'Craving Palestine': Mohamed Hadid contributes recipes to cookbook described as 'love letter' to homeland

The Palestinian-Jordanian real estate developer has shared special family dishes

Mohamed Hadid has contributed recipes to new cookbook, 'Craving Palestine'. AP, Instagram / Craving Palestine

Mohamed Hadid has contributed recipes to Craving Palestine, a new cookbook which describes itself as a "love letter and tribute to Palestine". It aims to take budding chefs "through Palestine though the voices and tales of inspirational Palestinians from all walks of life".

The collection was co-authored by Farrah Abuasad and Lama Bazzari, and co-curated by Fadi Kattan, and was released on Thursday, October 1.

Palestinian-Jordanian real estate developer Hadid has contributed two recipes to the book, which is donating its proceeds to youth education, development and health programmes that benefit Palestinian refugees and communities in refugee camps across Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan through its NGO partner, Anera.

"Come with me on my journey through the towns, cities and villages of Palestine ... follow me into the thousands of years of food culture that’s the land [of] olive oil, olives, zaatar, grapes and grape leaves," Hadid wrote on Instagram.

"Two of my recipes in this book I learnt from my mother that she learnt from her mother ... my mother cooked for everyone. I learnt a lot from my mother and father about how to eat and what to eat, and most important is to host and feed people from all gods, all religions, from the plentiful, well-cultivated earth of Palestine."

The book is a collection of more than 100 "beautifully curated recipes", which include qidra, a spiced rice stew; chargrilled octopus; okra stew; and kanafeh. The recipes have been contributed by Palestinians from all walks of life, the website explains.

Contributors span the worlds of actors, entrepreneurs, artists, authors, academics, poets, chefs and politicians. As well as Hadid, there are a number of major names who have played a role in the curation of the book, including US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, poets and authors Naomi Shihab Nye, Susan Abulhawa and Lisa Majaj, and musicians Le Trio Joubran.

The website reads: "The book is a love letter and tribute to Palestine and goes to the heart of the relationship between food and identity and includes a very diverse community."

Cooking with Mohamed Hadid 

Hadid regularly shares Palestinian recipes on his social media.

In September, Bella Hadid shared videos to her Instagram Stories showing her father cooking the family a Middle Eastern feast. The videos showed the whole kitchen counter covered with freshly made dishes, including hummus sprinkled with parsley and drizzled with olive oil, laban with fresh cucumber and Arabic bread sprinkled with zaatar.

Mohamed Hadid's maeloubah recipe, which he shared to Instagram. Instagram / Mohamed Hadid

During Ramadan he shared his maeloubah recipe, which his son, Anwar Hadid, and Anwar's girlfriend, Dua Lipa, tried their hand at making from London.

'Craving Palestine' costs $49.95 and is available now from order.cravingpalestine.com