It is a must for any kitchen, with informal and easy to follow recipes making effortlessly delicious meals and treats.

Highly recommended!


A book for body, mind and soul   July 20, 2005
 11 out of 13 found this review helpful

Love of food, encyclopaedic of knowledge and matchless experience shine from every page where anectode, personal and apocryphal, share space with evocative, irresistible recipes. A book to be enjoyed for the love of cooking and reading.


Adam and a Packet of Chick Peas   January 5, 2003
 44 out of 45 found this review helpful

I bought Claudia Roden's original book in 1973 (the year my son was born) and have used it regularly ever since. He has just rung me for a "hummus" recipe and to ask what to do with the extra chick peas he has soaked. Naturally, I immediately turned to my copy of "A Book of Middle Eastern Food", found a recipe for "Chick peas with Potatoes and Tomatoes" which I handed on to him, and, hoping it was still in print, decided to order him a copy. I am delighted to find there is a new book, and feel sure he will enjoy it as much as I have the old one.


If you buy one Middle Eastern cookery book...   November 23, 2002
 49 out of 49 found this review helpful

...make it this one. The recipes easy to follow, and Roden's writing style is peppered with amusing anecdotes about her childhood in Egypt and historical information that make this book a good read outside the kitchen as well as in.

Whereas many Middle Eastern cookbooks leave out ingredients (presumably to make the dishes seem less scary to Western palates), Roden's recipes are authentic. Many include alternate suggestions and regional variations from family recipes submitted by her friends and readers from across the region, so chances are you'll always have the proper ingredients to hand.

I cook from this regularly, both for everyday meals and special occasions (the appetiser section has loads of dishes that are great for parties). Middle Eastern cooking seems to be designed to make expensive ingredients like meat go a long way, and (although they're not flagged as such) there's some great recipes here if you're on a tight budget.

In other words...absolutely essential.


The best book on middle-eastern kitchen!   May 12, 2000
 56 out of 56 found this review helpful

I had one of the earlier editions of this book and it taught me how to cook. The new edition is even better than the previous. How is that possible? Maybe I have, with age, learned to appreciate culinary culture more than I used to.

I am a Turkish woman and most of the recepies Roden explains in her marvellous book are no strangers to me. I have ben living abroad now for many years. Every time I open Roden's book I can smell my grandmother's kitchen.

Here is a personal "thank you" to Claudia Roden from me. Maashallah, forty one times, as we say back home.