Author Nadeem Mansour and his mother cooking together in the kitchen.Maya Visnyei/Supplied
In the Middle East, every name means something. Thuraya, for example, refers to a cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, and in ancient Arabic mythology they symbolize fertility, abundance and protection.
Thuraya also happens to be the name of Toronto-based cookbook author Nadeem Mansour’s mother, a whiz in the kitchen from whom he inherited his deep love of Levantine and Jordanian cuisine. So, when he finally completed his first cookbook, filled with 120 recipes he grew up eating in his mom’s aroma-filled kitchen in Amman, he knew her name would grace the cover.
“Just like her name means a constellation that can be seen from afar, bright and guiding, my mom has been that to me throughout my life: a source of warmth and wisdom,” says Mansour, who moved to Canada in 2004. “She literally lit my path and continues to do so.”
Thuraya: Recipes from our Family’s Kitchen in Jordan is, at its heart, a love letter from a son to his mom. And, as cookbooks go, it is unique. Part travelogue, part memoir and part culinary diary, it is gorgeous to flip through, filled with images of mouth-watering dishes, cultural landmarks (Wadi Rum, Amman Citadel, Petra), vibrant streetscapes and souks, and photographs of his family, usually gathered around his mother’s table.
Mansour’s path to writing this cookbook – which has been shortlisted as a 2025 finalist at the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in three major categories, Best of the Best, Family and Mediterranean – began as a hobby so that he and his sister, Hania, had a record of some of their mom’s favourite recipes, which she made off the top of her head. Along the way, it morphed into a passion project that dramatically changed – and ultimately enriched – Mansour’s life.
“I started this 10 years ago to preserve recipes passed down through generations in my family,” says the self-taught cook, who has worked more than 30 years as an executive with companies such as Weston Group and Loblaw Companies Ltd. “I wanted a record of them so that my sister, Hania, and I could make them for our own children.”
Author Nadeem Mansour’s book, Thuraya: Recipes From Our Family’s Kitchen in Jordan, which offers an intimate glimpse into the flavors and traditions of Middle Eastern home cooking.Maya Visnyei/Supplied
Like his mother, Mansour loves to entertain. Before hosting dinner parties in Toronto – where he liked to showcase recipes he grew up eating like galayet bandora (a simple tomato stew), fattet baitenjan (eggplant on flatbread) or batata mahshieh (fried potatoes stuffed with spiced ground beef, which was his father’s favourite) – he would call his mom in Jordan. “She would say to me, ‘Put in a sprinkle of this, and a smidge of that,’” he says. “My dishes would turn out pretty good, but not ‘mom good.’”
For several years, he coaxed the recipes from his mother in this informal way. Then four years ago, everything changed when his father, Michael, died at the age of 80. “I was heartbroken, and I thought, ‘God forbid something happens to my mom without this book being published. I’ll never forgive myself.’” He phoned her up and said, “Mom, I’m jumping on this and getting this book done.’”
He flew his mother to Toronto, and for 29 days, they made, and remade, the 120 recipes contained in this 360-page book. He hired a professional photographer, an editor, a book stylist. He kept testing and retesting the recipes. “I gained weight. I filled all my friend’s freezers up with food.” Slowly, it came together. Last year, Mansour quit his job at Loblaw and devoted himself full-time to promoting his book, which he self-published.
When he finally had copies of the hardcover in his hands, he flew to Jordan to show his mom. Seeing the finished project, she burst into tears. “I was overwhelmed with emotion,” his mother said in an e-mail interview. “I never imagined the simple meals I cooked for my children would one day be bound in a book that travelled beyond our kitchen.”
Before hosting dinner parties in Toronto – where Mansour liked to showcase recipes he grew up eating – he would call his mom in Jordan.Maya Visnyei/Supplied
Last July, Mansour threw a launch party for his cookbook in Amman, at the Four Seasons Hotel, with 350 guests, including the Canadian ambassador to Jordan. While he received accolades for a job well done – including from Queen Rania, who thanked him for “showing the world all the love and flavours that Jordanian kitchens have to offer” – it was his mother who was the undisputed star. “My mother has been on television and done many interviews,” he says. “She is quite famous in Jordan now, way more than I am.”
In June, he will travel to Lisbon where the Gourmand winners will be announced. Regardless of whether Thuraya: Recipes from our Family’s Kitchen in Jordan wins, or not, Mansour says he is thrilled to have a seat at the table. “I was so fortunate to grow up in a home where food was central to everything we did,” he says. “To see these recipes honoured, on an international stage, is moving. It is a tribute not only to my family but to the countless families across Canada who keep their cultures alive through food.”
His mother, who is 85, calls it a blessing she did not expect at this stage of life. “Food was never just food, to me,” she says. “It was how I expressed love, how I comforted, celebrated and even grieved. It was how I stayed connected to my roots.
“I always believed a good dish begins with intention. I hope I taught my children to cook with heart, to feed people generously, and to understand that food is memory, hospitality, and identity all in one.”
Mansour’s book is ‘a tribute not only to my family but to the countless families across Canada who keep their cultures alive through food.’Maya Visnyei/Supplied
