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I want to learn a bit about how to cook. I’m not overly keen about it, just an interest that arises from my desire to invite friends over and to cook for them.
Mallos’ book is a beautiful book – the photos of well-presented dishes and beverages, and her fine, readable writing. I borrowed it from Colin.
So far what I’ve found most interesting and enjoyable is the Introduction, where Mallos relates the historical context of Middle Eastern cooking. According to the Gallup Strength Finder, Context – the desire to learn the past – isn’t a theme that’s at all dominant in my repertoire. In fact it’s one of the lowest five in my theme sequence.
Still, I do want to learn a bit about the context of things here in the Middle East:
Going back to 7000 BC, people began to control their food supply – vegetation and animals. These practices are said to have originated in the Zagros mountains of Iran and the Fertile Crescent – an area of land that curves from the Eastern Mediterranean to the head of the Arabian Gulf, encompassing the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
Egyptian, Persian, Hellenistic (Greek) and Roman influences blended to form a varied but distinctive Middle Eastern cuisine.
Constantinople became the heart of the Byzantine Empire – named after Rome’s first Christian emperor (circa 330 AD) – after the collapse of the Roman empire in 476 AD. Byzantium survived for 11 centuries, and became the center of the Eastern Orthodox Church (what I know to be the origin of Belarusian [and Russian?] Christianity).
But the most important influence on Middle Eastern cooking was the advent of the Sassanids coming into power in 226 AD. They did so, after the end of Alexander the Great’s short-lived empire and the decline of Parthian rule in Persia. They succeeded in part to restore the glory of the Persian Empire of 550-330 BC in the region, including India.
The Persians introduced refined sugar to the region in the 5th century AD, allowing for the wider development of sweet foods and beverages.
Three years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, in 637 AD, the Arabs conquered what is today Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Persia – apparently fueled by their newly found zeal of Islam. Persia, for example, converted to Islam, as the Arabs absorbed Persian culture and cuisine.
“Cassia cinnamon [what is cassia cinnamon?] had come from China via the Silk Road [what and where is the Silk Road?], cardamom and pepper from India, and cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg from the Spice Islands of Indonesia which were obtained by Indian merchants [was there something about the Spice Islands that produced such spices?].” I love reading this description.
Halal, a word I’ve often heard, is now something I know the meaning of: It’s animals that have been slaughtered humanely, according to Islamic law: i.e., facing Mecca, with the slaughterer uttering the phrase “In the name of God; God is most great.”
