Taste of Persia: A Cook's Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan

by Naomi Duguid

Though the countries in the Persian culinary region are home to diverse religions, cultures, languages, and politics, they are linked by beguiling food traditions and a love for the fresh and the tart. Color and spark come from ripe red pomegranates, golden saffron threads, and the fresh herbs served at every meal. Grilled kebabs, barbari breads, pilafs, and brightly colored condiments are everyday fare, as are rich soup-stews called ash and alluring sweets like rose water pudding and date-nut halvah.

Our ambassador to this tasty world is the incomparable Naomi Duguid, who for more than 20 years has been bringing us exceptional recipes and mesmerizing tales from regions seemingly beyond our reach. More than 125 recipes, framed with stories and photographs of people and places, introduce us to a culinary paradise where ancient legends and ruins rub shoulders with new beginnings—where a wealth of history and culinary traditions makes it a compelling place to read about for cooks and travelers and for anyone hankering to experience the food of a wider world.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Travel, Nonfiction, Culinary, Iran

400 pages, Hardcover

First published September 20, 2016

About the author

Naomi Duguid, traveller, writer, photographer, cook, is often described as a culinary anthropologist.

She is also the author of the acclaimed BURMA: Rivers of Flavor and the co-author of six earlier award-winning books of food and travel: Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through South-East Asia; Seductions of Rice; Flatbreads and Flavors; HomeBaking; Mangoes and Curry Leaves; and Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Stories from the Other China. The books explore home-cooked foods in their cultural context, with recipes and photographs as well as stories.

Reviews

[ShoSho · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read so many cookbooks that claim to have Persian recipes or watched food shows with the same claim. All most of them do is add saffron ,fig , pomegranate or rose water to a 10-minute dish and call it "Persian".
Anyway this book doesn't do any of those ridiculous things. It gives you a positive/real view of the cultural of people of Iran, Armenia , Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kurdistan plus little tidbit of author's experience in these countries accompanied by the original and traditional recipes of popular dishes in the region.
I cook many of these dishes and I was so excited to see that the recipes in this book was either close or almost the same as what I do or my mother does when cooking the traditional Persian dishes.

Although I don't live there anymore ,I still cook Persian dishes all the time but reading this book made me want to cook a Persian feast and try the recipes I haven't tried before or better yet go for a visit ,travel and eat all these tasty dishes there.
Amazing book it's both a cookbook and a travel book. Highly recommended.

From Netgalley

[Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing and photography.
I appreciate that she included minor regional variations in spicing, technique, etc.

[Stephen Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find that cookbooks that try to cover multiple areas usually end up compromising and giving short shrift to all of them. In this case, the Iranian parts are surprisingly weak. Compensating for that is solid coverage of cuisines in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kurdistan that are by no means well-covered by other cookbooks. There are numerous good (or better) Persian/Iranian cookbooks, but this is a good combination/compromise with the addition of those other areas.

Unlike a lot of these cookbooks, the "travelogue" digressions are actually good and generally pretty interesting.

[roxi Net · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Tanninsandtales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Taste of Persia is part cookbook, part photography book and part travelogue. The recipes are interesting enough and the pictures beautiful. I could not care less about the travelogue bit.

I do have a problem with the book's title, though. While in this day and age, Persia is more often than not associated with modern Iran, the book is a collection of recipes from countries that - once upon a time - were part of the Persian Empire. Imagine a book named "Taste of Rome" featuring recipes of Haggis. Doesn't taste right.

[Candlewick Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check out my blog for more reviews all things books: DearWilderness & Books






I received this as an arc from Netgalley as an exchange for an honest review.





I grew up to the smells and tastes of my mother's kitchen. There, extraordinary spices would be used from far off places that I only dreamed of going. That was where the family gathered to exchange long-winding stories about their day, question the future, reminiscence over the past. There, my mother would knead the bread, my father would grill the meat, and the unfortunate task of chopping the onions always fell on me. Elaborate meals were created and celebrated at that kitchen.




Now, a 1000 miles away from my parents, away at Uni, I often settle for the simple. Frozen pizza, nuggets, burgers (if it's frozen, you know I've tried it!). Unfortunately, as a student, time is as rare a commodity as some of the spices in my mom's cupboard.

