Customer Reviews
perfect - By: August Davis, 19 Oct 2005 
What a delight to find this book. All of the other reviewers are spot on with their championing of this treasure-trove of gorgeous recipes. As with her other books, Roden gives amusing & interesting anecdotes while relating the recipes & you can imagine the communities & individuals whence the recipes derive.
It is a must for any kitchen, with informal & easy to follow recipes making effortlessly delicious meals & treats.
Highly recommended!
A book for body, mind and soul - By: E MORI, 20 Jul 2005 Love of food, encyclopaedic of knowledge & matchless experience shine from every page where anectode, personal & apocryphal, share space with evocative, irresistible recipes. A book to be enjoyed for the love of cooking & reading.
Adam and a Packet of Chick Peas - By: Mrs. M.C. Lyons, 05 Jan 2003 I bought Claudia Roden's original book in 1973 (the year my son was born) & have used it regularly ever since. He has just rung me for a "hummus" recipe & to ask what to do with the extra chick peas he has soaked. Naturallly, I immediately turned to my copy of "A Book of Middle Eastern Food", found a recipe for "Chick peas with Potatoes & Tomatoes" which I handed on to him, and, hoping it was still in print, decided to order him a copy. I am delighted to find there is a new book, & feel sure he will enjoy it as much as I have the old one.
If you buy one Middle Eastern cookery book... - By: , 23 Nov 2002 ...make it this one. The recipes easy to follow, & Roden's writing style is peppered with amusing anecdotes about her childhood in Egypt & historical information that make this book a good read outside the kitchen as well as in.
Whereas many Middle Eastern cookbooks leave out ingredients (presumably to make the dishes seem less scary to Western palates), Roden's recipes are authentic. Many include alternate suggestions & regional variations from family recipes submitted by her friends & readers from across the region, so chances are you'll always have the proper ingredients to hand.
I cook from this regularly, both for everyday meals & special occasions (the appetiser section has loads of dishes that are great for parties). Middle Eastern cooking seems to be designed to make expensive ingredients like meat go a long way, & (although they're not flagged as such) there's some great recipes here if you're on a tight budget.
In other words...absolutely essential.
The best book on middle-eastern kitchen! - By: , 12 May 2000 I had one of the earlier editions of this book & it taught me how to cook. The new edition is even better than the previous. How is that possible? Maybe I have, with age, learned to appreciate culinary culture more than I used to.
I am a Turkish woman & most of the recepies Roden explains in her marvellous book are no strangers to me. I have ben living abroad now for many years. Every time I open Roden's book I can smell my grandmother's kitchen.
Here is a personal "thank you" to Claudia Roden from me. Maashalllah, forty one times, as we say back home.
