The New Book of Middle Eastern Food

Chapter 1

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The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

by Claudia Roden.

Acknowledgments

T book has been an ongoing project, over four decades, with a second and now a third edition. So many people have contributed recipes, advice, stories, and information over the years that I cannot thank them all here, but they should know that every dish reminds me fondly of someone. I hear their voice as they described it and remember the taste and the event when they cooked it, as I remember the comments of those who ate the dish when I tried it. My parents, Cesar and Nelly Douek, are very much part of the book. My father inspired it by his enjoyment of life and appreciation of Middle Eastern food, and my mother advised and guided me enthusiastically throughout. I am also grateful for the help and affectionate support of my brothers, Ellis and Zaki. book has been an ongoing project, over four decades, with a second and now a third edition. So many people have contributed recipes, advice, stories, and information over the years that I cannot thank them all here, but they should know that every dish reminds me fondly of someone. I hear their voice as they described it and remember the taste and the event when they cooked it, as I remember the comments of those who ate the dish when I tried it. My parents, Cesar and Nelly Douek, are very much part of the book. My father inspired it by his enjoyment of life and appreciation of Middle Eastern food, and my mother advised and guided me enthusiastically throughout. I am also grateful for the help and affectionate support of my brothers, Ellis and Zaki.I am especially grateful to those who contributed the very first recipes, sometimes the whole contents of their handwritten notebooks, in the very early days. Of these I would like to mention in particular Iris Galante, Lily Galante, Mrs R. Afif, my aunt Regine Douek, and my cousin Irene Harari.Belinda Bather was a major source of the first Turkish recipes, and Mrs V. Afsharian of the first Persian ones. Josephine Salam taught me a great deal about Lebanese cooking, and Nevin Halici about Turkish regional foods. Sami Zubeida has been an invaluable help with his knowledge of the Middle East and his love of food.I wish to record my grat.i.tude to Maxime Rodinson, whose brilliant seminal studies in Arab culinary history and a.n.a.lysis of early Arab cookery manuals are the source of much of my information about the history of Arab food. I also wish to acknowledge my debt to certain Arab, Turkish, and Persian cookery books which I have consulted. A list of Middle Eastern cookery books is given in the bibliography.I wish to thank my first editor, the late Helena Radecka, for her guidance from the early stages of my project and for her enthusiasm throughout, and my friend Jill Norman, who gave much valued advice for the second edition. I have very special thanks for Judith Jones, who has been an incredible editor for this new American edition. Her enthusiasm and very high standards, her advice, and her appreciation of good food and culinary traditions have brought out the best. It is a pleasure to work with her.

Introduction

This is an updated and very much enlarged edition of A Book of Middle Eastern Food A Book of Middle Eastern Food-my first book, which came out in 1968. I have traveled so much, discovered so many new dishes, and acc.u.mulated so much new material that it all had to go into a new edition. The new edition is also in response to the ever-growing popularity of Middle Eastern foods in America. People have become familiar with couscous and bulgur, pita bread and fillo pastry, with eggplants, peppers, and chickpeas, and with the wide range of spices and aromatics. They are interested in new recipes and techniques which will make the dishes more accessible. The aim was to a.s.semble the kind of dishes people want to eat and cook today-delicious, rich in flavor, exciting, healthy, and easy to prepare. The book is not only about pleasure and enjoyment, it is also a way of discovering other worlds and cultures.My primary purpose in this edition, as in the old one, was to record and celebrate the traditional cuisines of the Middle East. But there have been great social and technological changes which have affected the way people cook and eat, both in the Western world and in the Middle East. I wanted to reflect those changes as well as our changing tastes.Going through my first edition, I was often embarra.s.sed at the way I expressed my enthusiasm with flowery words, and I was tempted to delete them. But then I decided to keep something of the voice I had as a young woman, in her early twenties, beginning a new life in a new world and missing the old one, enthralled by her discoveries of her own lost culture-because that is how the book came about. I am just as enthralled and committed today, but after decades in Europe I have learned verbal restraint. This is to explain that the book has been an ongoing work (there was an earlier updated U.K. edition in 1985) and that you may hear two voices and two styles of explanations.The first edition was a labor of love on which I focused a great deal of emotion. I wrote in the introduction that it was the joint creation of numerous Middle Easterners who, like myself, were in exile; that it was the fruit of the nostalgic longing for a food that was the constant joy of life in a world so different from the Western one. The Arab sayings "He who has a certain habit will have no peace from it" and "The dancer dies and does not forget the shaking of his shoulders" applied to us.My first recipe was for ful medames ful medames. I was a schoolgirl in Paris. Every Sunday I was invited with my brothers and cousins to eat ful medames ful medames at the home of my cousin Eric Rouleau, the French journalist, diplomat, and Middle Eastern specialist. Considered in Egypt to be a poor man"s dish, in Paris the little brown beans embodied all that for which we were homesick and became invested with all the glories and warmth of Cairo. Delicious ecstasy! In their tiny one-roomed flat our hosts prepared the dish with at the home of my cousin Eric Rouleau, the French journalist, diplomat, and Middle Eastern specialist. Considered in Egypt to be a poor man"s dish, in Paris the little brown beans embodied all that for which we were homesick and became invested with all the glories and warmth of Cairo. Delicious ecstasy! In their tiny one-roomed flat our hosts prepared the dish with canned ful canned ful. Ceremoniously, we sprinkled the beans with olive oil, squeezed a little lemon over them, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and placed a hot hard-boiled egg in their midst. Silently, we ate the beans, whole and firm at first. Then we squashed them with our forks and combined their floury texture and slightly dull, earthy taste with the acid tang of lemon, and the fruity flavor of olive oil. Finally, we crushed the egg, matching its earthiness with that of the beans, its pale warm yellow yolk with their dull brown.But the great impulse to record recipes came when my family left Egypt for good, following the Suez Crisis in 1956 and because of Egypt"s ongoing war with Israel. I was an art student in London then, with my two brothers-one a medical student, the other a schoolboy at the French Lycee. My parents arrived suddenly and were allowed to settle. My large extended family was dispersed all over the world. The sense of loss, of missing each other, the country where we had been happy, and the friends we left behind, was deep and painful. For more than ten years we continued close, intense relationships, with family and friends across countries, meeting often. We exchanged recipes as we would precious gifts. Everybody was desperately looking for them and pa.s.sing them on. We had never had any cookbooks. There had been none in Egypt. Recipes had always been transferred from mother and mother-in-law to daughter and daughter-in-law, with minor exchanges between friends and family. That is why I started collecting recipes in a serious way.Friday-night dinners at my parents" and gatherings of friends