# Habeeb Salloum

Habeeb Salloum, M.S.M. (9 March 1924 – 4 December 2019) was a prominent Arab-Canadian author and freelance writer. Salloum centered his writings on Canada, travel, and the culinary arts, Arab and world history, with a specific focus on cooking and tourism.

## Career

Salloum was 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 30 years of his life, he was a full-time author and freelance writer specializing in food, history, and travel. Besides 14 books and 20 chapters in books, he wrote at least 2,000 published articles about culture, food, travel, history and homesteading in western Canada that have appeared in such publications as the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the Western Producer, Contemporary Review, Forever Young Information, Countryside & Small Stock Journal, Backwoods Home, Vitality, High On Adventure, and Saveur.
Salloum authored and co-authored fourteen books. Before his death, he worked on revising studies of Arabic contributions to the English and Spanish languages with his daughters, Muna and Leila. Habeeb wrote hundreds of articles on history, food, travel, homesteading in western Canada, and Arab-Canadian history. He was considered Canada's foremost expert on Arab cuisine and Syrian immigration to Canada.
During his travels, he experienced the cuisine of hundreds of different countries and wrote numerous articles about each country's food fare. Along with his writings on food, he focused many of his writings on each country's history and travel. Much of his writings focus on the cuisine, tourism, and history of the Mediterranean countries, Spanish (Latin)-speaking world, Canada, and Arabs living in Canada, specifically Arab pioneering and homesteading in western Canada. He also delved into the impact of Arab / Muslim Spain on the advancement of world history and contributions of the Arabic language on English and Spanish vocabularies.

## Personal life

Salloum was born to Jiryas Ya'qub Salloum (father) and Shams (née Saliba) (mother) in the Qaroun within Syria (after his birth this section of Syria became part of modern-day Lebanon). A few months later, he and his mother and older brother immigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada to join his father who had emigrated six months earlier. Salloum had three brothers and four sisters.
Salloum was raised in Saskatchewan on his family's homestead farm. During World War II (1943–1945), he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. When he finished his time with the RCAF, Salloum came back to Canada and started a new life in the city of Toronto. In 1950, in Toronto, he married Freda (née Abourezk, or Bourzk).
In Toronto, Salloum worked for Revenue Canada, Customs and Excise, while at the same time pursuing his interests in literature, cooking and academics. Many years later, after retiring from Revenue Canada, he was able to become a full-time freelance writer and author. Once he began his new profession, he began his widespread travels around the world.
Salloum had three children, Muna, Leila, and Raji. He had four grandchildren, Laith, Mazin, Jinaan, and Shaadi, and five great-grandsons, Bilal, Tamer, Khadeen (Kaden), Kiaan, and Qais, and two great-granddaughters, Layal and Tala.