But, if I found myself the time, and I cooked one of the recipes, and it brought me home.
Even if you're new to these recipes, it'll still bring you tremendous joy to create these foods (and even more joy to consume them!).




The pictures in the book were beautiful, and the recipes were well-crafted and easy to follow. Naomi Duguid also brings in interesting background context on each recipe, this book is both a cookbook and a traveller's guide to Persia.


Also a delightful addition for fans of Sabrina Ghayour's "Persiana" cookbook



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With Love,

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as free ebook via Net Galley, thank you to Artisan Books for the opportunity to read this delicious cookbook. I can't want to try making some dishes I haven't had the chance to taste in 30 years! This book is wonderful blend of recipes and a travelogue with photos worthy of National Geographic. It's filled with interesting tidbits of Persian history, current Iranian daily life sprinkled with some of my favorites from this cuisine. 5 stars for Naomi Duguid!

[Anna Nesterovich]

p. 233 - 3 stars - Thanksgiving-Pumpkin Rice - A lazy version of meatless pilaf cooked in a pumpkin. A good way to utilize barely edible caring pumpkins. But, it's hardly a traditional food and the recipe looks like the author just asked, was answered in vague terms, and never tried it, even though there are practical tips saying that it was tried. I ended up with not-quite-cooked rice after 2 hours, which was rather disappointing at dinner time. It was done a couple hours later. Besides, 2.5 cups of water is not nearly enough for 2 cups of rice. I corrected that straight away, but I wonder what would happen if I didn't.
p. 515 - 4 stars - Rose Water Pudding - It's a (very) fast way to make a rice pudding that also smells of roses. Not a very special thing, but easy and not fussy, with a high chance of being included in my regular repertoire.

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful cookbook exploring the world and cuisine of the countries that made up the Persian Empire! Loved the travel stories accompanying the recipes, as well as the breathtaking photographs!

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Persian cookbook I could find. There's a bit too much side story but the recipes look nice

[Bundt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collecting the best of regional recipes from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Kurdistan, like Samarkand, these are regions I have personal connection to. Building on base flavors like tart-sweet apricot and raisin relish (Azerbaijan), Georgian walnut and sour plum sauce, you’ll find a wide array of vegetables (the humble eggplant is a particular favorite in the region and appears in a variety of guises, from grilled eggplant puree and grilled eggplant with pomegranate seeds to fried eggplant rollups. I loved the Armenian Thanksgiving pumpkin rice (this may be my Christmas centerpiece this year!), cabbage rolls stuffed with beans and tart fruit, plovs and rice dishes (particularly the Armenian emmer mushroom pilaf, see photo), and classic sweets (halvah, baklava, rosewater-scented puddings). The book also provides a fantastically in-depth guide to featured countries and a very thorough glossary. Must-try dish: emmer mushroom pilaf from Armenia.

[Zora O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved Naomi Duguid's cookbooks for a long time, but this one especially hits for me, probably because I'm already interested in the region this one covers. I got into cooking through Indian food, and am very familiar with foods in the Arab world -- so it's great to cover the area in between a bit, and see how the flavors and ingredients and techniques shift. She casts a nice broad net here, showing how certain spices and other details are common all over an area that's otherwise divided up by national boundaries.

Also, Duguid should get more credit as a travel writer and photographer. Even if you don't cook anything from this book (though you should), it's filled with absolutely great photos of regular people in their regular kitchens, or otherwise doing normal stuff you don't see in newspapers. And the little vignettes throughout the book, describing events on her trips, are generous and insightful.

Great things I've cooked so far:
--delicate little saffron cookie-cakes
--an apricot-walnut pastry roll that could easily be in a Scandinavian cookbook
--a Georgian beef stew that was declared "best stew ever" in this house
--Azeri-style mushrooms that use a technique I've never heard of
--a Kurdish eggplant recipe that is fast and deliciously silky
--borani (Persian-style veg with yogurt and fried onions)

And of course I've now got a little jar of saffron water in my fridge, which I'm liberally applying.

[Critterbee❇ · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 everyday life, 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.


