[Sca-cooks] I'm the Sweets of Araby...

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

>On Sep 26, 2011, at 1:45 PM, lilinah at earthlink.net wrote:
>> Are there any *real* reviews of the following book?
>>
>> The Sweets of Araby: Enchanting Recipes from the Tales of the 1,001  
>> Arabian Nights
>> by Muna Salloum and Leila Salloum Elias
> snipped

Johnnae replied:
> I have to ask the question as to how many medieval or specialist  
> scholars ever review cookery books in general?
> Or even how many works containing recipes are reviewed in the serious  
> historical press?
>
> In the course of a year how many works can PPC even review? Or  
> Gastronomica?
>
> (In general, libraries rely on Booklist and PW and book reviews in the  
> papers, but those seldom cover cookbooks.)

I think you hit all the high points. IIRC, "Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens" got some more serious reviews - but, then, it was published by a scholarly press and costs an arm and a leg.

> This is an inexpensive paperback. I wouldn't really expect to see  
> critical reviews but ones more along this one:
> http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2011/09/14/features/6471427.txt

That was one of the best reviews i had previously found and i thought of you, Johnnae, when i read it, since it's a Michigan paper.

Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)