Born in Palestine in 1940, Nadia Farah’s knowledge of Middle Eastern cuisine grew from an early age. At her mother’s side in the kitchen, Nadia observed closely as her mother presented her family with platters of appetizing falafel, hoummos, tabbouleh, kafta and a wide range of more traditional Middle Eastern dishes still undiscovered by the Western World. But it was only in 1964–the year when Nadia ventured to Canada with her family–that her own culinary skills flourished.
Recalling her many years of training, she experimented endlessly, perfecting and recording the Middle Eastern recipes that were handed down verbally from generation to generation. Finally in 1982, Nadia set about to document traditional Middle Eastern cuisine in book form, focusing particularly on recipes with Palestinian approaches. Published by Deneau Publishers, Toronto, “Ah! Cooking the Middle Eastern Way” was one of the first Middle Eastern cookbooks on the Canadian scene to offer adventurous cooks a chance to travel to a new culinary world full of flavorful, mouth watering delights.
Nadia's Cooking 
hi Nadia, this is Zein from Jamaica. You had helped me with a recipe for the rice with lamb and chick peas a few years ago. I am desperately trying to find your cookbook to buy and all the sites don’t have it. Can you please please please tell me where I can buy a copy of your book?
Hi Zein,
Its good to hear from you and to know of your interest in my cookbook. True, there are no copies available at the present, but I am in the final stages of polishing and refining a much expanded second edition. I have recently embarked on finding a publisher interested in such a project. Wish me luck, and stay in touch!
Nadia
Thanks! Can you believe I actually found a used one in a small bookshop in Michigan through a used-book website online? Yaay!
let me know when your new cookbook is published! I will buy the first copy! Can’t wait!
Good luck!
Hello Nadia, I was raised in the U.S. and married a Palestinian in 2003. Prior to our marriage I became interested in Arabic cooking. I found your old web site in which dozens of your recipes were posted; I believe at that time you were posting recipes on your son’s web site. I was drawn to your recipes because they seemed rather authentic (pigeon musakhan!) but also easy for a North American to understand, so I tried your kefta bil tahini and imsakaa and the rest is history. Your kefta bil tahini was the first meal I cooked for my husband’s family and got their thumbs up! Thanks to you, I learned many other Arabic dishes, and my husband loves to tell the story of how I learned to cook Arabic food after “finding Nadia” on the Internet! I have many printouts of recipes from your old website, all of them stained from the cooking process 🙂
Thank you so much for enriching our table all these years! I am grateful to have “found” you again in order to express my gratitude at last!
p.s. If there is any way to purchase a book I would be thrilled to buy one!
Thank you Ann, for your nice words! I think I remember your email, from a l o n g time ago. And true, my website was connected to my son-in-law’s website. So here we are again with a blog that he set up for me with wordpress. I am so grateful to him.
All the best to you and your family!
Nadia
Hello Mrs. Farah 🙂 Its me Hazel 🙂 I found out about your blog from your son. As it turns out I am a big fan of middle eastern cooking so I will be following you! Keep the recipes and posts coming!!
Oh Hazel! I remember John often speaking of you – always good. All the best to you! Nadia
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Please inform me when your new book is published and where to buy it. I lost my copy of your old book and I really miss it.
Oh Widad, nice hearing from you! Your friend, Nadia
Hi Mrs Farah, Attila here! So glad to hear you are doing a second edition of your book. Over the years, I have tried many of your recipes and they are fantastic. I remember eating your food at your house with John, and it was so incredibly delicious!
All the best, hope to see you soon
Dear Attila, nice to hear from you and thank you for your kind words! Quite often I listen to your music; and yesterday I listened to a number of pieces that you and John performed together; a very impressive performance to say the least…
All the best to you and your family!
Mrs. Farah
Hi, Nadia! My husband, Keith Denning, was one of the founders of Earshot Concerts, at which your son played. I recall the tasty food you brought to at least one of the concerts but had no idea that this food was prepared by somebody who actually wrote a cookbook! I have bookmarked this site and look forward to seeing the 2nd edition of your cookbook.
Thank you for your kind words, Denise. My very best wishes to you and your family in the coming 2013!
Hi Nadia, my nam is Fatina, I was wondering if we are related, my maiden name is Farah, my dad was born in Nazareth, he was from the Jabal dar farah..I have many cousins that live in Canada with the surname Farah…wonder if you know them!!….I love the recipes I’m going to try the anise, sesame cookies…hope to hear from you soon.. and can’t wait for the cookbook to come out..
Hello Fatina,
My mother is happy to receive your message, and to see your interest in the website. She is sick at this time, we hope her health will improve. I just read your message to her, and she wishes you the best!
John Farah
So sorry to hear that she is sick, wish her a speedy recovery..also let her know I made the cookies and loved them. Best regards
Hello Fatina,
I am so happy to be active with my blog again! As John told you the past few months haven’t been easy, but I am stronger now – for a while at least…
I see that your family name has Latif in it. My very best friend in high school was from the Latif family and her name started with ‘M’. Could it be that you’re related? We both went to the convent of Nazareth in Haifa.
Waiting to hear from you!
Nadia
Hi Nadia I’m so happy to hear you are feeling better. Acctualy my surname is Farah my parents were from Nazareth my Fathers family are the Farah”s of Jabal dar Farah in Nazareth, it’s possible that we are related if you are from the Jabal I hope so it would be nice to have a famous relative and also I’ll know where I get my love for cooking!! Hope to hear from you again,, Fatinah (Tina)
I am happy to hear from you! Actually my husband is a Farah – from Shefa Amer – his brother is the well acclaimed and prolific writer/poet George Farah; so it seems we are not related… But we ARE related in humanity and good will to one another, aren’t we? 🙂
My maiden name is Assal, (paternal grandfather Naim Assal – your parents would have heard of him…; and maternal relatives are the Suidans in Haifa. Oh, beautiful Haifa!!!)
Bye for now, Nadia
mmm delicious, I love the middle eastern cuisine.
I am in a Lebanese restaurant having dinner in Montreal. It is noisy with talk and lots of laughter – just like when I would go to Nadia & Fred’s home (to see them and my friend Mary Anne)! This and the good food (Rouby in Laval) have made me both happy and sad. I miss Nadia but she lives in my heart and we still follow her excellent recipes.
Dave McEachran – December 7, 2016
Hi Nadia! I am looking for someone who is interested in a part time job cooking Palestine food in Toronto. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you😀
In 2001 I had printed the Red Lentil Soup (Shorabit Adas Majroush) recipe off the old website which is now defunct. The recipe is slightly different than what is on this site as Yellow Lentil Soup. Then I wanted to get a copy of AH! COOKING THE MIDDLE EASTERN WAY, but couldn’t find it anywhere I tried online. The used book sites seemed promising, and by creating accounts on a few of these sites and putting it on my wish lists on them, it turned up today. Thank you for this website. I am looking forward to getting the cookbook now, and will be checking out cookingmiddleeasterfood.com more too.