**eARC Netgalley**

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thrilled to find the historical and cultural information as interesting as the recipes. And oh, the recipes-- I am already a fan of Persian cuisine, and there were so many new dishes I had never encountered before. I liked that the scope included Armenia, Azerbaigan, Georgia and Kurdistan. The pictures were gorgeous. I think you can tell I enjoyed this book very much, and have more than a few recipes bookmarked to try. The bread section alone makes this worth seeking out.
I received a reader's copy of this cookbook through NetGalley.

[Lora Milton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 400 page book with history and recipes for the food of an area that was once the Ancient Persian Empire, which includes modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and Kurdistan. It is beautifully illustrated with full color pictures and a map, and has loads of travel information and history of the various countries in the region. The author traveled extensively through cities and villages in the different countries, picking up cooking methods and recipes along the way.

The first chapter is called Flavors and Condiments. It explains about basic ingredients like mint oil, spices, dried fruits, the use of an herb plate and the saffron crocus and how to use the strands in water. Recipes for mixtures of Persian salt and Svanetian salt are given along with often used items like Walnut sauce, apricot raisin relish and sour plum sauce.

The author explains that the history of the Zoroastrian religion still affects foods that are traditional to welcome the return of the sun at the Spring equinox, which I found culturally interesting.

Then we have a chapter on Salads and Vegetables. There are some familiar ingredients, like cucumber which seems to feature highly in this section, and less familiar items like pomegranate molasses, sumac and barberries. This is the one drawback to any ethnic cookbook, that some ingredients peculiar to the region might not be easily available everywhere.

The author suggests Persian food stores, which I assume can be found in a lot of cities but nor everywhere. Out of curiosity I looked on Ebay and found it very easy to get dried barberries, sumac and even the pomegranate molasses, although you have to be careful you don't accidentally order hookah tobacco in that flavor! As a result I've bookmarked a spice merchant who appears to have everything from smoked Paprika to szechuan peppercorns and ground black cardamom at very reasonable prices.

The vegetable chapter has a few variations of Borani, which is a favored dish of vegetables in yogurt sauce. They use eggplant, walnuts, and leeks in many of the recipes. There are also travel notes about places the author visited while researching the book interspersed among the recipes.

The next chapter is called Soup Paradise and has some interesting combinations like potato and pumpkin soup and herbed yogurt. There are also soups with meat, like Tabriz Meatball soup which sounds rather good and Kofta, which mixes dried fruits with meat and bean soups for the vegetarians.

Next is Stuffed Vegetables and Dumplings. This has such interesting delicacies as Eggplant roll-ups and Cabbage Dolmas, which is spiced meat rolled in cabbage leaves. This is followed by a chapter on fish, which you can have fried, stuffed, with fruit, in salad, or roasted with walnut paste.

Next is Grilled Meat and Poultry, with recipes for lamb, goat or beef kabab, perhaps pomegranate marinated with walnuts?

After an interlude for Fountains and Gardens, Picnics and Poetry, are some poultry recipes including roast chicken with fruits and walnuts and various chicken kebabs. Then in Stovetop Meat and Poultry we get recipes for Tart Lamb Stew with Fried Potatoes and an Easter Stew. I note that lamb seems to feature highly in stews. Kurdish Stew sounded interesting, flavored with cumin, turmeric and dried fruit, and can be made with lamb, beef or chicken. Spiced beef shank made with allspice, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon also caught my eye, although boiling meat has never been my favorite method. I may well try the spice mix on roasted instead.

A chapter on Rice and Other Grains includes Persian rice, made with yogurt and spices, and Kurdish Black Rice, made with pomegranate molasses. This one also gives a recipe for Polenta, which I've heard of before and can be bought in some supermarkets.

The chapter on Flatbreads gives recipes for basic flatbreads, Half-moon hand pies which look really good with various fillings; herb, vegetable or cheese. There are also cheese-filled pastries or quickbreads. The author gives us information about traditional breads from different regions like Persian Pebble bread or Barbari bread from Iran.

Then we have a chapter called A Taste For Sweet. The author explains that it's traditional to eat these sweet concoctions during the day for a snack rather than at the end of a meal. They include Rose water pudding and Persian Rice Pudding with cardamom and pistachios. The author says she substitutes pine nuts for the pistachios, but I can't imagine why! The original sounds so much better to me.