at my home became occasions to summon up the ghosts of the past. Every dish filled the house with the smells of our old homes. They conjured up memories of Egypt-of the Cairo markets and street vendors, of the corniche corniche in Alexandria and the public bakehouse, of Groppi"s and the Hati restaurant, and the Greek grocery down to which a constant flow of baskets would be lowered from windows above, descending with coins, and going up again with food. It is extraordinary how a smell and a taste can trigger memories. in Alexandria and the public bakehouse, of Groppi"s and the Hati restaurant, and the Greek grocery down to which a constant flow of baskets would be lowered from windows above, descending with coins, and going up again with food. It is extraordinary how a smell and a taste can trigger memories.Egypt in my time was a very mixed cosmopolitan society in the cities (it was the time of King Farouk, and I saw in the revolution). There were long-established communities of Armenians, Greeks, Italians, Syrians, and Lebanese, as well as expatriate French and British communities. Our royal family was an Ottoman Albanian dynasty, and our aristocracy was Turkish. The Jews were also mixed. My grandparents came from Syria and Turkey, and apart from the indigenous community, there were families from North Africa, Iraq, and Iran. When we ate at friends" homes we enjoyed a range of dishes from various countries. That is why I ended up covering most of the Middle East.We were very Europeanized. We spoke French at home and Italian with our nanny. At the English School Cairo we studied English history and geography, nothing at all about Egypt or the Arab world. But past generations of my family had lived, for hundreds of years, an integrated life in the Arab and Ottoman worlds, and something of their experience filtered down to us. It was those worlds that captivated me-the part of my culture that I hardly knew, which belonged to my parents and especially my father-that I wanted to recapture. I am sometimes asked how a Jewish woman can be fascinated with Arab food and Islamic civilization, and I reply that it was also ours (with some differences) and we were part of it.I sought out people from all over the Middle East for recipes. I hung around carpet warehouses and emba.s.sies, visa departments and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. It must have seemed a strange thing to do in those days, but I was very lucky, and I ended up meeting some very good cooks. They explained in the minutest detail the washing and the handling of ingredients, the feel, the smell, and the color of the food, but usually omitted quant.i.ties, weights, and cooking times. I learned that to some "leave it a little" meant an hour, that "five spoonfuls" was in order to make a round figure or because five was for them a lucky number, and that a pinch could be anything from an eighth of a teaspoon to a heaped tablespoon. They were lyrical about how delicious the dishes were, and on the circ.u.mstances in which they were prepared. It gave them, I think, as much pleasure to describe the dishes as it gave me to record the recipes.I put down every word they said. If they said, "Toast the hazelnuts in the frying pan until they are lightly browned, then rub them between your hands to detach the skins and go out in the garden and blow off the skins," that is how it went into the book. The method worked very well, but now that we can get blanched hazelnuts without skins, it sounds a little archaic. Similarly, we now have such things as pitted prunes and dried pitted sour cherries, blanched and ground almonds, and sh.e.l.led pistachios, all of which make the work easier.I gathered all kinds of dishes-humble peasant food, flamboyant Mediterranean dishes, and very elaborate, sophisticated ones. I detected a certain unity, and there were many that seemed regional variations on a theme. I tried to trace their origins and to understand the influences through the history of the area.At the British Library in London, I was thrilled to find two medieval cookery manuals (see appendix), one translated by Professor A. J. Arberry, and the other with an a.n.a.lysis and extracts translated into French by Professor Maxime Rodin-son. I was stunned to find similarities with the dishes that I had just gathered from family and friends. I tried many of the almost one hundred recipes and could not resist including a few in my book. Since exact measures were not given, I indicated quant.i.ties that I would choose. I have not included them in this edition because they are primarily of academic interest, and scholars have made them available today in new translations. Anyone who wishes to prepare medieval Arab banquets is best directed to the publications cited in the appendix.I have kept in the descriptions of ceremonies, rituals, and myths, and the customs and manners relating to food, as they make the dishes more interesting by placing them in their traditional setting. I have also left in the tales, poems and riddles, proverbs and sayings, in the hope that through them a little of the wit and spirit of the people of the Middle East may be discovered.The dishes did not retain the same power to move me over the years as they had in the beginning, but the book remained an important part of my life. It has meant a continuing involvement with the part of the world which holds my roots and for which I have a special tenderness. People always talk to me about food, and those who come from the Middle East reveal their pa.s.sions and offer their own special ways of doing things. I am invited to eat and to watch people cook, and correspondents in different countries send recipes. My pockets are full of scribbled cooking instructions, my drawers full of recipes in different hands.On the whole, I have left the original recipes as they were, with the voices and the idiosyncrasies of those who gave them. The way in which they are described best reflects the rich and varied character of very personal and much-loved cooking traditions pa.s.sed down through generations in the family. I have not tried to correct spellings, p.r.o.nunciations, or names, for this is an area of great complexity, with differences from one country to another. For instance, the name for bean rissoles varies from one part of Egypt to another. It is falafel falafel in Alexandria and in Alexandria and ta"amia ta"amia in Cairo. The same dish of rice and lentils is in Cairo. The same dish of rice and lentils is megadarra megadarra in Egypt and in Egypt and mudardara mudardara in Lebanon. This is not a scholarly book, and I have not followed a system. I have generally written an Arabic name as it is most familiarly known in Egypt and as it sounded to me. in Lebanon. This is not a scholarly book, and I have not followed a system. I have generally written an Arabic name as it is most familiarly known in Egypt and as it sounded to me.When I tell people that I am not only adding recipes but also updating and revising some of the old ones, they generally protest, asking me not to touch them, as they have worked perfectly well for them for more than thirty years. They tend to be suspicious of new versions. But things change. Cooking does not stand still: it evolves. Life is different, and different choices are made to adapt to new circ.u.mstances. The recipes in the first edition were from a time when there were no home ovens in many of the countries, let alone blenders, food processors, and freezers. People cooked on braziers and Primus stoves and outside clay ovens and sent dishes to the public oven. In a few recipes I told the reader to grind the meat three times. Who has a meat grinder now? The recipes were from a time when women did not go out to work (no woman in my family ever worked) and most had cooks and servants who cooked all day. Moreover, notions of fat-free and healthy eating had not yet taken over. As a food writer you have a responsibility. I love tradition and respect cuisines that have a past, and that is what my writing is about. But I do not wish to embalm them. Most of all, I want people to cook and to enjoy cooking and eating.If I mention using less b.u.t.ter, and grilling or baking instead of