The Legendary Cuisine of Persia is an original and fascinating cookery book which will provide stimulation to all the senses.
The book won the Glenfiddich award and was first published by Grub Street in 2000, since when it has never been out of print, and is justly regarded as a classic. It is now re-issued in an updated and revised edition with colour photographs throughout.
Persian cooking is one of the oldest and greatest cuisines of the world. It is refined, sophisticated, subtle yet distinctive, elegant and varied. Fruits, nuts, herbs and spices are combined with rice, fish and meat in combinations whose ancient influence can be found in the cooking of the Middle East, Spain and India.
Persian cuisine is perfectly suited to today's style of eating — many of the dishes are vegetarian, and the marriage of sweet and savoury, such as grains and pulses stewed with fruit and spices, make for unforgettable meals. The sweetmeats and pastries are especially mouthwatering.
Margaret Shaida
was born in England. She married an Iranian and went to live in her husband's country in 1955. She stayed there for 25 years and learned Persian cooking from her mother-in-law and other friends and relatives in their own kitchens. Her love of Persian food grew even more passionate during the five years she spent researching this book. What she takes us on is a culinary adventure, illustrating the diversity of food as represented by its many different religions—Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Zoroastrian— whilst explaining the many customs and traditions which make up the exotic and colourful threads in a cuisine which spans more than three thousand years.
"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."
— Library Journal
"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. . . This is an important volume in any international cookery collection."
— Booklist
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