Taste of Persia

Several years ago I had the pleasure of visiting a Persian restaurant with a fantastic buffet full of exotic food using spices that I swear only existed in my dreams. This was my first dive into Persian cuisine other than occasional Persian desserts and rose milk drinks as treats, and it is probably my favorite cuisine ever.

The culinary adventure starts with condiments and sauces, a true wonderful way to start, these are essential for making the Persian dishes taste right...and it can be a pain when you can't find the right herbs and spices.

This book is a beauty, combining photos of food and scenery of a wonderfully diverse region. I really think this book belongs in any collector of cookbook's collection, and the recipes are a must to try out!

Wow.

Seriously.

From the beautiful (drool-inducing) cover, to the photos and history contained within the book, it’s all brilliant. I was so grateful that a MAP was included! (apologies if I sound shocked – I just can’t remember the last time I saw a map included in a cookbook). I loved the brief descriptions of the countries which broadened my knowledge immensely. This cookbook really has it all. Oh – yes, it has mouth-watering recipes to make!

I was totally shocked by the beauty of this cookbook, which is nothing short of an amazing culinary journey.
The recipes look and sound delicious, most of them have easily obtainable ingredients so I'm definitely looking forward to try most of them. The pictures, the map are simply terrific. Everything about "Taste of Persia" is fantastic. This is a must have cookbook!

A fantastic cookbook which offers much more! I am so pleased that Duguid had the courage to venture into a culture and cuisine I would have not have otherwise had a chance to experience. This is a book to curl up with and devour, not just for the wonderful array of recipes ranging from condiments, salads, vegetables, meats, fish, breads and fruits and pastries but also because it provides a brilliant recount of the time she spent there immersed in the people and culture of the area. As she travels throughout Persia, she is on the receiving end of such genuine hospitality from the regions people; everyday families who take her into their arms and generously include her in their mealtimes and kitchen activities, showing a nation proud of their heritage and roots. The photography throughout is beautiful and the book and recipes a welcome inclusion in my collection. Don't be put off assuming that ingredients will be hard to come by either, as I have found that most are now readily available in the UK either through big supermarkets or online.

This is one of the most beautiful Cookbooks i have had in my hands for a really long time!
And i don't only mean the very vibrant and magnificent food pictures, but the recipes and stories as well. This is a wonderful book for beginners and i think experts that want a reminder into the Persian kitchen. I loved the little "stories", the pictures of the people, the very clear and easy recipes and the nicely done categories of this cookbook. this book will definitely become a part of my collection, and also be handed out as gifts to other cookbook lovers that will appreciate the book for its beauty alone and then fall in love with the recipes as well. Wonderful, magnificent book! A real beauty!

What an incredibly beautiful book! Yes, it's filled with lots of recipes for drinks, salads, mains, sides and desserts and it has some of the most incredible photography I've eve seen in a cookbook, but it also has heart. As Dugid travels through areas of the world that are filled with people who are now supposed to be our enemies, people we are supposed to be afraid of, she discovers people who gladly share their recipes, their homes and their food.

What a glorious book, not only full of recipes, but a very interesting history and geography book of the area once known as Persia. The Photography is fabulous and the information is brilliant. The recipes are jus so fresh and simple to prepare, food that is not traditionally eaten in the west, yet would fix all our obesity problems in a very tasty way. There is a large chapter on flat breads which I found excellent. This book also stops by the way, and shares some of stories of the people and experience that Naomi experienced on her travel in this fabulous region and cultures. What a lovely introduction to the food and people of the Persian region.

Beautiful book. Great recipes and mouth watering descriptions. Everything you could ever want in a cookbook.

What I know about the broader Persian region covered by this cookbook comes from my studies of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East; that is to say, it is limited to basic geography, history, and geopolitics. I know almost nothing about the culture – aside from being able to identify the countries by languages and religions – and even less about their culinary traditions. So I was excited to pick up this book and learn something about the region.

The introductory material of the cookbook provides an excellent overview of both the region that the author refers to as Persia, and the individual countries in that region. There is a teaser of geopolitical, cultural, and culinary information about each country, as well as the region of Kurdistan, with promises of greater depth to be provided in the “A Closer Look” section after the recipes. The maps are simply stunning: they are well-rendered and provide a terrific frame of reference when considering how the countries and various cities are situated.

