A New Book of Middle Eastern Food

Discover Claudia Roden's classic recipes in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. In 1968, Claudia Roden wrote her Book of Middle Eastern Food for readers who had never eaten an aubergine, let alone cooked one. Today, Middle Eastern foods are enjoying amazing popularity, largely thanks to her books. Since the publication of her classic bestseller, Claudia Roden has continued to collect recipes and culinary wisdom from the Middle East, as a result of talking and writing to many people, tasting their food and watching them cook. The New Book of Middle Eastern Food is Claudia Roden's ultimate collection of recipes from the subtle, spicy, varied cuisines of the Middle East, ranging from inexpensive but tasty peasant fare to elaborate banquet dishes. Praise for Claudia Roden: 'Claudia Roden is no more a simple cookbook writer than Marcel Proust was a biscuit baker. She is, rather, memorialist, historian, ethnographer, anthropologist, essayist, poet ...' Simon Schama 'Every one of Claudia's books introduced us to a delicious new world' Sam and Sam Clarke 'Roden's great gift is to conjure up not just a cuisine but the culture from which it springs' Nigella Lawson 'Claudia Roden's writing has the fascination of her conversation. Her books are treasure-houses of information and mines of literary pleasures' Observer As well as writing cookbooks and presenting cooking shows on the BBC, Claudia Roden is also a cultural anthropologist based in the United Kingdom. Born and brought up in Cairo, she finished her education in Paris before moving to London to study art. With the publication of her bestselling classic, A Book of Middle Eastern Food in 1968, Claudia Roden revolutionized Western attitudes to the cuisines of the Middle East. Since then she has published nine other books, including the award winning classic, The Book of Jewish Food, and has won no fewer than six Glenfiddich awards for her writing. Her other books include Arabesque, The Food of Italy, Mediterranean Cookery and The Food of Spain.

Claudia Roden was born and brought up in Cairo. She finished her education in Paris and later studied art in London. Starting as a painter she was drawn to the subject of food partly through a desire to evoke a lost heritage - one of the pleasures of a happy life in Egypt. The local delight in food, like the light, colour and smells and the special brand of hospitality, warmth and humour, has left a permanent impression. With her bestselling classic, A Book of Middle Eastern Food (Penguin 1970, revised edition A New Book of Middle Eastern Food, 1985), first published in 1968, Claudia Roden revolutionised Western attitudes to the cuisines of the Middle East. Her intensely personal approach and her passionate appreciation of the dishes delighted readers, while she introduced them to a new world of foods, both exotic and wholesome. The book received great critical acclaim, and the publication of the enlarged edition was enthusiastically welcomed. Mrs Roden has continued to write about food with a special interest in the social and historical background of cooking. In 1981 Penguin reissued Coffee, which was followed in 1982 by Picnic. Then came the BBC television series, Mediterranean Cookery with Claudia Roden, and the accompanying book, Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery, a new, expanded edition of which was recently published. This was followed by The Food of Italy and then The Book of Jewish Food. In 1992, Claudia Roden won the Glenfiddich Trophy, the top prize of the Glenfiddich Awards. The Book of Jewish Food was awarded the 1998 Jewish Quarterly/Wingate Book Prize for Non-Fiction, was the 1998 Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year and the 1997 Andre Simon Memorial Fund Food Book.