frying, some of my friends are outraged, as though I am about to destroy a culture to conform to a trend of fat-free lightness. I rea.s.sure them that I have changed very little, that the new approaches do not necessarily kill the old. The important thing is to choose what is good in new ways-what makes the food more delicious and more appetizing, not less so.In most recipes I give the alternative of b.u.t.ter or oil so that people can please themselves. Of course, there are changes that I do not approve of. In Morocco these days, there has been a rush to use pressure cookers to cook tagines, which were once simmered very slowly in flat clay pots with cone-shaped lids over a brazier. I am against pressure cookers, as I believe they spoil the dish-the texture of the meat is not the same, and the vegetables fall apart or they do not absorb the flavors if put in for a very short time. But a stainless-steel saucepan will do very well, even though the result is not quite the same. Dishes that need long, slow cooking are not usually labor-intensive, and you can start them off and leave them to cook while you do other things. They can also be prepared the day before.North Africans overcook their fish, but Europeans have come to like it when it only just begins to flake. In the Middle East generally, people like their meat very cooked, never pink, but we can please ourselves. In many Middle Eastern countries, because they did not have home ovens, the custom has been to deep-fry pies. This tends to make them rather heavy, so I mostly bake them, as we did in Egypt. In America people shy away from frying eggplants because of the amount of oil they absorb. In many instances broiling or grilling is an excellent alternative.Frozen vegetables do not have the wonderful flavors and textures of fresh ones, but some are exceptionally good. Frozen artichoke hearts and bottoms, for instance, are so good that my guests are always surprised to hear that they are frozen. Spinach too freezes well, as does the green melokheya melokheya, which is used for making the famous Egyptian soup of the same name. We cannot choose our wheat, wash it and dry it on the roofs of our houses, then take it to the mill to be ground while we wait. We have to deal with factory-produced bulgur and, except for very rare occasions, the precooked packaged couscous that is readily available. It is important to work out how to get the best possible results with what we have.In traditional Middle Eastern culture, to really please your guests, you must show that you have worked very hard to prepare a meal. You have to offer an a.s.sortment of small pies, stuffed vegetables, little meatb.a.l.l.s, and the like, which require wrapping, hollowing, filling, rolling. It is almost an insult to offer something that looks as though it took little time. You can see why people have the idea that Middle Eastern food is excessively laborious. But it does not have to be.Many of the simpler dishes are the most appealing, and it is these that I have featured in a bigger way in the new edition. It is the special combinations of ingredients-rice and lentils with caramelized onions; bulgur with tomatoes and eggplants; artichokes and broad beans with almonds; spinach with beans or chickpeas or with yogurt-and their delicate flavoring which make them wonderful. Although often the only flavoring is olive oil and lemon juice, every country has its traditional aromatics. There is the fried garlic with c.u.min and coriander of Egypt, the cinnamon and allspice of Turkey, the sumac and tamarind of Syria and Lebanon, the pomegranate syrup of Iran, the preserved lemon and harissa of North Africa. The tantalizing mix of spicy hot with sweet of Morocco includes saffron, ginger, cinnamon, and c.u.min with hot red pepper and honey.Many new recipes appear in every chapter. I have taken out a few of the least interesting ones. Some recipes have been replaced by a better version, and I have added many regional variations and suggestions for an alternative ingredient, a new flavoring, or an easier method of cooking. The new availability of so many products meant that I could do away with subst.i.tutes. Now there is nothing you cannot find. Many of the basic products are in the supermarkets. Some, such as sumac (the ground red berry with a lemony flavor), tamarind paste, and the sweet-and-sour pomegranate syrup or mola.s.ses made from the boiled-down juice of sour pomegranates, are easy to find in the specialty markets. You can now find sources on the Internet.A Fashion That Goes Back Hundreds of YearsMany things have changed since I first started recording Middle Eastern recipes forty years ago. When I told people then what I was doing, some wondered with barely veiled horror whether I was going to write about sheep"s eyes and t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. Their perception of the food was not very different from what the explorer Charles Montagu Doughty, who traveled in Arabia around 1876, described as "lambs sitting on mountains of rice in a sea of fat." In his view the Arabs were better at making love than food.Now top American chefs have adopted what they call eastern-Mediterranean cuisines, and couscous, tagines, pilafs, and the like appear on the menus of fashionable eclectic restaurants. Ethnic Turkish, Lebanese, Iranian, and Moroccan restaurants have opened in many cities, and street vendors sell falafel. The tumultuous events which ripped the Middle East apart in the last decades have brought cooks and restaurateurs to Europe and America. Cooking is an immigrant"s trade, but newly arrived immigrants escaping from civil war or poverty usually have no catering experience. Apart from Turkey and Lebanon, where a restaurant trade began about eighty years ago, there has not been a restaurant tradition in the Middle East. This is partly because in Muslim countries women did not accompany their men eating out. Such establishments as there were, evolved from street food-just a few chairs placed beside a movable stall. The standard restaurant menu of meats grilled over embers, appetizers, and rice belongs to the street tradition. When I asked a member of one of the grand families in Morocco what restaurants she recommended, she said they had never been to a restaurant because you could not be sure of the food.The vast and rich repertoire of home cooking with its regional and community variations remained unknown outside each locality. People of each region were interested only in their own traditional foods, and there was no way of discovering recipes from neighboring countries, or even neighboring cities, because there were no cookbooks. In Egypt in my time, no one ever had one. After we left, we wrote asking all our remaining friends to send us any cookbook they could find. The only one that arrived was an Arabic translation of a British-army cookbook left behind after the Second World War. It had recipes like "rolly polly alla cas-tarda" and "macaroni cheese."Today the cuisines of the Middle East have been very well doc.u.mented. Most people in America are familiar with the "Arabian Delights" and the eastern- and southern-Mediterranean dishes featured in numerous books and magazines. One of the reasons for the popularity of this food is that the area has come to be recognized as "Mediterranean" (part of it is), and the healthy Mediterranean diet rich in grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, yogurt, and olive oil has been much touted. Another reason is that Americans have come to love spices and aromatics, and these are very sensuous cuisines.It is interesting to note that Arab foods were in fashion in other times and that many of the things that we eat today originated in the Islamic world. The popularity of Arab foods has mirrored the relationship between Europe and the followers of Islam and the relative prestige of their two cultures. It has depended on war and peace, on politics and commerce, and also on the spirit of Europe, whether people cultivated the senses or denied them, whether they were hedonist or puritan. In the full-blooded Middle Ages, when Islam was in its Golden Age, with the most advanced civilization in the world, Arab cooking had a huge impact