Morocco is one of those countries at the top of my traveling list. I’ve always wanted to go and everything – from the food to the beautiful medinas, the glorious beaches and the mysterious desert – has always attracted and intrigued me.

You can imagine how excited I was when I heard about this book: Mourad: New Moroccan. I had heard of Lahlou and his restaurant Aziza out in San Francisco and regretted not having gone there when I was on the west coast a few years ago. I got my hands on this book as soon as I could and I dove right in. It’s been on my bedside table for a couple of weeks now and every night, I take a spice-filled trip to Mourad’s childhood home in Morocco or his current kitchen in California. I have learned so much about mixing spices, hand rolling couscous, preserving lemons and making harissa and charmoula. The book takes you on an incredible journey of the spices and staples of Moroccan food but it’s so much more than that. It’s a journey to the country itself and to the smells and sounds of Lahlou’s childhood. I found myself so deeply immersed that I could almost smell the cumin and coriander toasting and hear the merchants calling at the market.

Lahlou’s story is a fascinating one, a man’s journey from “regular” guy to Michelin star restaurant owner. He started cooking for the same reasons I started cooking when I moved to Montreal: nostalgia. Nostalgia for my mom’s food, for the smells that wafted through my childhood kitchen, for the taste of home. To go from that to owning your own restaurant is a huge step, one that Lahlou seemed to have taken with such ease, proof that when the love and passion for food runs deep in your DNA, you just cannot run away from it…