Miriam’s Dream: The Story of Mariam Al-Shaar and Her Food Truck of Hope

By: Leila Boukarim | Chronicle Books

Mariam’s Dream follows real-life freedom dreamer Mariam Al-Shaar, known around the world for building Soufra, a women-run kitchen in the Bourj Al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon.

This is a story about how one woman can make a huge difference.

Once Mariam decides to start a food business in the refugee camp where she’s spent her whole life, she must see her dream through.

She will need money.
She will need the right papers.
People will tell her it’s impossible.
They will tell her not to risk it.

But with the women of the camp behind her, she is determined to make it happen.

Discover the joys of cooking, the power of community, and the flavors of Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon in this poignant story written for anyone who has ever felt walled in and dreamed of something more.

©2026 Belcastro Agency

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested” – Francis Bacon