Yaqout (Ruby) Al-Faqih was born in 1915, in Lebanon. Most of the recipes in this cookbook were passed down several generations of the Al-Faqih family.

From deep roots in the Chouf mountains, Hoda Al-Faqih's family destiny created a unique opportunity for the evolution and elevation of these recipes. Many would land on elegant dinner tables at Embassy and diplomatic parties.

At 16 Yaqout married her sweetheart Asad who, as a bilingual law student, was soon wooed and recruited into the political world.
A few years later she would find herself entertaining international dignitaries and Arab Royalty as the wife of now Ambassador Al-Faqih. Yaqout worked diligently at perfecting her culinary skills to meet the demands of the embassy’s official entertaining. She transformed into a confident, capable, witty hostess, whose dinners were a topic of conversation on two continents.  

In 1968, at the persistence of friends, she capitulated to authoring a cookbook. When she began this project she recruited Dad, now retired from diplomatic life, as editor. Mother never measured ingredients, which meant she had to prepare each recipe multiple times to perfect quantities. As a teenager still living at home, I spent many weekends helping prepare lavish dinners for parties of 30+ guests, which became the vehicle for this work.

During her travels she requested and collected recipes from regional chefs to add to her repertoire. Some dishes were unknown in other countries which helped turn her cookbook into a unique compendium of recipes from Pakistan to Turkey, Jordan to Egypt and the Gulf countries.

I watched mother’s hands chop, dice, mince, slice, sauté, stir, stuff, and mix ingredients. Cooking in our family had always been a labor of love. It was her creative presentations of dishes as much as her nurturing yet forceful personality that gained her a reputation from the White House to Beirut.

Around 1973 my eldest sister Selma, living in California, translated the recipes with the help of a host of good friends who had enjoyed mother’s cooking during our visits. The 500+ recipes were typed, edited and re-typed. They sat in a box until they made their way to me after her passing. So, my sister’s loving, marathon effort has made this volume featuring delicious favorites, possible.

I edited the recipes and quantities to better suit current diets and lifestyles, while preserving their authenticity. During the 15 years that I offered a catering service in the San Francisco Bay Area, Lebanese food was requested the most.

I hope these recipes nurture you and your families with the love poured into them, and you have fun cooking together!