on cooking in Europe.At that time Christian Europe looked on the Infidels with fear and horror as pillaging and ravaging barbarians and cruel despots, but at the same time it was impressed by their wealth and power. Chroniclers of the time wrote of the magnificent courts and of the loves and excesses of the Caliphs. Travelers and merchants told of the extraordinary and exquisite foods they were served as they sat on a rug near a fountain in a fruit garden. While worrying about the odious enemy, Europe fantasized about its fabulous riches, its harems and seraglios, bazaars and minarets, about fierce warriors who chopped off heads, pa.s.sionate lovers, and fantastic banquets. Europeans were captivated by the philosophical and scientific knowledge of the Islamic civilization, and soon courts and upper cla.s.ses were adopting its fashions. The cooking was a stimulus and an inspiration which brought new ways of looking at food.The Crusades created an even more avid interest, a mixture of hate for the enemy-Saracens, as they were known to the medieval West-and fascination for its exotic culture. European Crusaders remained in the Levant for generations. Antioch was occupied by the Franks and their allies between 1098 and 1268, Jerusalem between 1099 and 1187, Tripoli between 1109 and 1289, Acre between 1189 and 1291. In a paper ent.i.tled "The Saracen Connection: Arab Cuisine and the Medieval West" published in the little quarterly Pet.i.ts Propos Culinaires Pet.i.ts Propos Culinaires (part 7, 1981), Anne Wilson described how, when they were not fighting over the holy places, the Crusaders lived on harmonious terms with the Saracens and some took Syrian, Armenian, and even Saracen wives. Those who eventually returned home were mainly well-to-do and included members of the n.o.bility or even royal families, like Eleanor of Aquitaine and her estranged husband, Louis VII of France. The introduction of Saracen-inspired dishes in the West began in n.o.ble families. (part 7, 1981), Anne Wilson described how, when they were not fighting over the holy places, the Crusaders lived on harmonious terms with the Saracens and some took Syrian, Armenian, and even Saracen wives. Those who eventually returned home were mainly well-to-do and included members of the n.o.bility or even royal families, like Eleanor of Aquitaine and her estranged husband, Louis VII of France. The introduction of Saracen-inspired dishes in the West began in n.o.ble families.When commerce flourished between East and West, sugar (a novelty then to Europe), rice, almonds, pine kernels, and dried fruits, such as prunes, raisins, apricots, and dates, arrived from the Levant. And with them came the aromatics which play an important part in Oriental cooking-rose and orange-blossom water, tamarind, pomegranate juice, saffron, the resin mastic, and all types of seeds, plants, and bark. The Crusaders, Orientalized by years spent in the Levant, often with a local cook in their employ, brought home the ways of handling these new ingredients. Early European cookbooks, from the thirteenth century on, show how all these foods were incorporated into Western cookery before the end of the Middle Ages.For instance, the idea of frying cut-up pieces of meat before boiling, adopted in the thirteenth-century French Viandier Viandier texts, was recognized in English texts as Sarcynesse. A sweet-and-sour sauce was used early in Europe, borrowing from the Greek tradition, but the Saracens created many varied sweet-and-sour sauces for meat with sugar, date juice, or the boiled-down juice of sweet grapes partnered with verjuice (boiled-down sour-pomegranate juice) and bitter-orange juice. The French called such fusions, which were usually spiced with cinnamon and cloves, texts, was recognized in English texts as Sarcynesse. A sweet-and-sour sauce was used early in Europe, borrowing from the Greek tradition, but the Saracens created many varied sweet-and-sour sauces for meat with sugar, date juice, or the boiled-down juice of sweet grapes partnered with verjuice (boiled-down sour-pomegranate juice) and bitter-orange juice. The French called such fusions, which were usually spiced with cinnamon and cloves, sara.s.sinois sara.s.sinois or or saraginee saraginee. The English took the idea from the French and called the dishes "egerdouce." The coloring of food-rice tinted yellow with saffron, sweetmeats colored green with pistachios, eggs dyed vermilion-became very popular, and the use of almonds and almond milk became widespread. The "sotelties," marzipan figures offered at the end of meals, which became the fashion at all the great feasts in medieval Europe, were also an idea inspired by the Saracens.In a conference paper for the Accademia Italiana della Cucina in 1967, Maxime Rodinson demonstrated the Oriental legacy to European cooking and traced the etymology of the names of many dishes in early Latin and European cookbooks to Persian and Arab origins. The legacy came partly through Arabic books on dietetics and medicine that had a considerable influence in Europe well into the eighteenth century. In the twelfth or thirteenth century a book of Arab dietetics was translated into Latin in Venice by a certain Jambobinus of Cremona, who called it Liber de Ferailis et Condimentis Liber de Ferailis et Condimentis. This translation was one of the earliest cookbooks of medieval Europe. The original author was Ibn Jazla, a doctor in Baghdad, who died in the year 1100. Jambobinus used eighty-three of his recipes, keeping their Arab names. He indicated whether they were good for the stomach, and noted their effect on various organs and functions as well as on the temperament. Many of these recipes were to reappear in other Latin cookbooks with or without dietetic information and later in Italian, French, and English translations, where their origin remains detectable by their names, as well as by the Oriental ingredients and the way the method is described.Ibn Jazla was not the only source of Arab recipes in European cookbooks. Other recipe collections which have not been found are mentioned in various medieval works. Much later, in the early sixteenth century, Andrea Alpago, a Venetian doctor and scholar who had spent thirty years in the Orient, translated a huge treatise on medicine written by the Arab doctor and philosopher Avicenna, who was born in 980. Alpago used Arab books on dietetics to find extra information about the dishes mentioned by Avicenna and put this new material as glossaries to each volume of the treatise.But the most powerful influence in Europe of Arab cooking came via the Arab occupation of Spain and Sicily, and through the later occupation of the Balkans by the Ottoman Turks. The Arab and Berber armies arrived in Spain in 711 and left Andalusia in 1492. They were there for almost eight hundred years, which is plenty of time to make an impact on the food. The watermelons and artichokes that they brought from Egypt, the pomegranates from Syria, dates and hard wheat from North Africa, spinach and eggplants from Persia, and Seville oranges and cane sugar are all part of the Arab heritage. The grapes of Jerez (used to make sherry) came from Shiraz in Persia. Eight centuries of love and war left powerful legacies in the kitchen: little pies, rice dishes, vermicelli (fideos (fideos in Spanish), marzipan, almond pastries, fritters in syrup, meats with fruit, sweet-and-sour flavors, combinations of raisins and pine nuts. in Spanish), marzipan, almond pastries, fritters in syrup, meats with fruit, sweet-and-sour flavors, combinations of raisins and pine nuts.Outside Granada, at the restaurant El Molino, which is also a center of gastronomic research, the old dishes, which are the origin of Spanish cooking today, are served. Many of the recipes they use are from the anonymous thirteenth-century Arabic cookery manual ent.i.tled Kitab al Tabikhfil Maghrib wal Andalus (Cookbook of the Maghreb and Andalusia) Kitab al Tabikhfil Maghrib wal Andalus (Cookbook of the Maghreb and Andalusia). This and other Arab culinary doc.u.ments have been translated and a.n.a.lyzed by Charles Perry, who writes for the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times, in a forthcoming book ent.i.tled