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  • Scheherazade’s Feast: Foods of the Medieval Arab World by Habeeb Salloum, Muna Salloum, and Leila Salloum Elias
  • Justin Rose
Habeeb Salloum, Muna Salloum, and Leila Salloum Elias, Scheherazade’s Feast: Foods of the Medieval Arab World (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2013) 256 pp.

Named after the heroine of the Arabian Nights, the Salloum family composed this cookbook that balances interesting historical information with delicious and well-crafted recipes. The authors of Scheherazade’s Feast seek to connect Medieval Arab cuisine with contemporary Middle Eastern culture. In most cases, trying to draw such connections would merely result in perpetuating Medievalist or Orientalist clichés. In this work, however, the Salloums aptly link Medieval ingredients and recipes with contemporary recipes and practices. Anyone who has dined in a Middle Eastern home will immediately recognize the authors’ explanations of hospitality and the beautiful rituals surrounding food presentation. As with many cookbooks, the recipes reflect the eating habits of the elite since lower classes could not afford ingredients like costly spices. Nevertheless, the Salloums note several cases where common people were invited to the ruler’s table so that their concerns might be heard. As such, one can also read these recipes through political or social lenses.

The introduction has two parts: an overview of medieval Arab cuisine, surveying from al-Andalous to Iraq and a historiography of primary source cook books. The overview provides important observations about the commonality of Middle Eastern cuisine as well as the changes brought about by local ingredients or other cultural influences. Access to trade routes and the movement and settling of Islamic forces in Egypt or Spain all contributed to a common set of foodstuffs available throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. European influences in al-Andalous or unique spices in Persia led to the development of new local recipes using the same foods. In the historiography section, the reader learns that medieval Arab cookbook writers had a holistic focus. Beyond prescribing ingredients and preparation, they included nutritional concerns and the curative natures of various herbs or foods. They wrote about hygiene, food ornamentation and table manners (7), how to clean utensils and what items were essential to a well-stocked kitchen. [End Page 325]

The main section of the text, like most cookbooks, has sections for appetizers, entrées, desserts and beverages; with subsections that feature lamb, chicken and vegetarian recipes. Two features set this cookbook apart. The authors include recipes from the various medieval cookbooks they surveyed in the introduction. A special note at the beginning of the book explains that they did not “polish” the translations of these primary source recipes so that the reader could get a sense of the original writing and grapple with the ambiguous amounts and cooking directions. After the original recipe, the authors most often include a paragraph or two of explanation, considering the significance of a particular ingredient, how the foods were harvested or prepared for the kitchen, amusing anecdotes connected with serving a particular dish as well as practical insights into taste or texture. In these commentaries, the authors provide valuable historical and social insights that turn mere recipes into material culture for the medieval Arab world. Readers will learn not only where a particular item came from, but also the etiquette associated with enjoying the dish at the royal table. Of course, each entry of the text also includes a modern style recipe “translated” into standard measurements and cooking instructions. Here, the authors admit to having to make some judgments when the original recipe calls for an ingredient that no longer exists or that could be substituted by something more readily available. Nevertheless, their directions are clear and consistent. The listed ingredients are easily available at the very least in a Middle Eastern market.

In the last pages of the text, the Salloums include a series of menus, some measurement conversions, a short but essential glossary and a considerable bibliography of both primary and secondary sources. The menus reflect the religious diversity of the medieval Middle East with suggestions for a dinner during Ramadan, Lent, Passover, and Christmas. By noting the various recipes that reflect particular religious dietary rules and customs, the authors...

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