There are also recipes for Apricot-Walnut Pastry, Armenian Puff Pastry Cake with butter and cardamom, Date-Nut Halvah, Oasis Baklava, rose water and also some exotic teas and coffee with cardamom. They all sound generally more healthy than what we eat as sweet in the western world.

The last chapter, A Wealth of Fruit, has recipes for Fruit Leath, Peach Kompot, and some refreshing things to do with fruit juices. The book finished off with travel notes and a glossary, plus conversion charts after the index.

I'm not sure how many recipes I'll actually use out of this book, but reading it felt like going on a journey in exotic lands and experiencing the flavors that go with that region. It's certainly an enjoyable book to read and I'm glad the recipes were mostly kept in their original form. It gave me, as the title says, a real taste of Persia.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book might make for a better coffee table book than a cookbook. The photos are absolutely stunning and the short travel vignettes make you want to buy a plane ticket immediately. The recipes are nothing I'd ever make - most are a little too out of my comfort zone - but so many sound delicious that I'd love to have someone else make them for me!

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delectable journey through a variety of kitchens. Beautiful photos, excellend descriptive recipes, glossary and references, plus travel notes. As close as I'll likely get to the region. I could almost smell the ingredients. Armchair travel meets ethnic cooking.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank goodness for real books with pages that actually turn and glossy photos to gaze at.

I started reading this in e-book form (with tiny black and white photos) and got the sense that the narrative felt a little dry. I also found it very difficult to leaf back and forth to re-read various recipes/sections but still be able to find my way back to where I had been. So we got the hard-copy version out of the library.

Wow. What a difference! Suddenly, all of the text was fascinating. And the accompanying photos (in colour) enhanced the experience dramatically.

When I was still reading the e-book, I was all set to complain that since Alford and Duguid separated, Duguid's editor must be new and was excising far too much of Duguid's lyrical writing. But it turns out that I just need to feel the pages in my hand. I do love actual books....

The world of Persian-influenced cuisine is a huge one, stretching over vast distances in time and space. [...] I firmly believe that through sharing food and food wisdom we can connect imaginatively and politically with people in other countries and situations. In the summer of 2012, I was thinking about the way in which the mainstream media causes people to demonize countries ruled by totalitarian regimes. I realized that it was time I wrote about Persian culinary tradition, to try to put a human face on the people of Iran, and to show the connection and contribution of Persian food culture to other cuisines and peoples in the region. (acknowledgments)

It was fascinating to follow Naomi Duguid's footsteps and learn so much about an area of the world I knew little about. And of course, the many accompanying recipes are wonderful. Although, strangely, Duguid calls for adding egg to make the tahdig in all of her bottom of the rice dishes. (For us egg just does NOT belong - yoghurt: yes; egg: no.)

Recipes we've tried so far: onion salad with barberries (not bad, but we don't think we'd make it again. The flavour of the beautiful red onion we used was surprisingly faded. But the leftovers were great added to cole slaw though), red ajika (fabulous), roast chicken with Persian flavors (fabulous), barberry rice (fabulous), naan-e-Barbari (fabulous), Pomegranate-Marinated Kebabs (fabulous), mushroom Khinkali (I liked them), cardamom cookies (fabulous), saffron water (fabulous), chicken Fesanjun (really good - we want to try this with duck....), Persian Cafe Kebabs with Grilled Tomatoes (really good), Spinach Borani (fabulous),

Recipes to make soon: beet borani, "real baba ghanouj", eggplant borani, fruit leather, boomerang bread, lavash, mint oil, fried eggplant roll-ups, grilled eggplant with pomegranate, advieh, Georgian Sour Plum Sauce (Tkemali), Kmeli Suneli (for the name alone!!),

BORANI YE BADMJAN Another in the persian borani family, this combo of smoky eggplant with creamy yogurt and fried onions is a great addition to any meal. (eggplant borani)

For the month of July, we couldn't stop serving rice with tahdig (made with yoghurt rather than egg as Duguid recommends). And simply because of reading this wonderful book, in early July, we trekked up to a store on the northern edge of Toronto to buy real flat-bladed skewers so we could make kebabs. While we were at the store, we also bought barberries and pomegranate molasses....

Persian rice is wonderful, of course, but there's also Persian bread!

