Authentic Lebanese Cookbook Goes Mobile

Shahiya.com knows about authentic Lebanese food.

It was “shahiya”- meaning appetite in Arabic- that fueled its creation and so appetite became its name.

When the three co-founders Hala Labaki, Daniel Neuwirth and U.S. registered dietitian Carole Makhoul – who is in charge of the Diet section - rejoined in Lebanon, they shared their con¬cern for safeguarding their culinary heritage and their desire to make it more accessible.

“We were craving Lebanese cuisine while studying abroad, but couldn’t find a dependable online source,” said Co-founder Hala Labaki.

“We were obliged to call our parents and friends for recipes. This is how we first identified a need.”

With the rise of online social platforms, the solution was plain to see, and shahiya.com was born.

And now with a successful run online, boasting over 23,000 members, Shahiya.com has launched the Cook Lebanese – 101 recipes iPhone application.

“For our first application we decided to focus on what we know best: Lebanese Cuisine”, says Daniel Neuwirth, Co-Founder.

101 quintessentially Lebanese recipes were selected by the Shahiya team. The team then ac-tually cooked, tasted and fine-tuned these recipes.

The resulting final, foolproof set of recipes made it into the app. The 101 recipes are divided into nine categories with a vegetarian filter offered for each. The dish pictures are not only beautiful; they genuinely illustrate the expected end result.

Each dish has an English name next to its phonetic Lebanese name, a brief introduction, a simple step-by-step cooking method, preparation time, difficulty level and nutritional informa¬tion - which is quite rare for Middle Eastern food.

The app ‘Cook Lebanese – 101 recipes’ is avail¬able in six languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese). Conveniently, all the listed ingredients are readily available any¬where in the world, and all recipes can be emailed to friends with a click of a button.

In a nutshell, that’s the Lebanese culinary heritage meeting the entire world, 21st century style.