The recipes in the book begin with the most basic flavors and condiments, then proceeds in the order of a meal: from salads and vegetables to fish and meats, then to grains and flatbreads, and finally to sweets and fruits. Each recipe has the transliterated native language name following the English name. There is a brief introduction to the recipe, followed by the quantity or number of servings produced by the recipe. Sometimes the quantities are shockingly large – such as four cups for the Svantetian salt and four quarts for the Georgian red ajika. The introduction may discuss the origin of the recipe, how to handle specific ingredients in the recipe, and/or how to serve the recipe. The ingredients are listed in bold in the order of use in the recipe, and are measured according to American measurements only. (However, there is a conversion chart to Imperial and Metric measurements at the back of the book, so Google is not required – just basic math.) The more exotic ingredients are explained in the Glossary. Substitutions are offered for hard to acquire ingredients, such as blue fenugreek. The recipe steps are succinctly and clearly written in paragraph format after the ingredient listing. Some of the recipes are rather complex, with three pages of instructions. Sometimes the recipe steps discuss how to store leftovers. But the instructions are always clearly written. And the author takes nothing for granted. For example, she always reminds the reader to take care when pricking dried limes with a knife, because the limes are so hard that the knife could ricochet and cut the user. Sometimes there are Notes after the recipes that offer variations or clarifications.

One of my favorite pages in the book is the “Pantry Basics” page, which is the second page in the “Flavors and Condiments” section. I like this page because it lists all the dried herbs, spices and other useful pantry items that are essential to Persian cooking. I was surprised by how much of it I already had in my kitchen, although some of it was because my brother had brought me back vials of dried herbs and spices from the bazaar when he went to Istanbul. In the lists, the author marked which ingredients one would most likely have to procure from a specialty ethnic market; however, I was surprised that dried marigold petals and dried rose petals were not so marked. This page also referenced the Glossary for more information on the more unfamiliar ingredients. So I turned to the Glossary to read that before I proceeded any further into the “Flavors and Condiments” section.

I flipped to the Glossary immediately after surveying the “Pantry Basics” list, so I expected it just to provide basic information about unfamiliar ingredients. Imagine my surprise when only one of the first four entries was actually a food item: the list went “Achaemenid Empire,” “advieh,” “Albania, Caucasian Albania,” and “Alexander the Great.” The food items kicked in full force after Alexander the Great, but it was just interesting for me to see how the author intended this cookbook to be a well-rounded education in Persian culture, and not just a culinary journey. Of course, just reading the description of advieh (cardamom, cassia, cumin, dried rose petals) prompted me on a quest to find some. Fortunately, I had Zamouri Spices bookmarked in my Firefox from a birthday gift box that I did in early 2015; advieh was the first spice mix in their listing. The listing of legumes used in the cookbook was fairly comprehensive, ranging from black-eyed peas to split peas, and the description of each included recommended cooking times. Just as comprehensive was the listing of fishes. The Glossary not only explains what ghee is, but also describes how to make ghee from butter; likewise for vanilla sugar. The column long explanations of the Yazidi faith and of Zoroastrianism were extremely interesting, and each had information that I had heard before.

The variety of the recipe selection is impressive. No one country or region seems to dominate the collection, as the author seems to have made a concerted effort to illustrate the diversity of Persian cuisine. Many of the recipes are from home stays where the author cooked along with the women of the household, which adds a sense of authenticity. The recipes reflect the eating habits of the region, including an entire chapter on rice dishes and a whole chapter on flatbreads.

Occasionally tucked in between the recipes are one to two page vignettes about the author’s experiences traveling in the Persian region. “Seeking Saffron,” for example, is about the author’s trek to northeastern Iran to see saffron crocuses in bloom before the harvest. “Yazidi Village” is about a trip to Raya Taza, a Yazidi village in Armenia. “Fountains and Gardens, Picnics and Poetry” is about Persian poetry and a trip to the tomb of the poet Hafez in Shiraz, Iran. These vignettes further reinforce the impression that this cookbook is meant to educate its readers in Persian culture and history, not just Persian cuisine. The vignettes are cross-referenced where appropriate in the Glossary to provide more information on the topic.

After the recipes are about thirteen pages of more detailed information about the countries and travel notes. The “A Closer Look” section includes information about the geography, people, food, and agriculture of the countries. The “Travel Notes” section is a mere two pages of travel advice for the Persian region – ranging from arranging visas to what type of gifts to bring for hosts. Again, these two sections reinforce the author’s intent that her cookbook educate the reader in far more than Persian cuisine.

