Growing up in small-town South Africa, Sophia Lindop mostly felt like an outsider but she always told people, with great pride, that she was Lebanese. As a child, her only link to the mysterious country called Lebanon, the country she was told they came from, was through its food. After school and on weekends, it was in the kitchens of the women in her family that she found her belonging, and it was in those flavours that she found her identity. A promise to her Dad in the dark hours of the night on which he left earth took her to the land of her forefathers.

She was going home. Going Home tells the stories behind the rich Lebanese food culture.

Come and be seated at Sophia’s Lebanese table and relish the meaning of life – togetherness, sharing, laughter, and above all, good food.

Sophia Lindop has produced a book telling the tale of the two main influences, namely the Indian population and the Malay population, and how these eating habits influenced the rest of our country in such a way that these recipes are now part of our national heritage. In medieval times spices were a commodity reserved solely for the wealthy. And as it goes, these individuals created such a demand for its production and trade that wars ensued where many brave men risked and lost their lives. This is hard to imagine when “Please pass me the pepper” is a simple request in today’s world. The tale of spices begins before the creation of the world when, according to Assyrian myth, the gods sipped on a spiced wine before they commenced the mammoth task of creating the earth. And in Egypt, in the Great Pyramid of Giza, hieroglyphics tell of the consumption of spices, garlic and onion to build up the strength of the people. Ancient Sumerians began to use spices medicinally as long as five thousand years ago. The Chinese claim that they had been using more than 300 kinds of herbs and spices in medicines around that time too. Some three thousand years ago ancient Egyptians were embalming their dead using spices, among other things, while, in Biblical times, Joseph was sold into slavery to passing spice merchants by his envious brothers. And, while all this was going on, the Romans used spices to perform sorcery and magic. Today pumpkin without cinnamon, potatoes without nutmeg and a curry without ginger is unimaginable, so, even now, all around the world, spices are still making magic.