[Sca-cooks] Table condiments

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I wrote:
> > It was  apparently common to have a dish with salt, pepper, and cinnamon on 
> > the table  - according to Ziryab, who was exiled from the 'Abbasid capital 
> > of Baghdad and  moved to al-Andalus. He derided the local Andalusi custom of 
> > a dish with salt,  pepper, and cumin, which he considered  coarse.

JIMCHEVAL at aol.com replied:
> I presume you mean as recounted by his biographer (al-Maqqari)? To the best 
> of my knowledge Ziryab himself left no writings.
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=tR11H5BHT0EC&pg=PA3&dq=ziryab+writings&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6hO6UqafQAhUP2mMKHSXqCH8Q6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=ziryab%20writings&f=false

Actually, i was basing my comments on info a chapter in the 13th c. anonymous Andalusian cookbook, and possibly some info gleaned from "Ziryab: Authentic Arab Cuisine" by Farouk Mardam-Bey. That book was gifted to me, and, while i found it interesting, it is not a book i'd recommend to someone just beginning to build a library of books on medieval Near and Middle Eastern and North African food.

Urtatim