The photography is mostly photojournalism of people and places throughout the region – including markets and bazaars - with some stylized food photography of finished dishes prepared according to the recipes in the book. The photographs range in size from small inserts underneath recipes to full pages. The vast majority of the photojournalistic photos are captioned with the place that they were taken and a brief description of the subject. Most of the recipes that were photographed annotate on the recipe page where in the book the photograph appears. Likewise, the captions for the food photography indicate on which page the recipe can be found.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed reading this cookbook, and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about Persian cuisine. I learned a lot about a region of the world that I knew only a little about and was exposed to an entirely new cuisine. Although I have bookmarked at least a dozen recipes from a variety of sections in this cookbook, I have yet to prepare any of them. Before I embark upon my culinary experiments, I will have to place an order with Zamouri Spices, as I am unaware of any Persian, Arabic or Turkish markets in my area. Once I begin preparing recipes from this cookbook, I will update my review with the results.

Gorgeously illustrated cookbook covering authentic everyday cuisine from ‘Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Kurdistan.’

The recipes were the type you could believe people would make everyday, nothing too fabricated or fancied up. They just seemed authentic and realizable. Though it feels odd to describe recipes as realizable, anyone who has read about a cuisine that they are not familiar with and felt completely baffled will (hopefully) recognize the sentiment.
The books includes recipes for breads, meats, grains, sweets, vegetables and beverages. Also, the book is filled with personal stories and experiences surrounding travelling in the area and common living conditions, which lends richness and complexity. This is more than just a collection of recipes, it is a small cross-section of the region culturally.

I definitely found appealing recipes to try, that were plant based, or could easily be changed to plant based, and I am looking forward to trying them out.

I absolutely enjoy learning new recipes from all over. This book was wonderful on recipes and explaining different seasoning in the food. The pictures were great in the book. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys learning great recipes.

Review
This book is absolutely gorgeous, my first impression is of beautiful high quality colourful illustrations of people places and food.
Interest is ramped up by the wonderfully descriptive travelogue and the fascinating anecdotes about a people I know so little about.
The layout is everything I want in a cookbook as it includes Pantry Basics, the all important but too often omitted glossary, so important to the reader when attempting new and unusual dishes. There is even an annotated bibliography - perfect!

Then of course there is the food! I would feel confident to try these recipes, though maybe not the plor dish, that looks a bit complicated for me, but there are several delicious looking other stews
I liked how so many are stove top dishes, even bread recipes, I loved the look of the cheese filled quick breads and the half moon hand pies. The recipes are well written with clear instructions for the nervous cook.

This is a book that I would look at often, I imagine the recipes will be well used and, even if not in the mood for cooking, the illustrations are worth looking at over and over.
What a fabulous and welcome gift this would be

I read many cookbooks, and have exacting standards for what makes one worth buying versus just reading. This one is worth buying. The mix of beautiful pictures, historical and cultural details, and recipes that are both approachable and mouth-watering is exactly what I hope for in a new cookbook. I bookmarked so many recipes to try; the bread section alone makes it a must-have for my home library. I enjoyed the author's writing and found her recipes clear and sensible. She explained new ingredients in a way that made them less daunting to someone new to Persian cuisine. I am so very happy I got the chance to read Taste of Persia and can't wait to begin cooking.

An absolutely gorgeous book.
This is so much more than a cook book, it's a culinary journey into Persia.
A look into the pantry, basic requirements and how things need to be done, yes but just so much more.
The way the recipes are based around the seasons and that you get so much more, you get travel notes and stories that make you feel like you have been there.
The images finish this book off and make it truly beautiful.

Naomi Duguid has more than twenty years experience in making us want to listen to her and cook and 'Taste of Persia' is a cookbook which deserves its place alongside Olia Hercules, Paula Wolfert and the Moro books.

Lushly illustrated with photographs of places, people and food, there's 125 well-written recipes from Iran, Armenia , Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kurdistan and there's also a map which is MUCH appreciated. Each recipe has a strong sense of geo-political and cultural place, what Duguid has written is no less than a delicious culinary etymology.

I love this book and would definitely recommend it to others. It's beautifully written and the recipes have me salivating. The photography is gorgeous. All in all, this book is a keeper

This cookbook was so amazing..... part recipe but history lesson. Enjoyed all the information & awesome pictures of the land, its people, & customs. The recipes were new to me & so interesting.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful and delicious trip through Persia. I want to read it again and again!

Thanks to NetGalley and Artisan Books for this free eBook. And what a wonderful food/travel book this is. It's full of delicious recipes, photographs and wonderful stories of the author's travels through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, & Kurdistan.
I saw so many recipes that I want to try as I was reading this particularly the pumpkin rice and the fruit leathers. This is definitely going on my Christmas/birthday wish-list and I'm sure it will be on many foodies lists this year as well.