About

The Food Blog is a written collection of complete randomness produced by the scattered brain of Sydney-based food writer Fouad Kassab – me. I grew up in Jbeil (Byblos), Lebanon, the oldest continuously inhabited city on Earth; the city in which the ancient Phoenicians invented the alphabet and from which they spread the means to document knowledge to the wide world. Like my seafaring forefathers, I have a genetic predisposition to haggle and barter, and several chromosomes reserved purely for gluttony and epicurism. Like them, too, I am a sucker for the written word and am similarly afflicted with the same love for travel.

And so, in 2001, at the age of 21, I left the glittering, over-fished and increasingly polluted shores of the Mediterranean and arrived to Australia in search of a different life. With more races and nationalities than could logically fit into one city, Sydney showed me the cuisines of the world – food prepared by migrant families as they would cook it back in their country of origin, adapted to our climate and produce. I ate a lot and put on more kilos than I’d like to share. With my growing waistline, my curiosity for food also grew, and in the absence of my amazingly talented mother to cook for me, I also had to learn to fend for my self. I became increasingly interested in food, its history, its migration and its significance in a cultural context. I researched and learnt about the food of my own region, the Levant, and I started The Food Blog partially as a way to document my personal learning experience and to share my heritage and culture. Though The Food Blog heavily features my thoughts on Lebanese food, I try not to be too restrictive. Anything goes.

The Food Blog is one of my greatest sources of joy. It has opened up a world unknown to me, and provided me with many great opportunities. I have had the privilege of writing for and contributing to many major publications. I have contributed to the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, Good Pub Food Guide, Everyday Eats (formerly Cheap Eats) and the Good Cafe Guide. I’ve been published in Good Living, one of Australia’s most revered food publications and I also recorded audio segments for SBS radio and SBS online on Middle Eastern food and culture.

If you have enjoyed reading a post or two here at The Food Blog, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email on food[at]thefoodblog.com.au