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Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking
New Food of Life is a treasury of 240 classical and regional Iranian recipes. 120 color photographs intertwined with descriptions of ancient and modern ceremonies, poetry, folk tales, travelogue excerpts, and anecdotes make New Food of Life not just a collection of recipes but also an introduction to Persian art and culture.
Each recipe is presented in a format that is brilliantly logical and marvelously easy to follow. You will learn how to cook rice, the jewel of Persian cooking, simply yet deliciously. And by combining it with a little meat, fowl, or fish, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, you'll have a balanced diet--colorful, yet healthy, simple yet exotic.
Iranian festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations, together with the menus and recipes associated with them are described in detail: from the ancient winter solstice celebration, Yalda, or the "sun's birthday," which is the origin of such Western holidays as Christmas and Halloween, to the rituals and symbolism involved in a modern Iranian marriage.
Like a magnificent Persian carpet, 1,000 years of Persian literature and art have been woven into the book. Food-related pieces from such classics as the 10th century Book of Kings, and 1,001 Nights to the miniatures of Mir Mussavar and Aq Mirak, from the poetry of Omar Khayyam to the humor of Mulla Nasruddin are all included.
Now with the ingredients for Iranian food available in most US cities, New Food of Life makes accessible one of the world's oldest--yet least known--culinary traditions where the first recipes were written 4,000 years ago in a cuneiform script on clay tablets.
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Los Angeles Times: "The definitive book on Persian cooking: not just a recipe collection but a fond introduction to a culture and a fascinating cuisine."
The Washington Post: "A jewel of a book."
The New York Times: "Too delightful to miss."
Chicago Sun-Times: "A stunning cookbook."
USA Today: "A beautiful introduction to Persian cuisine and culture."
Booklist: "Modern Iranian cooking fits perfectly with today's lighter eating styles. Recipes are presented in an easily followed style."
World of Cookbooks: "Persian-Iranian cuisine can have no better introduction than this book."
The Toronto Star: "A fabulous new cookbook.... The glossy tome-an array of elegant recipes peppered with lavish color photos of food; Persian miniatures and artwork-is the result of 12 years of painstaking research."
Publishers Weekly: "Effectively weaves Iranian cookery with ancient Persian legends and poetry and descriptions of traditional ceremonies and holidays."
The Baltimore Sun: "[Mrs. Batmanglij] has been careful to keep the recipes authentic."
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin: "For those who find ethnic cookbooks a bit daunting and pretentious, here's one that holds true on what it promises, plus much much more.... suggests in book form what Babette's Feast and Like Water For Chocolate did through film.... this book will meet if not surpass your expectations."
When I am at home with the samovar steaming and the house fragrant with the smell of onions and garlic cooking, when the air is filled with the captivating aroma of mint and rare spices, what beautiful memories come back to me! I see the pantry behind the kitchen of my childhood home once again. The odors of savory, fenugreek, marjoram, and angelica burst through the white cloth sacks that hang from the ceiling. Perhaps this book was inspired most by those perfumed memories. Above all, though, the cuisine of my country brings back to me the image of my parents and friends sitting cross-legged on a Persian carpet around the sofreh, a cotton tablecloth embroidered with poems and prayers.
Iranians wake up early, before the sun rises. In our family, my father and grandmother engaged in an amusing little contest every morning. The first one up was the proud winner. As soon as he awoke, my father would usually go out into the garden and head straight for the jasmine we had growing in red clay pots. He would pick all the flowers that had bloomed overnight and lay them at my mother's place on the sofreh. But sometimes Grandmother would get to the garden first. I can still hear father speaking in that mock-angry tone of his as he discovered that the jasmine bushes had been stripped of their flowers. "That grandmother has been here already!" he would say out loud. When our grandmother nonchalantly joined the rest of the family at breakfast, she casually plucked the concealed flowers from their hiding place under her shawl and dropped the fragrant bouquet near my father. He would pretend to ignore her as he waited to take his sweet revenge the next morning. I have fond memories of those breakfasts, or sobhaneh. The meal itself usually consists of sweet tea, feta cheese, and nan-e barbari, a crusty, flat bread made fresh very early every morning. Breakfast sometimes includes other types of bread, jam and honey, fresh cream, butter, and hot milk. Fried or soft-boiled eggs, saffron cake or pudding (halva or sholeh zard) might also be served, or even, before a long mountain hike, a soup made of tripe (sirab shir-dun) and lamb head and feet (kalleh pacheh). Sobhaneh is a very important and pleasant moment in the life of an Iranian family, a time to be together before everyone leaves for work.
The cuisine of any country is a fundamental part of its heritage. The ingredients reflect its geography, while the savor and colors accent the aesthetic tastes of its inhabitants. And food is associated with so many major social events-births, weddings, funerals-that culinary traditions are intertwined with a country's history and religion. This is especially true of Iran (called "Persia" by Westerners in ancient times).
Thousands of years ago, Zoroaster elaborated the ancient myth of the Twins. One became good and the other evil, one the follower of truth and the other of falsehood. This concept of duality is typically Persian, and it extends beyond moral issues. We often balance light and darkness, sweet and sour, hot and cold. For us, food is also classified as "hot" (garmi), which thickens the blood and speeds the metabolism, and "cold" (sardi), which dilutes the blood and slows the metabolism. Dates, figs, and grapes, for example, are hot fruits; plums, peaches, and oranges are cold.
