Bestselling author Salma Hage is from Mazarat Tiffah (Apple Hamlet) in the mountains of the Kadisha Valley in north Lebanon. She has over 50 years of experience of family cooking – learning to cook from her mother, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law, while helping to raise her nine brothers and two sisters. Hage is also the author of Phaidon's James Beard award-winning The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook and The Mezze Cookbook.