Medieval Arab Cookery Medieval Arab Cookery, published by Prospect Books (see appendix).Lucie Bolens, in her book La Cuisine andalouse, un art de vivre XIe-XIIIe siecle La Cuisine andalouse, un art de vivre XIe-XIIIe siecle (Albin Michel), gives three hundred ancient recipes translated from the Arabic, mainly from the book mentioned above. The late Rudolph Grewe translated into Spanish the fifteenth-century Catalan (Albin Michel), gives three hundred ancient recipes translated from the Arabic, mainly from the book mentioned above. The late Rudolph Grewe translated into Spanish the fifteenth-century Catalan Libre di Sent Sovi Libre di Sent Sovi and the and the Libro de Ruperto de Nola Libro de Ruperto de Nola. It is fascinating to see how the cooking of Damascus, Baghdad, and Fez fused with that of rural Spain. The nostalgic tastes of the society made up of Arabs, Persians, Berbers, Christians, Jews, Greeks, Khazars, and others that was Muslim Spain, merged in a new, exuberant, convivial style of living. Some of those tastes have come to America via South America, brought by the Conquistadors.In 827 an army of Arabs-Berbers from North Africa and Spanish Muslims (Sicilians called them all Saracens)-landed in Sicily. They brought their laws and their language, their literature, arts, and sciences. They irrigated the land and planted exotic fruits and vegetables and encouraged the rearing of sheep and goats. Stuffed vegetables, sweet-and-sour eggplant caponata, artichoke hearts with almonds, rice dishes, cuscusu cuscusu, almond pastries, millefoglie millefoglie (puff pastry), sorbets, and even pasta are the relics of that civilization. There is still a very thin type of pasta called by its old Arab name, (puff pastry), sorbets, and even pasta are the relics of that civilization. There is still a very thin type of pasta called by its old Arab name, itriya itriya. Today, cloistered nuns in convents all over the island still make crystallized fruits, marzipan sweets with extraordinary shapes and riotous colors, pastries stuffed with almonds, and sweet couscous with nuts and dried fruit. They tell you these are Arab. Sicily is famous for her granite her granite and and sorbetti sorbetti (the Sicilian dialect term (the Sicilian dialect term sciarbat sciarbat is the Arab word for a sorbet). According to local legend, the Arabs fetched snow from Mount Etna to make them, and the habit of mixing sugar and jasmine essence in a gla.s.s full of snow also goes back to those times. The Arab influence is still the most important in Sicily, despite the numerous other foreign occupations. And you also see it in southern Italy. In Puglia, in the "heel" of Italy, I ate is the Arab word for a sorbet). According to local legend, the Arabs fetched snow from Mount Etna to make them, and the habit of mixing sugar and jasmine essence in a gla.s.s full of snow also goes back to those times. The Arab influence is still the most important in Sicily, despite the numerous other foreign occupations. And you also see it in southern Italy. In Puglia, in the "heel" of Italy, I ate n"capriata n"capriata-mashed dried fava beans-which is like a dish we used to eat in Egypt; and triya con i ceci triya con i ceci-pasta with chickpeas. During an evening of folk dancing, as guests of Prince Dentice di Fra.s.so"s Castel di San Vito dei Normanni, we were offered platters of local pastries and sweetmeats similar to those you might find in Morocco and Damascus.The Ottoman Turks are responsible for much of the food you eat in the Balkans-in southern Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Macedonia, and Greece-which were part of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries. All that time of integrated life under Turkish rule created a shared Balkan food culture that is an amalgam of Middle Eastern and Western European traditions. The Turks are also responsible for the little cakes called "turbans" and the puff-pastry croissants of France (in the shape of the Turkish crescent), and the strudels of Vienna. What the pastry chefs and pudding makers at the Sultan"s palace were up to was all the rage in Western Europe when the empire was at its peak.Not many of the old Saracen dishes have survived from the Middle Ages in Britain, but each generation has revived a few or picked up new ones. Eliza Acton, Mrs. Beeton, Mrs. Leyel, and other cookery writers each offered a few exotic recipes to make people dream of the Arabian Nights Arabian Nights. There are still traces of this early influence in the most English of foods-in Christmas pudding and mince pies, marzipan, and rice pudding-and it is a curious thought that our famous brown sauces and the mint-and-vinegar sauce for lamb perpetuate the l.u.s.ter of ancient Persia on our everyday tables.Elizabeth David wrote lovingly of the foods she discovered when she lived in Cairo, Alexandria, and Greece. It is her Book of Mediterranean Food Book of Mediterranean Food which slightly eased my homesickness when I moved to England, and her brilliance and integrity which inspired me to write. In an early edition she intimated that there were many more dishes in the Near East which needed to be discovered, that what she gave was the tip of the iceberg, and that was the spark that fired me. which slightly eased my homesickness when I moved to England, and her brilliance and integrity which inspired me to write. In an early edition she intimated that there were many more dishes in the Near East which needed to be discovered, that what she gave was the tip of the iceberg, and that was the spark that fired me.General Features of Middle Eastern CuisinesThe traditional cooking fats used in Middle Eastern countries in the past were alya alya-the rendered fat from a sheep"s tail-and clarified b.u.t.ter, called samna samna. Many of the medieval recipes start with "melt tail" or "fry in tail." As a special refinement the fat was sometimes colored red or yellow. Samna Samna is b.u.t.ter (usually made from buffalo"s milk) which has been melted over boiling water and clarified by straining it through thin, dampened muslin. The impurities that cause b.u.t.ter to burn and darken are eliminated, as well as much of the water content. It is rich and strong with a distinctive flavor, and a little will give the same result as a much larger quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter. It also keeps very well. The Indian ghee, which is sold in jars, is a type of is b.u.t.ter (usually made from buffalo"s milk) which has been melted over boiling water and clarified by straining it through thin, dampened muslin. The impurities that cause b.u.t.ter to burn and darken are eliminated, as well as much of the water content. It is rich and strong with a distinctive flavor, and a little will give the same result as a much larger quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter. It also keeps very well. The Indian ghee, which is sold in jars, is a type of samna samna. (See also page 46.) Today ordinary b.u.t.ter and oil are mostly used. The usual oils are olive, cottonseed, peanut, corn, sunflower, and sesame. Olive oil is preferred for dishes which are to be eaten cold and for frying fish. As a general rule, people like to fry or saute their meat and vegetables before adding water to make stews and soups in order to deepen the color and enrich the flavor. The Moroccans of Fez are an exception; their pale, delicate lamb stews are distinguished from those of the inhabitants of other Moroccan towns. Instead of frying the ingredients, they cook them from the start in water with a little oil, relying on the stocks which result, and the variety and quality of the other ingredients, to give color, texture, and body to their dishes. To them it is a crime against refinement to fry meats or vegetables destined for a stew.The utensils and the type of heat available have to a large extent determined the style of cooking. Ovens have only recently been introduced in most homes. In the past, cooking was generally done over a type of Primus called afatayel afatayel or over a brazier. It was a long, slow procedure, and pans were sometimes left to simmer overnight. This habit has remained to the present day although the necessity may have