There's a kind of reverence surrounding two of the breads of Iran. One is the classic breakfast bread called barbari, with a ridged browned top, and the other is sangak, the chewy, textured "pebble bread" that most often accompanies lunch and supper. [...] The traditional oven of a sangak bakery has a tall, narrow opening and inside the cavern of the oven is a wall of gravel sloping upward toward the back. Sang means stone or pebble in Persian, so sangak refers to bread baked on a bed of stones. [...] It's possible to make reasonable versions of both sangak and barbari in a home oven if you have a baking stone and, for making sangak, a supply of small stones [...] If you have a starter going, us it rather than the yeast and lengthen the proofing times as necessary. (Bread in Iran)

And condiments...

Ajika, one of the glories of the Georgian table, is a chile paste that comes in many versions: red and green, chile-hot or milder, thick and dense or else more liquid like salsa. What all ajikas share is that they are salty, delicious uncooked condiments made of peppers, herbs, and aromatics.

Here are just a few of the many wonderful passages included in this must-have cookbook:

I loved the public transportation, because it was a chance to be thrown into a crowd of strangers, always an interesting experience in another country. Women were very welcoming and generous to me. We shared sunflower seeds and raisins, smiles, and gestural conversations that felt relaxed and intimate. (Iran Travel)

    Tucked away in the Caucasus foothills above Lahich, in Azerbaijan, is a lovely Garden of Eden. I walked up there one morning in late September. The barberry and sea buckthorn bushes by the grassy track were laden with colorful berries, and sheep graze on the hillside. Around a curve in the path, I suddenly came upon several hundred, maybe more, mature apple trees loaded with fruit, apples in every shade from pale green-yellow through pink- and orange-tinged to deep, almost wine red. [...]
    A horseman came by, his horse carrying large wooden panniers. We exchanged a quick "Salaam aleikum," and he cantered off. Sometime later, I heard a laboring engine, a strange modern sound in that peaceful orchard, and around the corner came an old Lada.
    Several men emerged from the car. One of them, lean and bony, in his seventies, with a high-cheekboned face and a smile came over and shook my hand as he said, "Salaam." He invited me to join them [...]
    We gathered dried bits of twigs and wood, and Ajdar, for that was the thin man's name, made a fire. As it burned down, he threaded pieces of lamb onto long, wide metal skewers, arranged two rocks on either side of the fire, and placed the skewers across the embers. He also buried some potatoes to cook in the coals. [...]
    Soon Ajdar brought over the first skewer and slid the meat onto a plate. Then came the others, making a heap of beautifully grilled lamb that had been flavored only with salt. As we started eating, a man came walking down the hillside. It was the horseman who'd ridden past earlier. He too was included in the feast.
    The readiness to share food and drink with a stranger is part of the culture in rural Azerbaijan, as it is in Georgia and Armenia. In North America and Europe, people seem to be less open, but in the Caucasus, a place where people have suffered a lot from war and change, there's a hospitable generosity. (Feasting in a Garden of Eden)

    Late one spring afternoon, a friend and I made our way to dinner at the apartment of a family that I'd met only a week before [...]
    In Georgia, an enormous effort goes into preparing food and laying a generous table for friends and family--and occasional strangers from afar like me. [...] Supper will be ready when it's ready, not at some exact preappointed time. The waiting time will pass with conversation and joking around. [...] The toasts, the joking, the food explanations (translated for me by my friend Tamar), and the shifting conversations during the meal were all part of an in-the-moment delight. To Georgians, what matters most is coming together to eat and drink, finding pleasure and warmth at the table. (Warmth at the Table in Tbilisi)

The section about the search for saffron, "the holy grail in all its fragility and loveliness", is particularly poetic and really should be read in its entirety to get the full effect. (The following is just an excerpt)

    After a while, we came to a scenic village and stopped to ask once again about saffron. "Oh yes, I just picked mine, but if you go over to that redhouse," said the man we asked, "there should be flowers nearby." There was no greenery visible, no color at all, at first glance. But when I looked more closely at the bare dirt in the small field, I could see, here and there, a tender beautiful purple bloom, and in the center of each, sticking up taller than the petals, three distinctive deep-oranges stigmas.
    Aha! The holy grail in all its fragility and loveliness. Seeking out and admiring flowers one by one, rather than finding fields full of them, was an unexpected end to my quest. It also felt very right that the precious saffron should be elusive. (Seeking Saffron)

