaches and set them aside in the refrigerator.
2. Dice two cucumbers.
3. Toast the nuts (pistachios and almonds) in olive oil, then crush them.
4. Cut three slices of double cream cheese into cubes.
5. Mix the oil used to fry the nuts with the cheese.

For plating

1. Arrange the peach slices on a plate.
2. Add the cucumbers.
3. Spoon over the mixture of cheese and crushed nuts.
4. Add the lemon zest, oregano leaves and drizzle with olive oil. It's ready!

A culinary flair passed down from mother to son

In Jad Choucair's culinary world, his mother remains a central influence. "Watching my mother cook with such ease and creativity inspired me deeply," he says. "She would always ask us to taste what she was making and explain the ingredients in each dish. Those moments sparked my curiosity and shaped my skills." He also recalls how, in a modest kitchen, she prepared feasts for family and neighbors while caring for her children on her own after school. "She made it all seem so easy and natural. Now that I have children of my own, I realize how generous and patient she was."

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Jad's connection to cooking is rooted in the land and the seasons, a philosophy he hopes to pass on to his sons, Lazare, 5, and Malek, 3. "Since they were very young, I've introduced them to nature. I first did this in Australia, in our orchard, and now through the visually imperfect but delicious vegetables grown by farmers in Lebanon," he says. Still, he admits with a laugh that fries are their favorite indulgence. "To be honest, Lazare loves fries too, but what he really enjoys is biting into a ripe tomato and dipping it into a small bowl of cashews."

Although fries are his guilty pleasure, his most cherished childhood food memory is a simple salad eaten in southern Lebanon: fresh green almonds, mint, sumac and yogurt. "It had raw, floral aromas. The whole family loved it. We ate it in our orchard. It's a memory forever engraved in me."

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