pa.s.sed, and it is more usual for food to be prepared over heat than for it to be baked or roasted in an oven. or over a brazier. It was a long, slow procedure, and pans were sometimes left to simmer overnight. This habit has remained to the present day although the necessity may have pa.s.sed, and it is more usual for food to be prepared over heat than for it to be baked or roasted in an oven.It was customary in the past, and to a lesser degree it still is even today, to send certain dishes to be cooked in the ovens of the local bakery. People would hurry about in the streets with huge trays or ca.s.seroles, sometimes balancing them on their heads. Life at the ovens bustled with activity and humor. I am told of great-aunts who sealed their pans with a paste made of flour and water, ostensibly in order to cook the dish under pressure, but also to ensure that no one introduced an unwholesome, impure, or prohibited ingredient out of spite. Many people specified precisely in what position they wanted their pans placed in the enormous ovens. Others, perfectionists, sat by the ovens on wicker stools throughout the cooking time, watching their food and giving directions for the pans to be moved this way and that, in order to vary the degree of the heat. Today, dishes which would in the past have gone to the district oven (such as a roast leg of lamb surrounded by all its vegetables) are cooked in domestic ovens, but slowly, as before.Another factor that helped to perpetuate the tradition of slow, lengthy cooking, as well as that of the more elaborate dishes, which require time and craftsmanship, is the social custom that kept women in the home until recently.Precision and timing are not important, and no harm is done if a dish is left to simmer for an hour longer and the meat is so tender that it has fallen off the bone or the lentils have disintegrated. Nor is there any liking for red meat or underdone vegetables-unless they are eaten completely raw.Grilling little morsels over charcoal is a.s.sociated everywhere with Muslim cooking. Skewer cookery, whether it is meat, chicken, or fish kebabs (generally believed to have been developed by Turks on the field of battle), is the most popular street food in every Middle Eastern country, and it is not only street vendors who are masters of the art of using the heat of glowing embers.Throughout the area, lamb is the favorite meat and the most available. Because of the dietary laws of the predominant religion of Islam, generally no pork is used, and no wine. Even where meat is not out of reach because of the cost, it is stretched to go far in a stew or sauce or as part of the filling in vegetables, with a half-pound serving on average four people. A wide variety of vegetables are eaten raw, or cooked in olive oil to be served cold. They are also stuffed and appear in stews or as pickles. Fruits are used in many different ways. Wheat is the staple cereal of the countryside, rice is the urban one to serve as a side dish and base to most foods. Fava beans, split peas, chickpeas, and lentils have been part of the diet since time immemorial. Much is made of them; the choice depends on what grows locally. Then there are noodles and very thin spaghetti. And a meal without bread to dip in is unthinkable; some people cannot enjoy anything without it.Nuts have been used since ancient times in a variety of dishes and in unexpected ways. One of the regional characteristics which denote the nationality of the cook is the selective use of nuts. Where an Egyptian or a Syrian would use ground almonds or pine nuts to thicken a sauce such as tarator tarator (page 93) or almond sauce (page 358), a Turk would use ground walnuts or hazelnuts. Iranians also use ground walnuts, for example in their (page 93) or almond sauce (page 358), a Turk would use ground walnuts or hazelnuts. Iranians also use ground walnuts, for example in their fesenjan fesenjan sauce (page 227) for chicken or duck, in the same way as they are used for the Circa.s.sian chicken (page 104). In Iran, pomegranate or sour-cherry sauce is added to the walnut sauce, while in Turkey it is sprinkled with the favorite garnish of red paprika melted in oil. sauce (page 227) for chicken or duck, in the same way as they are used for the Circa.s.sian chicken (page 104). In Iran, pomegranate or sour-cherry sauce is added to the walnut sauce, while in Turkey it is sprinkled with the favorite garnish of red paprika melted in oil.In most countries, it is customary to place on the table a bowl of fresh yogurt, sometimes flavored with salt, mint, and crushed garlic, to be eaten with such varied foods as eggah eggah, pilafs, stuffed vegetables, salads, and kebabs. In Turkey, yogurt is used extensively as a bed for meat or vegetables, or to be poured over salads, eggs, vegetables, rice, almost anything. It is also used as a cooking medium, particularly in Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran.Each country has developed its own special way of making a paper-thin pastry. Usually, soft dough is stretched as thin as possible; sometimes very thin pancakes are used. With melted b.u.t.ter brushed in between leaves, the result is a type of puff pastry.People do not usually eat puddings or pastries at mealtime. These are reserved for visitors and festive occasions. Each country has many types of milk pudding and each has an a.s.sortment of pastries stuffed with nuts and bathed in syrup.The flavors in savory dishes range from delicate and subtle to fierce and powerful. Persians favor dishes delicately balanced between sweet and sour, cooked with vinegar, lemon and sugar, and the juice of sour pomegranates. They share with Moroccans a predilection and a skill for combining the textures and flavors of meats and fruits. All these tastes have been adopted to some degree in the neighboring countries.Garlic is liked, both raw and fried. Many people put a whole head in the ashes of a fire to mellow and soften to a cream. The tart taste of lemons or limes is ubiquitous in salads and many cooked dishes. A rather musty taste is obtained by Iranians and Iraqis with a dried variety, a subdued one by Moroccans with lemons preserved in salt. The faint scent of rose and orange-blossom water is evident in sweet dishes, which are sometimes made with honey instead of sugar. The Orient is so partial to the sensual pleasures of perfumes and aromatics that the widest possible variety of herbs, spices, woods, and essences are used in the kitchen.Taste and pleasure are not the only considerations, for good healthy eating is part of the Arab philosophical doctrine of the perfect concordance of the elements of the universe with those of human nature. In the past, medical men wrote books on dietetics. Today, those who can, still strive for a balanced diet.Understanding a Cuisine: National and Regional DifferencesHaving collected an extraordinarily rich a.s.sortment of recipes from a great number of people, some of whom did not know the origins of their favorite dishes but had picked them up at some point in their wanderings-from a place they had visited, from a relative or a chance acquaintance-I tried to give them a national ident.i.ty. It was impossible to cla.s.s them by countries because of the overlap and similarities; there would be too much repet.i.tion. Instead, a picture emerged of one broad culinary tradition, very poor in parts, extremely varied and rich in others, and with great regional differences. There were often more differences between town and country or from one town to another than across a border, and neighboring towns in the same country sometimes had different specialties while the main towns of different countries had the same foods.The reasons for this are to be found in the geography and history of the area. The geographical differences are extremely wide; there are large, empty deserts and lush countryside, great rivers and arid hills, green mountains, marshlands, and long coastlines. Not every country has inherited a bit of each, nor do they all have the same produce. Their cooking reflects those differences, but it also mirrors the ramified complexities of the past. The result of a shared history and the unifying influences of the Arab and