    When I visited the lovely shrine of Shah Chirag in Shiraz, [...] I went through the curtained women's entrance [...] over the loudspeaker, a preacher was telling a story of the martyrdom of one of the imams, and as the story moved toward a tragic crescendo, many women burst out sobbing and rocked to and fro.
    All this was happening in a place of light and beauty, with the black forms of the women reflected in fantastically complex mirrored tiling, a mosaic of triangles, squares, and diamond shapes that covered the walls and ceilings and gleamed and glinted in the light from glass chandeliers. The effect was dizzying, disorienting, and also thrilling in a way I can't explain. (Mirrors and Patterned Light)

[Lili · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Taste of Persia by Naomi Duguid is a book about cultures, people and food. It is filled with lovely colourful pictures of vegetables, fruits, food, people and places. In other words, the book it's not just a simple cookbook, although it does contain mouth-watering recipes (for breads, meats, grains, sweets, vegetables and beverages). 

The book does not focus only on Iran, but also on Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Kurdistan. Since the author visited all these countries, she also included her impressions, personal stories and travel notes. The book is a great way of finding out more about these countries' cultures and people, as well as discovering new dishes.

I do not recommend reading this book as an e-book. It is possible, of course, to read it as an e-book, but I think it is harder to get through it. Moreover, if you want to try some of the recipes, it will be a bit difficult. Plus, the pictures look way better on paper than on a monitor or Kindle. 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn more about other cultures, and who likes cooking and reading about food. 

[Reading For Funs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been interested in trying Persian cuisine, but all I could ever find was generic meals that really didn't fit in with what I wanted to try. So I decided to try out Taste of Persia in hopes that I could make my own authentic Persian dishes, and boy was that a success. The recipes are simple and shockingly educational. I learned so much about the authors travels, and about the countries she visited.

My favorite part of the cookbook, though, was the photographs. The photographs were gorgeous, depicting the people of various countries as they underwent their daily lives. Women cooking bread, and men smiling at the camera. I usually expect to see photographs of dishes, but I was pleasantly surprised by the different choice for artwork.

Taste of Persia is a fantastic cookbook, and probably one of the best Persian cookbooks I've ever seen. It's an absolute must-have for the kitchen.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a large variety of delicious recipes, beautiful photographs, and fantastic prose. The author weaves together the complex histories -culinary and political- of the Middle East with the people and culture and food that makes the region so rich and colorful. Her descriptions of travels through saffron fields and and goat-strewn fruit orchards at sunrise, and photos of turquoise shop-fronts and heaps of spices in shades of ochre and scarlet make me want to pack my bag and head to Kurdistan tomorrow! Also the only cookbook I know of that contains the word genocide. She leaves the sugar-coating to the dessert section, which is very refreshing. I am looking forward to making these recipes!!

[reveurdart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything I wanted it to be. Highly recommended!

"I want to take you there to engage with the intensities of Georgian dishes; with the creative and subtle culinary traditions of Iran, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; and with the remarkable home cooking of the people of Kurdistan. The food is enticing, and the recipes are very friendly to the home cook. Flavors, textures, and ingredients will be familiar to anyone from a European or North American tradition. And that shouldn’t be surprising, for Persian ingredients and culinary wisdom have influenced cuisines from India to Morocco to northern Europe."

And she does.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I didn't find recipes that knocked my socks off, as a book of travel writing this one is well worth seeking out. Unique among most cookbooks I've encountered, it contains a detailed bibliography for further reading and its subject is situated geographically amid a volatile political situation that continues to worsen. The portrait of the people, and the food, is vividly written and beautiful.

