Habeeb Salloum is a Canadian author who grew up in Saskatchewan, joined the RCAF during the Second World War, and then worked for the Canadian Department of National Revenue for 36 years. For the last 36 years, he has been a full-time Author and Freelance Writer specializing in food, history and travel. Besides 15 books and 20 chapters in books, he has had refereed articles appear in academic journals such as Canadian Ethnic Studies (University of Calgary); Saskatchewan History (University of Saskatchewan), and The Muslim World (Hartford Seminary). In addition, he has had hundreds of articles about culture, food, travel, history and homesteading in western Canada appear in such publications as the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the Western Producer, Contemporary Review, Forever Young Information Magazine, Countryside & Small Stock Journal Magazine, Vitality Magazine and Saveur.
He is author of: From the Lands of Figs and Olives (Interlink Publishing, 1996); Journeys Back to Arab Spain (The Middle East Studies Center, 1994); Arabic Contributions to the English Vocabulary (Librairie du Liban, 1996); Classic Vegetarian Cooking From the Middle East and North Africa (Interlink Publishing, 2000); Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead: Recipes And Recollections (CPRC, University of Regina, 2005), Bison Delights (CPRC, University of Regina, 2010), The Arabian Nights Cookbook (Tuttle Publishing, 2010); Asian Cooking Made Simple (Sweet Grass Books/Far Country Press, 2014); Arab Cooking on a Prairie Homestead – Recipes and Recollections from a Syrian Pioneer (University of Regina Press, 2017); co-author of two major research studies on medieval Arab cookery: Scheherazade’s Feasts: Foods of the Medieval Arab World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), Sweet Delights from A Thousand and One Nights: The Story of Traditional Arab Sweets (I.B. Tauris, 2013); and The Scent of Pomegranates and Rose Water (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018).
Habeeb’s cookbooks have won international awards: Winner of the Cuisine Canada and The University of Guelph's Silver Canadian Culinary Book Awards in 2006 for Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead: Recipes and Recollections (CPRC, University of Regina, 2005); Winner for Canada: Category "Canada-English for Best Arab Cuisine Cookbook" for Bison Delights: Middle Eastern Cuisine, Western Style (Regina: CPRC, University of Regina, 2010), Gourmand Best in the World Competition, Gourmand Awards, Paris, 2010; and Winner for U.S.A.: Category "Best Arab Cuisine Cookbook" for The Arabian Nights: From Lamb Kebabs to Baba Ghannouj (North Clarendon, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2010), Gourmand Best in the World Competition, Paris, 2010.
Habeeb was awarded the 2013 Saskatchewan Tourism Travel Media Award by Saskatchewan Tourism (Provincial Government of Saskatchewan) on April 10, 2014 for his literary work on travel, tourism and the culinary arts of that province. In September 2018, Habeeb was awarded the Governor General of Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal for his ground-breaking research and publications about the early Syrian immigrants to Canada, adding a new area of study in Canadiana studies.