Islamic and later Ottoman empires, with their inherent divisions, bitter struggles, and conflicts, has been the development of one culinary tradition that can be divided into four main branches.The most exquisite and refined, and one of the least known abroad, is the Iranian cuisine, which is the ancient source of much of the haute cuisine haute cuisine of the Middle East. It is based on long-grain rice, which grows around the Caspian Sea. This is cooked to the highest standard of perfection and accompanied by a variety of sauces or mixed with meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. of the Middle East. It is based on long-grain rice, which grows around the Caspian Sea. This is cooked to the highest standard of perfection and accompanied by a variety of sauces or mixed with meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.In Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan the cooking is much the same, for boundaries here are only recent. It is in this patchwork of creeds and communities, where Arab revival and consciousness first took root, that what is known as Arab food is at its best. Here urban cooking is based on rice, country food on cracked wheat (bulgur). It is no accident that the area has been called the Fertile Crescent, for the soil bears the richest variety and quality of vegetables and fruits. Although some of their neighbors with a sheep-farming economy laugh at the "vegetable-eaters" of the crescent, theirs is nevertheless the most popular cuisine of the Arab world.Turkish cuisine is the one that has influenced most countries abroad and which we have known longest and best, for the Ottoman Empire left its traces on the tables of such countries as Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, and parts of Russia and North Africa. In all these countries you will find the same kebabs and rice and wheat dishes, savory pies and yogurt salads, and the nutty, syrupy pastries with paper-thin or shredded dough.The fourth distinctive cooking style is that of North Africa, where Moroccan cuisine is especially magnificent. It is based on the couscous of the original Berber inhabitants with centuries-old echoes from Spain, Portugal, and Sicily and the more recent influence of France. Remarkably, it bears the strongest legacies from ancient Persia and Baghdad in the art of combining ingredients and mixing aromatics.Because similar dishes turned up in several countries, I was eager to find out more about their origins. It was a thrill to discover a dish mentioned in some historical or literary work, in a poem or a proverb, and to conjure up the circ.u.mstances of its arrival in a particular place, guessing which conquering general had brought it, and why one country had adopted it while another had not.The history of this food is that of the Middle East. Dishes carry the triumphs and glories, the defeats, the loves and sorrows of the past. We owe some to an event, or to one man: the Caliph who commissioned it, the poet who sang it, or the Imam who "fainted on receiving it."Nothing was more valuable to me in my pursuit, or more exciting, than the discovery of writings by the French Orientalist Professor Maxime Rodinson on the history of Arab food. I am much indebted to him, and in particular to his study of early culinary ma.n.u.scripts. I have dealt with these in greater detail in this new edition as I have dug deeper into them. A forthcoming book ent.i.tled Medieval Arab Cookery Medieval Arab Cookery, published by Prospect Books, carries a full translation of his papers on gastronomy by Charles Perry.A Cuisine Shaped by a Tumultuous HistoryA look into the past of the Middle East, a region strategically located athwart the crossroads of great cultures, shows it constantly beset by endless currents and crosscurrents, great and small wars, and all-embracing empires with factional and dynastic rivalries. All this, with the shifting allegiances, cultures, and subcultures and people spilling from one part into another, has affected the kitchen to its advantage. Here is its story.The early origins of Middle Eastern food can be found in Bedouin dishes and the peasant dishes of each of the countries involved. In the case of Egypt, one can go back as far as pharaonic times to find the foods still eaten by the Egyptians today: roast goose, fava beans, melokheya melokheya soup, soup, bamia bamia, and botarga. In his Dictionary of the Bible Dictionary of the Bible, J. Hastings writes that the "Hebrews in the wilderness looked back wistfully on the cuc.u.mbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic of Egypt; all of these were subsequently cultivated by them in Palestine." He also lists other foods mentioned in the Bible, such as varieties of beans and lentils, chickpeas, bitter herbs, olives, figs, grapes and raisins, dates, almonds, and nuts. These were prepared in a manner similar to that of the Egyptians, probably remembered by the Jews from their time in Egypt. One specialty the Hebrews adopted was fish, split open, salted, and dried in the sun. It was very useful to take on long journeys, and it is still considered a delicacy all over the Middle East.Little is known about what the other ancient inhabitants of the region ate- the Syrians, Lydians, Phrygians, Cappadocians, Armenians, a.s.syrians, Babylonians, Cilicians, and Mesopotamians. But one can a.s.sume that these prosperous, civilized states had highly developed culinary traditions, undoubtedly influenced by Greek and Roman customs, which fused together at different times during their history of invasions and conquests. The inhabitants of the arid desert areas of Arabia and the Sahara produced the Spartan food still popular with Bedouins today.The Persian InfluenceThe Persian Empire of c. 500 B.C. was the earliest empire to envelop the region. Macedonian Greeks followed to radiate their culture. As the Romans and Parthi-ans fought for dominance, the states they governed a.s.similated their traditions- and their cooking-and while these empires were won and lost, the character and style of Middle Eastern food was born.It is in the Persia of the Sa.s.sanid period (third to seventh century) that it blossomed. The reign of King Khosrow I inaugurated the most brilliant period of the Sa.s.sanid era, and with it the decline of Byzantine power. Alexander the Great and his successors had made part of Persia, as well as parts of India, h.e.l.lenic strongholds. The debris of h.e.l.lenic civilization remained for many centuries, mingling and fusing with the Persian and Indian civilizations. There was cross-fertilization in the kitchen as there was in philosophies, myths, and cultures. Similarities in food in these countries today, particularly between India and Persia, bear witness to these early influences.In the reign of Khosrow II (early seventh century), Byzantium was finally defeated, and the Persian generals conquered Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Alexandria. The triumphs of this great king were matched by his growing cruelty, vanity, and greed. Enormous sums were spent on his pleasures and those of his court. Persian tales and legends describe his fantastic banquets, lavishly laid, dazzling with luxury and extravagance. In his book L"Iran sous les Sa.s.sanides L"Iran sous les Sa.s.sanides, Arthur Christensen describes dishes popular at the time, and the court"s favorite recipes. It is then that some of the dishes so familiar today made their first appearance. A "dish for the King" consisted of hot and cold meats, rice jelly, stuffed grape leaves, marinated chicken, and a sweet date puree. A "Khora.s.sanian dish" was composed of meat grilled on the spit and meat fried in b.u.t.ter with a sauce. A "Greek dish" was made with eggs, honey, milk, b.u.t.ter, rice, and sugar-a sort of rice pudding. A "Dehkan dish" consisted of slices of salted mutton with pomegranate juice, served with eggs.Young kid was popular; so was beef cooked with spinach and vinegar. All kinds of game and poultry were eaten; in particular, hens fed on chenevis chenevis (hemp seed) were hunted and "frightened" before they were killed, and then grilled on the spit. The lower part of the chicken"s back was considered the tastiest. Today it