Duguid is an excellent food writer, and this follows the same lines as another book of hers I enjoyed, The Seductions of Rice. I'd also recommend that one highly.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taste of Persia by Naomi Duguid is a fascinating culinary journey into the secret corners of the kitchens in one of the most interesting regions of the world for me. Singled out by a past of conflicts and a present of political turmoil and insecurities, this region promises instead a tradition of peaceful and extremely diverse meals. Through photography and intensive interractions with the people from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran and the region of Kurdistan, Naomi Duguid succeeds to present authentic travel and taste stories, mapping the diversity of local products and tastes in over 120 recipes.
The beautiful photographs are adding more colour to interesting recipes with local ingredients not easy to find on the markets outside the region - especially in Europe. Therefore, one can understand the deep longing for home among people from those part of the worl while far away from their traditional cuisines and the hard task to cope with on the shoulders of the traditional restaurants opened overseas.
Although significant differences - the demarcation between the use of pork in the case of the non-Muslim countries and the abundance of the beautiful wines of Georgia and the sophisticated rices from Iran - there are common ingredients shared in the region. Unfortunatelly, Afghanistan - for obvious security and safety reasons - is not featured which I am almost sure it shares some common features with many of the cuisines featured. For instance, the richness of versatile sauces or the frequent presence of walnuts - in salads, sweets or sauces, a detail I was not familiar with -, the fresh herbs, or the variety of fruits - including dried - consumed together with teas.
Another great merit of the book is featuring a minority group only recently brought into the world attention and not for a good reason: the Yazidi, the victim in the recent years of a permanent genocide. As in the case of the Kurds, their
There are many recipes that caught my attention and made me dream of a rich feast: mint oil - very easy to make at home too -, onion salad with barberies, grilled eggplant - including with pomegranate seeds, the variety of the Georgian vegetables pates, pkhali, the herbed yogurt soup, stuffed vegetables and dumplings, the roasted fish with walnut paste, the roasted poultry soaked in saffron water or the tart lamb stew with fried potatoes.
Very well organised, the book is covering the entire region, country by country, from spices and pantry essentials, to sauces, meat and fish, teas and sweets, bread and juices. As I recently developped a fascination - not yet followed by a perfect execution - for everything Persian rices, I would have love more variants and details of this beloved meal, but obviously, the Persian cuisine is more than that.
The recipes are very clearly written, with simple directions that can appeal also the beginner chef with a lust to try a recipe from one of the most sophisticated kitchens of the world. I personally saved for later two recipes that I hope to try and share in the next weeks. The book has also a glossary of terms and many historical and travel references that bring the region closer to someone getting to know this region for the first time.
I strongly recommend this book which is more than travel dairy and more than an exploration of taste. It brings you more the hunger and the wanderlust which is a fantastic win-win.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Massimina Ferny · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this rare in-depth look at Persian and Caucasian cuisine. Entailed a fair amount of travelling and personal contacts of the author to get such a valuable stash of recipes. One learns quite a bit about the heritage of that region also, but then again it's quite niche, so it's probably for those who already have acquired a feel or taste of that region/food--think yoghurt, pomegranates, cheese, herbs, sweet mixed with savoury. makes me wanna hop on a plane this instant.

Worth buying too for the sheer amount of information, recipes and comprehensive glossary.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 part cookbook meets 1 part travelogue. I found a random online recipe for a rose water lassi. That took me to my local Persian market for rose water and/or rose water syrup. There, I found dried (or black) limes. Having no idea how to use said limes, I was intrigued nonetheless, and bought them. This took me to my library, where I checked out about 6 books on Persian cooking. Did this book solve my black lime mystery? No. Did it pique my curiosity enough to plan a trip to Georgia and Armenia? Yes. Yes it did. I love her story telling and photography. Stunning.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book, of particular interest was the author's stories of the regions described via the foods in the book. I know very little about this area, or its native cuisine and A Taste of Persia does a great job of educating about Armenia, Azerbhaijan, Georgia, Iran and Kurdistan. The book is divided traditionally into meats, fish, breads, vegies etc. Worth reading. It is also helpful that the author has info on food blogs and websites that augment the book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so VERY interesting. I felt like I was eating my way through the Middle east. I guess that I enjoyed this book so much because I lived in Pakistan for 3 years when I was a child, and this book took me back. The food looked and sounded so delicious. There were also little sections of the area that provided cool information. Then in the back of the book there were some travel parts that provided pertinent information. I would recommend this book to everyone.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous

I found this book fascinating and the photography interesting. There are only a few recipes I might try but the history and descriptions of the author's travels in the region are enthralling. I might have preferred to see more photos of the completed recipes but the pictures especially of the women she met on her journey are beautiful. My rating is based on the concept of 'a cook's travels' rather than it being a cookbook in the traditional sense.