The author of the thirteenth-century Arabic cookbook "Kitāb
al-Ṭabīkh" proposed that food was among the foremost
pleasures in life. "Scheherazade's Feasts" invites adventurous
cooks to test this hypothesis.From the seventh to the thirteenth
centuries, the influence and power of the medieval Islamic world
stretched from the Middle East to the Iberian Peninsula, and this
Golden Age gave rise to great innovation in gastronomy no less than
in science, philosophy, and literature. The medieval Arab culinary
empire was vast and varied: with trade and conquest came riches,
abundance, new ingredients, and new ideas. The emergence of a
luxurious cuisine in this period inspired an extensive body of
literature: poets penned lyrics to the beauty of asparagus or the
aroma of crushed almonds; nobles documented the dining customs
obliged by etiquette and opulence; manuals prescribed meal plans to
deepen the pleasure of eating and curtail digestive distress.Drawn
from this wealth of medieval Arabic writing, "Scheherazade's
Feasts" presents more than a hundred recipes for the foods and
beverages of a sophisticated and cosmopolitan empire. The recipes
are translated from medieval sources and adapted for the modern
cook, with replacements suggested for rare ingredients such as the
first buds of the date tree or the fat rendered from the tail of a
sheep. With the guidance of prolific cookbook writer Habeeb Salloum
and his daughters, historians Leila and Muna, these recipes are
easy to follow and deliciously appealing. The dishes are framed
with verse inspired by them, culinary tips, and tales of the
caliphs and kings whose courts demanded their royal preparation. To
contextualize these selections, a richly researched introduction
details the foodscape of the medieval Islamic world.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!