Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies (40th Anniversary Edition)

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The 40th Anniversary Edition of Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies by Najmieh Batmanglij contains more recipes and more photos. Each recipe has been restructured for more clarity, including tips and suggestions from her fans over the past 40 years.

Food of Life provides 400+ authentic Iranian recipes as well as an introduction to Persian art, history, and culture. The book’s hundreds of full color photographs are intertwined with descriptions of ancient and modern Persian ceremonies, poetry, folktales, travelogue excerpts and anecdotes. This book is a labour of love that began in exile, after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, as a love letter to Najmieh’s children. It is the result of 40 years of collecting, testing and adapting Persian recipes for today’s kitchen. All the ingredients for cooking Persian food are now readily available throughout the U.S. enabling anyone from a master chef to a novice to reproduce the refined tastes, textures, and beauty of Persian cuisine. Food-related pieces from the 10th century Book of Kings, and 1,001 Nights to the classics of Persian poetry, the humor of Mulla Nasruddin, as well as Persian miniatures are all included.Each recipe is presented with steps that are logical and easy to follow. Readers learn how to simply yet deliciously cook rice with its golden crust tahdig, the jewel of Persian cooking, which, when combined with a little meat, fowl, or fish, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, provides the perfect balanced diet.Najmieh Batmanglij, is an acclaimed chef, best-selling cookbook author, and cooking instructor. She is also the co-founder and executive chef of the award winning Persian restaurant Joon, in Vienna Virginia. Najmieh was hailed as “one of seven immigrant women who changed the way americans eat” by The New York Times, and The Grande Dame of Iranian Cooking by Mayukh Sen in The Washington Post. Her latest book Cooking in Iran: Regional Recipes & Kitchen Secrets, was the culmination of tens of thousands of miles of travel through Iran. It was chosen as one of the best cookbooks of 2018, and called “magisterial” by The New York Times.Batmanglij views preparing a meal not only as a culinary experience, but also as a means to bring family and friends together. She encourages her readers to use her books as she was taught in Iran, to cook, to laugh, to tell jokes and stories, to recite poetry, and to enjoy the meal. Over the past 40 years, Batmanglij’s books have acted as a both a beacon and a bible to Iranian-American and mixed-ethnicity families in the English-speaking world. Her life and her work meet at the vortex of feminism, tradition, ceremony, and the nourishment of body and mind, proving that none of these concepts need be foreign to one another.

From the Publisher

Watermelon, Bread and Cheese

A favorite Persian dish

My father has died beyond the ages.

When my father died the sky was blue . . .

When my father died, the police were all poets.

The grocer asked me, “How many pounds of melons do you want?”

I asked him, “How much an ounce for a happy heart?”–Sohrab Sepehri

Along with daily gifts of pleasure, Persian cooking has figured intimately in numerous Iranian festivals and ceremonies. The menus and recipes associated with such events are described in Food of Life in detail, from the winter solstice celebration, Shab-e Yalda, or the “sun’s birthday eve,” to the rituals and symbolism involved in a modern Iranian marriage. Also woven through this book are many examples of how food has inspired artists, poets, and other luminaries of Persian culture. The book includes the miniatures of Mir Mosavvar and Aqa Mirak; excerpts from such classics as the fourth-century tale Khosrow and His Knight, the tenth-century Book of Kings, and the Thousand and One Nights; poems by Omar Khayyam, Rumi, and Sohrab Sepehri; and the humor of Mulla Nasruddin

This Book Celebrates the Central Place of Food in the Life of Iran, A Story Extending Back Almost 4,000 Years.

Saffron-flavored Steamed Rice with Golden Crust

Rice is at the heart of Persian cooking and there are 60 pages devoted to it in the book. This may seem excessive for those whose idea of rice cookery is limited to boiling a bit of basmati. But if you’ve ever tasted a perfectly made tah-dig (fluffy rice served with a delicious cap of crusty golden fried rice), you’ll appreciate the care and artistry that is required.

Praise for Najmieh

“Najmieh has been a wonderful guide to the Persian kitchen and has helped so many to understand this rich culture through its cooking. Persian culture has touched so many other peoples over the centuries – influencing, sharing, adopting, changing . . . those links are everywhere.”–JOSE ANDRES

Noodle Soup/osh-e reshteh

“This summer’s most coveted tome…the saffron-scented pages of which are guaranteed to create luscious new sense memories—and inspire future dinner invitations.” VOGUE

Lamb Rib Chops with individual rice crust/shishlik-e shandiz ba tah diq

Since the discovery of fire, cooks have known that meats are imbued with a wonderful flavor when grilled over an open flame. The Persian word for grilled meat, kabab (I prefer this spelling and pronunciation; its common English variants are kebob and kabob), has entered the West’s culinary vocabulary.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mage Publishers; Classic Edition (October 1, 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 640 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1949445801
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949445800
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.02 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10 x 9 x 2 inches