ONCE UPON A SPICE: An Heirloom Memoir and Novel of Lebanese Cuisine and Heritage (Fabled Feasts) Paperback – November 20, 2025

⭐ PREMIUM COLLECTOR’S EDITION200+ Full-Color photographs + Memoir + Novel + 60 Recipes — First EditionA Culinary Quest. A Time-Travel Portal. An Epic Love. A Kitchen Revolution.A Fabled Feast of Memory, Myth, and Mediterranean Food“Prose that lingers on the tongue—rich as saffron, sharp as lemon, layered as Lebanese phyllo. A novel to be savored, in the tradition of Madeline Miller, Diana Abu Jaber, and Elif Shafak.”⭐ A NOVEL YOU CAN TASTE.⭐ A COOKBOOK YOU CAN READ LIKE MYTHOLOGY.What if your family recipes held a secret older than time?When chef Noura El-Qaysi climbs into her family's Beirut attic, desperate to save her failing restaurant, she discovers a talisman that shatters every boundary she knows.One heartbeat, she’s drowning in debt and her mother’s quiet nostalgia.The next, she’s barefoot in the spice markets of ancient Phoenicia — a world where food is power, prophecy, and the only currency that matters.To survive, Noura must cook her way into belonging.To return home, she must unlock a divine lineage hidden in recipes she thought she knew.To understand herself, she must taste 3,000 years of memory — one meal at a time.⭐ WHAT YOU’LL FIND INSIDE• 60+ heritage recipes that truly work• 684 pages of full-color storytelling, art & design• A sensory time-travel novel rooted in Phoenician myth• A mother–daughter memoir of culture, love & belonging• Ancient techniques, spice lore & Rouh wa Nafas philosophy• For readers of Circe, Like Water for Chocolate & The Language of Baklava⭐ A GENRE-SHATTERING MASTERWORK IN THREE ACTS📖 THE FOOD MEMOIRA daughter learns identity isn’t inherited — it’s simmered, shared, kneaded into existence.📖 THE MAGICAL REALISM NOVELFrom Beirut to the temples of Astarte, Noura cooks to survive, barters to belong, and discovers a love older than empires.📖 THE LIVING COOKBOOKRecipes travel old sea routes — sesame, sumac, wheat, oil — carrying myth. Guided by Rouh wa Nafas, you cook with stories.Your kitchen will learn:• freekeh’s forgotten flame• the scent-path of sesame• the bread rituals of Byblos⭐ THIS BOOK FINDS YOU IF YOU…→ ache for a heritage just out of reach→ love immersive novels that read like spells→ want a book worthy of a long conversation and shared table→ believe food is memory, identity, and quiet revolution⭐ INSIDE YOUR COLLECTOR’S EDITION:✦ Over 200 full-color photographs & vintage collages✦ Heritage portraits & Mediterranean design elements✦ Recipes shaped as rituals — food as memory, medicine & myth⭐ EARLY PRAISE“Myth, memory, and Lebanese food. Rouh wa Nafas is ancestral. This book made me feel seen.”— Karelle Nasser, Restaurateur, Eden Haus (Lusaka)“A poetic, precious book of food, memory, and identity. It now sits beside my most loved authors.”— Dr. Sana Assad, Law & Arab Women’s Studies PhD (Beirut)⭐ ABOUT THE AUTHORDinah Elmars is a South African–Lebanese author and cultural storyteller whose work preserves heritage through memory, food, and myth.⭐ YOUR STORY IS WAITING — BUT ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILEThis limited first edition (only 1,000 copies) is a rare gift for those who cherish Lebanese roots, Mediterranean memory, and the stories that anchor us.Perfect for Christmas, engagements, weddings, or as a blessing for a new home.Begin the journey — step into the kitchen where time bends and every recipe carries your name.✦ Book 1 of the Fabled Feasts Series Read more