Our Story

While Lebanese food and products are the core of Mid-East Foods, our love for our Canadian ethnic communities has inspired us to evolve into a world of taste.

Our Story

Founded in 1971 by David and Abla Njaim, a husband and wife team who were immigrants to Canada, Mid-East Foods started out as a small Middle-Eastern specialty shop, the size of a convenience store, on the West side of Ottawa, Ontario. The Njaim couple felt it was important to stock specialty products used by new immigrants in preparing their daily meals and provided the Lebanese community with a taste of home.

David and Abla are both of Lebanese origin but actually met and later married here in Ottawa. David migrated to Canada in 1957 when he was 26 years old. Three years later, he met and married Abla who was new to the country; Abla was 19 at the time.