[Sca-cooks] 15th C. Ottoman Recipes

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I have finished translating all forty recipes in Stephane Yerasimos's 
book "A la table du Grand Turc", and i have begun translating the 
introductory and historical essays.

I am disappointed to note that some were from al-Baghdadi after all, 
so that means there were not even thirty-eight out of the eighty-two 
15th c. Ottoman recipes. On the other hand, at least there are SOME 
SCA-period Ottoman recipes, since most of the recipes in "A la 
table..." were Chirvani's additions.

Yerasimos was excited to find Chirvani's additional recipes in his 
translation of al-Baghdadi, since they are VERY different from modern 
Turkish cuisine, and even from 18th C. Ottoman cuisine. In fact, he 
frequently notes that more recent Turkish cuisine was, to quote him, 
"impoverished" by comparison with the cuisine of the 15th and 16th 
centuries. He also notes when the name of a particular dish survives, 
although the dish may be completely different from the 15th c. 
recipe. And he often notes how a certain popular dish is no longer a 
part of the cuisine at all.

Before i post any recipes...
1. one friend suggested i contact the publisher to see if they'd pay 
for my translation into English.
2. another friend suggested i contact the publisher to see if they 
would give me rights to distribute my translations free for 
educational purposes as "fair use". European copyright laws are 
rather different from US American laws, and apparently publishers 
have been known to be generous when asked and highly legalistic if 
they discover one is distributing one's own translations free of 
charge without asking them first.

Now, frankly, i don't expect the publisher to offer me any money, but 
what the heck. However, if i ask for #1, i am concerned that i may no 
longer be eligible for #2.

Does anyone have any experiences with European publishers?

The publisher of this book is Actes Sud, Arles France. It is part of 
their "Sindbad" collection, and in the sub-group of food books called 
"Orient Gourmand".
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita