The book entitled Kitab al Tabikh is, in the words of its translator and editor Nawal Nasrallah, “the earliest known, and the most important culinary document to have come down to us from medieval times worldwide. It is a complete text, well-written, and abounds with illustrative poems and anecdotes, most of which are nowhere else preserved.”

Scholars believe that the book was written in Baghdad more than a thousand years ago, in the second half of the tenth century. Its author, whose name implies he was a book dealer, has compiled recipes meant to demonstrate the sophistication of cooking within the Abbasid caliphate, seemingly for the benefit of dignitaries charged with entertaining even more august personages.

Like many works of the period, it contains medical advice along with its recipes, much of it based on the theory of humors. Unusually for this era, a number of the recipes are attributed to other authors.

Nasrallah’s abundant footnotes clarify issues of translation and etymology, as well as explain ingredients and identify people and places referred to in the text. While most of the book is printed in Roman characters, Arabic script is included when Nasrallah is explaining the finer points of her translation or interpretation.

Impressive scholarship and a fascinating perspective.

Paperback. Black-and-white line drawings; color illustrations