[Sca-cooks] Seljuk/Rumi/Sufi Cuisine

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

So, after some discussion of book on this list, 
out  of curiosity i bought Nevin Halici's "Sufi 
Cuisine", recreations of food mentioned in the 
Seljuk period writings of Rumi.

Many of the recipes are plausible... based on 
what i know of 15th c. Ottoman Turkish cuisine. 
But i wouldn't guarantee they are plausible for 
the earlier cuisine of the Seljuk Turks, who had 
the Suljuk Empire, then the smaller Seljuk 
Sultante of Rum (pronounced room), between 1028 
to 1307.

She also makes a few outrageous claims, such as 
noting that certain foods were found in the 
excavations of the neolithic city Catal Hoyuk 
(Çatal Höyük) then asserting that her recreation 
of a Seljuk dish of bulgur would be exactly the 
same as what was eaten in 7400 BCE in Catal 
Hoyuk. Huh?

(sarcasm on) She also includes such 13th century 
Anatolian favorites as butternut squash and 
zucchini, both New World in origin. (sarcasm off) 
And yet she is careful to exclude other New World 
plants, such as tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, 
and chilis from her recipes.

Now a question: she also has a recipe for a dish 
whose central ingredient is modern, 
thick-stalked, crunchy celery. Now celery likely 
originated in the Mediterranean, so it is Old 
World. But I recall discussions that what we know 
today wasn't historically accurate for ancient 
Roman cuisine. And i have also read that the kind 
of celery we mostly use was not developed until 
the 17th century. So it seems that something like 
modern celery would not have been around by the 
13th c. Am i mistaken?

-- 
Urtatim [that's err-tah-TEEM]
the persona formerly known as Anahita