Each recipe is presented in a format that is brilliantly logical and marvelously easy to follow. You will learn how to cook rice, the jewel of Persian cooking, simply yet deliciously. And by combining it with a little meat, fowl, or fish, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, you'll have a balanced diet--colorful, yet healthy, simple yet exotic.
Iranian festivals, ceremonies, and celebrations, together with the menus and recipes associated with them are described in detail: from the ancient winter solstice celebration, Yalda, or the "sun's birthday," which is the origin of such Western holidays as Christmas and Halloween, to the rituals and symbolism involved in a modern Iranian marriage.
Like a magnificent Persian carpet, 1,000 years of Persian literature and art have been woven into the book. Food-related pieces from such classics as the 10th century Book of Kings, and 1,001 Nights to the miniatures of Mir Mussavar and Aq Mirak, from the poetry of Omar Khayyam to the humor of Mulla Nasruddin are all included.
Now with the ingredients for Iranian food available in most US cities, New Food of Life makes accessible one of the world's oldest--yet least known--culinary traditions where the first recipes were written 4,000 years ago in a cuneiform script on clay tablets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Los Angeles Times: "The definitive book on Persian cooking: not just a recipe collection but a fond introduction to a culture and a fascinating cuisine."
The Washington Post: "A jewel of a book."
The New York Times: "Too delightful to miss."
Chicago Sun-Times: "A stunning cookbook."
USA Today: "A beautiful introduction to Persian cuisine and culture."
Booklist: "Modern Iranian cooking fits perfectly with today's lighter eating styles. Recipes are presented in an easily followed style."
World of Cookbooks: "Persian-Iranian cuisine can have no better introduction than this book."
The Toronto Star: "A fabulous new cookbook.... The glossy tome-an array of elegant recipes peppered with lavish color photos of food; Persian miniatures and artwork-is the result of 12 years of painstaking research."
Publishers Weekly: "Effectively weaves Iranian cookery with ancient Persian legends and poetry and descriptions of traditional ceremonies and holidays."
The Baltimore Sun: "[Mrs. Batmanglij] has been careful to keep the recipes authentic."
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin: "For those who find ethnic cookbooks a bit daunting and pretentious, here's one that holds true on what it promises, plus much much more.... suggests in book form what Babette's Feast and Like Water For Chocolate did through film.... this book will meet if not surpass your expectations."
When I am at home with the samovar steaming and the house fragrant with the smell of onions and garlic cooking, when the air is filled with the captivating aroma of mint and rare spices, what beautiful memories come back to me! I see the pantry behind the kitchen of my childhood home once again. The odors of savory, fenugreek, marjoram, and angelica burst through the white cloth sacks that hang from the ceiling. Perhaps this book was inspired most by those perfumed memories. Above all, though, the cuisine of my country brings back to me the image of my parents and friends sitting cross-legged on a Persian carpet around the sofreh, a cotton tablecloth embroidered with poems and prayers.
Iranians wake up early, before the sun rises. In our family, my father and grandmother engaged in an amusing little contest every morning. The first one up was the proud winner. As soon as he awoke, my father would usually go out into the garden and head straight for the jasmine we had growing in red clay pots. He would pick all the flowers that had bloomed overnight and lay them at my mother's place on the sofreh. But sometimes Grandmother would get to the garden first. I can still hear father speaking in that mock-angry tone of his as he discovered that the jasmine bushes had been stripped of their flowers. "That grandmother has been here already!" he would say out loud. When our grandmother nonchalantly joined the rest of the family at breakfast, she casually plucked the concealed flowers from their hiding place under her shawl and dropped the fragrant bouquet near my father. He would pretend to ignore her as he waited to take his sweet revenge the next morning. I have fond memories of those breakfasts, or sobhaneh. The meal itself usually consists of sweet tea, feta cheese, and nan-e barbari, a crusty, flat bread made fresh very early every morning. Breakfast sometimes includes other types of bread, jam and honey, fresh cream, butter, and hot milk. Fried or soft-boiled eggs, saffron cake or pudding (halva or sholeh zard) might also be served, or even, before a long mountain hike, a soup made of tripe (sirab shir-dun) and lamb head and feet (kalleh pacheh). Sobhaneh is a very important and pleasant moment in the life of an Iranian family, a time to be together before everyone leaves for work.
The cuisine of any country is a fundamental part of its heritage. The ingredients reflect its geography, while the savor and colors accent the aesthetic tastes of its inhabitants. And food is associated with so many major social events-births, weddings, funerals-that culinary traditions are intertwined with a country's history and religion. This is especially true of Iran (called "Persia" by Westerners in ancient times).
Thousands of years ago, Zoroaster elaborated the ancient myth of the Twins. One became good and the other evil, one the follower of truth and the other of falsehood. This concept of duality is typically Persian, and it extends beyond moral issues. We often balance light and darkness, sweet and sour, hot and cold. For us, food is also classified as "hot" (garmi), which thickens the blood and speeds the metabolism, and "cold" (sardi), which dilutes the blood and slows the metabolism. Dates, figs, and grapes, for example, are hot fruits; plums, peaches, and oranges are cold.