BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
Arab
Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead:
Recipes and Recollections
Author: Habeeb Salloum
Publisher: Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina (2005)
Reviewed by Ambassadors Research Foundation
This 316-page, 28 chapters illustrated book about Arab cooking, Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead, is written by Habeeb Salloum, an Arab-Canadian of Syrian origin. Salloum worked for the Canadian Department of National Revenue for 36 years then took early retirement to become a full-time author and free-lance writer. Throughout the last 21 years, he has had six books published about food, history and travel, including his famous books: From the Lands of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes from the Middle East and North Africa (Interlink Publishing, Northampton, NY 1995) and Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa (Interlink Publishing. Northampton, NY, 2000). In addition, he has had published 18 chapters in books and hundreds of articles in different journals and magazines, including The Ambassadors Online Magazine.
The author with his siblings and parents in 1962, after leaving their
Saskatchewan farm to explore new lives in urban settings.
Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead is a must read for those interested in the history of immigration to Canada, especially in the 1920’s and provides an insight into the life and survival of an Arab immigrant family from Syria during the Great Depression and western Canada’s horrific years of drought in the 1930’s. Salloum intricately details the survival methods used to accommodate daily life in a healthy manner. Much credit is given to his mother, Shams, who was able to feed eight children with herbs, vegetables, pulses and meats cooked in the methods of their land of origin and introduced to the Saskatchewan dining tables. Habeeb’s father, Jiryas, planted pulses unknown, or for that matter, never even heard of by his non-Arab neighbours and from these Shams prepared feasts of love for her family knowing that each dish was nutritious, tasty and a video-clip from her past.
|
|
In this interesting book, the author explains the journey of the early Arab immigrants to Canada, elaborating on their struggle in this new society. He grew up and lived in Saskatchewan with his parents, three brothers and four sisters, and notes the eventual "Canadianization" or assimilation of his family.
Though Arab cuisine has an international stature today, especially with such dishes as hummus bi tahina, baba ghannuj, tabbulah and shish kabob, Salloum exposes an entire new area of the farmers’ foods where these ‘poor man’s dishes’ are almost as regal as those on the tables of the upper classes. His healthy dishes are rich in vegetables, herbs and spices with, of course, various meats and poultry and fish. The book includes over 200 recipes and the author’s recollections from childhood, combined to tell the story of a little-known group of early immigrants to the prairies of Saskatchewan.
|
|
These early Arab immigrants brought with them their traditional foods making splendid use of burghul, hummus (chickpeas), taboula, kishk, tahini, qawarma, hareesa, and Arabic bread (pita). Using these ingredients and preparing these dishes, these Arab immigrants, unconsciously succeeded in making them an important part of North American cuisine. In different chapters of his book, Habeeb Salloum offers simple, straightforward recipes with thorough recipe instructions. Recipe names are provided in English as well as in Arabic with phonetic spelling. Arab proverbs throughout the book provide both insight and humour.
There have been a number of Canadian-Arab cookbooks published over the past few decades and they were good. Yet, Salloum’s new cookbook delves deeply into the kitchens of old Syria in the new Canadian west. What will surprise the reader is that so much can be done with simple ingredients that have been part of Middle Eastern cuisine for millennia. It is an essential addition to the repository of cooking shelves and for those who like to cook. Whether the expert gastronome, the leading chef, the household cook or anyone who just enjoys food, Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead is the perfect guide for cooking.
Interestingly, the Mediterranean-style diet is on the move upwards in these days of nutrition and health. A recent multi-centre study published on July 4, 2006 by Dr. Ramon Estruch et al showed that a Mediterranean-style diet supplemented with olive oil or nuts has beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk factors (Ramon Estruch et.al 2006. "Effects of Mediterranean-style Diet on Cardiovascular Risk Factors. A Randomized Trial," Annals of Internal Medicine, 145(1): 1-11).
Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead adds fuel to this fire. It is a must for any kitchen.
Two Other Books by Habeeb Salloum:
