I was born and grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. My family comes from a small village in the area of Jizzin in south Lebanon, called Benwati (you can see it in the upper middle of the photograph below). The area of Jizzin is famous for its pine-tree forests and olive groves which have sustained an average pine-nut and olive oil industries. The location of my village is protected from the Mediterranean Sea by a small mountain, called al-Nabi Misha, supposedly after a biblical prophet who it is believed was buried on top of it; his rather mediocre shrine is still there, and my village came into existence sometime in the eighteenth century as an effort by the local Ottoman administration to secure year-round maintenance of the land that belonged to the waqf (endowed property) of the shrine. My family has been involved in the upkeep and administration of that waqf since the 1960s.

I am married to Rana Knio. We have a son named Jude (you see him below helping mom prepare a chocolate cake) and a daughter named Alya Jasmine (you can see her below proud of her walking ability).

Beside being overwhelmed by wife/son/daughter, and research/teaching, I love to cook, especially Middle Eastern food; a talent I learned from my mother.