
Chef, foodwriter, journalist, broadcaster, consultant and blogger focusing on the cuisines and culinary heritage of the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa, and most recently the Islamic world. Born and raised between Beirut, Lebanon, and Mashtael- Helou, Syria, she knows the Mediterranean as only a well-travelled native can. Author of numerous award-winning cookbooks including Feast, Food of the Islamic World; Sweet Middle East, Levant, The Fifth Quarter, An Offal Cookbook; Modern Mezze; Savory Baking from the Mediterranean; Mediterranean Street Food; Café Morocco; and Lebanese Cuisine, which was a finalist for the prestigious Andre Simon awards and chosen as one of the Los Angeles Times’ favourite books in 1998. Mediterranean Street Food received Gourmand World Cookbook awards and was included in Food & Wine magazine’s selection of the Best of the Best for 2002. It was also chosen by Cooking Light magazine as one of the top 100 cookbooks of the last 25 years. Savory Baking from the Mediterranean was chosen by NPR, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Food & Wine as one of the best cookbooks for 2007 and Levant was chosen as best of the year by several publications including the Observer Food Monthly and Australian Gourmet Traveller. As for Feast, it was chosen by the New Yorker as one of the 10 best cookbooks of the century so far. Helou was also listed in 2013 in the Arabian Business Magazine as one of the “100 Most Powerful Arab Women” and on the “500 Most Influential Arabs”