A lovely mutual friend, Mei Zhang, who is the founder and owner of Wild China, the best purveyor of interesting trips there, introduced me to Anissa Helou, the foremost food writer, cookery teacher and passionate lover of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Basin food. We met on a wet, wintry New York Saturday morning at City Bakery for a cappuccino and bun – an appropriate venue, I thought, as it is near the Union Square Saturday Greenmarket. Not a day for sorting mushrooms and learning the fine points of 22 different potatoes, we opted for a long chat and many laughs. Anissa had just been to Napa for the World of Flavors conference, and then a road trip in the Valley, all of which you can read about in her delightful – and tastily illustrated – blog.
Anissa grew up in Beirut and spent her summers in Meshta al-Helou in Syria, her father’s ancestral home. She left home many, many years ago and has lived in London in a gorgeous loft in Shoreditch ever since, with stints in Paris & Kuwait. And, of course, that Shoreditch loft has a fabulous kitchen in which she plies her crafts. For more, go to:
http://www.anissas.com/blog1/?m=200912