is still a delicacy, sometimes called "the mother-in-law"s morsel." Meat was marinated in yogurt and flavored with spices. Many different kinds of almond pastry were prepared, jams were made with quinces, dates stuffed with almonds and walnuts. All this is still done today. Our dishes were savored by Khosrow and his favorite wife, Shirin. (hemp seed) were hunted and "frightened" before they were killed, and then grilled on the spit. The lower part of the chicken"s back was considered the tastiest. Today it is still a delicacy, sometimes called "the mother-in-law"s morsel." Meat was marinated in yogurt and flavored with spices. Many different kinds of almond pastry were prepared, jams were made with quinces, dates stuffed with almonds and walnuts. All this is still done today. Our dishes were savored by Khosrow and his favorite wife, Shirin.The decline of the Sa.s.sanids had set in by the end of Khosrow"s reign, but even after this grandiose empire had crumbled, its music and its food survived. Many Arab and Turkish dishes today betray their origins by their Persian names.Dishes Spread to the Far Corners of the Islamic EmpireThe spread of Islam was the most important factor in the development of a gastronomy comparable to that of France and China. The death of the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the year 632 A.D. was followed by victorious wars waged by the followers of his faith. Bedouin Arabs burst out of the Arabian Peninsula, conquered one territory after another, converted it to Islam, and established an enormous Islamic Empire stretching across Asia, North Africa, Spain, and Sicily. Wherever they went with their sword, the Arabs brought their tastes and those of the countries they conquered, amalgamating and spreading the foods from one part of the empire to another.In the early days-during the Umayyad period, when Damascus was the capital of the empire-the Arab tribes, led by the family of Muhammad, established themselves as a ruling cla.s.s, separate and above their conquered subjects. The Bedouin warriors, quartered in their great army encampments, ate only once a day and kept aloof, maintaining high standards of restraint and strict, austere living. Their primitive tastes collided with the local Byzantine and Persian hedonism. They ate very simple foods which combined ingredients of agricultural and pastoral origin. Preparation was elementary-the Bedouin diet consisted of bread and dates; of mutton, with some goat and camel meat, and the milk of these animals; with the occasional game and wild berries found in the desert. The settled agricultural populations ate chicory, beets, gourds, zucchini, mar row, cuc.u.mber, leeks, onions and garlic, olives, palm hearts, fava beans, lemons, pomegranates, and grapes. A gruel called harira harira was made of dried barley meal to which water, b.u.t.ter, or fat was added, and flour was cooked in milk. Spices were hardly used, even though the Arabs were engaged in transporting them to Europe. They obtained too high a price on the Roman market to be used locally. was made of dried barley meal to which water, b.u.t.ter, or fat was added, and flour was cooked in milk. Spices were hardly used, even though the Arabs were engaged in transporting them to Europe. They obtained too high a price on the Roman market to be used locally.The tastes of the Prophet prevailed. His favorite dishes-tharid, bread crumbled in a broth of meat and vegetables, and hays hays, a mixture of dates, b.u.t.ter, and milk- were still popular. Muhammad had a special liking for sweetmeats and honey and he was fond of cuc.u.mbers. He also liked fatty meat. When a lamb or a kid was being cooked, he would go to the pot, take out the shoulder, and eat it. It is said that he never ate reclining, for the angel Gabriel had told him that such was the manner of kings. He used to eat with his thumb and his two forefingers; and when he had done, he would lick them, beginning with the middle one.Over the years, Arab ranks were infiltrated and diluted by Byzantine, Persian, and the other conquered peoples. The subject cla.s.ses, slowly working their way up through the evolving Islamic society to a footing of equality with the Arabs, came at last to const.i.tute the new society themselves. The Abbasid regime was one of Persian ascendancy, with Persians flooding into Islam, transporting with them the core of their civilization. The Arabs, dazzled by the aristocratic brilliance of the Persians they had conquered, adopted their dishes with their traditions of chivalry and good living. The other subject nations-Asian, Aramaean, Egyptian, and Greek-also came to the fore later, bringing their own sometimes prestigious culinary heritage to the now cosmopolitan society.Thus the Arabs, even though their own cooking was rudimentary, brought about the marriage of cooking styles of the ancient Mediterranean and the Near East and the opulent cooking of Persia.In the Golden AgeIn the Abbasid period, from the eighth to the thirteenth century, the Golden Age of Islam, cooking was transformed into an art which reached magnificent heights. The Islamic Empire occupied far-flung areas of the world-Egypt, and all of North Africa, nearly all of Spain, the islands of Sicily and Crete, with a few southern-Italian towns, besides the north of Arabia, Syria, Armenia, the southeast part of the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Iraq, Persia, and Afghanistan. It was the most powerful influence in the world. Mecca was its religious center and Baghdad was the capital, the cultural and political hub. The creative culinary genius flourished especially under the reign (786-809) of Harun-al-Rashid. Culinary literature proliferated and reached the level of an art. There were two parallel trends. One, the result of the interest in food of the Abbasid upper cla.s.ses, written by them or for them, was a princely activity devoted to the refinement of pleasure and to setting high standards of taste and savoir-vivre savoir-vivre for the elite. Poets, astrologers, astronomers, scholars, princes, and even Caliphs took pleasure in writing about food. The other trend was the development of a branch of medicine-dietetics- and this was the work of doctors concerned with health. for the elite. Poets, astrologers, astronomers, scholars, princes, and even Caliphs took pleasure in writing about food. The other trend was the development of a branch of medicine-dietetics- and this was the work of doctors concerned with health.Gastronomy was especially esteemed in this rich period of Arab history when the search for the most delicious combinations of food, according to increasingly subtle criteria, formed the preoccupation of a distinguished society of gourmets. The banquets at the royal courts of the Caliphs of Baghdad were proverbial for their variety and lavishness. The Caliphs commissioned people to invent dishes, to write poems about foods, and to sing their praise at gatherings which became legendary. Masudi, a writer of the time, describes in Meadows of Gold Meadows of Gold one such event at the court of Mustakfi, the Caliph who was blinded and deposed in 946. I quote from Professor Arberry"s translation: one such event at the court of Mustakfi, the Caliph who was blinded and deposed in 946. I quote from Professor Arberry"s translation:One day Mustakfi said: "It is my desire that we should a.s.semble on such and such a day, and converse together about the different varieties of food, and the poetry that has been composed on this subject." Those present agreed; and on the day prescribed Mustakfi joined the party, and bade every man produce what he had prepared. Thereupon one member of the circle spoke up: "O Commander of the Faithful, I have some verses by Ibn al-Mu"tazz in which the poet describes a tray containing bowls of kamakh." kamakh."Ibn al-Mu"tazz too had been a tragic prince who ruled for one day only and was put to death in 908. The poem, about a tray of hors d"oeuvres, described the different elements in an ardent and sensuous manner. Others followed with long poems to the glory of many delicacies in terms of ecstatic love.One man recited a work by the poet, astrologe
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