Legendary Cuisine of Persia

From Library Journal
Although Persian/Iranian recipes are included in general cookbooks on the Middle East, few other books focus on Iran, and none is as comprehensive as this one. This thoroughly researched work by Shaida, an English journalist who is married to an Iranian and lived in Iran for 25 years, serves as an excellent guide to a cuisine with a 3000-year-old history and far-reaching influences that have helped shape a variety of cuisines. Shaida provides dozens of recipes, many of them learned from her mother-in-law or given to her by friends and other Iranian home cooks; detailed headnotes provide culinary and cultural context, including many fascinating historical tidbits. Recommended for all Middle Eastern cookery collections and other larger libraries.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Because of its central position between Europe and the Far East, Iran has been a crossroads for civilizations and has always enjoyed exceptional cuisine. Nevertheless, the cooking of Iran is nearly unknown in the U.S. except in a few major cities. Margaret Shaida has produced a comprehensive guide to Iranian cooking that is part cookbook, part scholarly inquiry. Using the more ancient name for this storied land, The Legendary Cuisine of Persia microscopically examines the country's best dishes. In addition to loads of background text covering history and geography, each recipe has its own introduction that places it in cultural and culinary context. Recipes are clear and generally reproducible in the hands of a moderately experienced cook. One showstopper recipe sure to be a hit at a dinner party, the giant meatball from Tabriz hides as a surprise within it a whole chicken. This hefty lamb, rice, and split pea meatball simmers in a turmeric and tomato-flavored stock. Elsewhere, lamb, onions, parsley, and mint combine with rhubarb for a tasty stew. Bracing syrup from pomegranates plays an important role throughout the cuisine. Not every dish is easily prepared. Shaida has four pages of instructions to make proper Persian rice with its crisped bottom layer of grains. This is an important volume in any international cookery collection. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Persian cooking is one of the oldest and greatest cuisines of the world. It is justly famous for its fragrance, sophistication, elegance, and subtlety. In this highly acclaimed cookbook, Margaret Shaida traces the origins of this alluringly exotic cuisine and weaves her research through a coloful tapestry of lively anecdotes and quotations to provide the most complete collection of authentic recipes available.

About the Author
Married to an Iranian, British-born Margaret Shaida lived in Iran for 25 years and learned Persian cooking from her mother-in-law. Today she divides her time between England and Andorra and is a regular contributor to the annual Oxford Symposium of Food.


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Although Persian/Iranian recipes are included in general cookbooks on the Middle East, few other books focus on Iran, and none is as comprehensive as this one. This thoroughly researched work by Shaida, an English journalist who is married to an Iranian and lived in Iran for 25 years, serves as an excellent guide to a cuisine with a 3000-year-old history and far-reaching influences that have helped shape a variety of cuisines. Shaida provides dozens of recipes, many of them learned from her mother-in-law or given to her by friends and other Iranian home cooks; detailed headnotes provide culinary and cultural context, including many fascinating historical tidbits. Recommended for all Middle Eastern cookery collections and other larger libraries. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.


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