This week, we are thrilled to host Muna and Leila Salloum, two scholars and chefs who introduce us to the medieval Arab world and its many culinary delights. As the European Middle Ages got under way, the Arab world was experiencing a Golden Age — a hub of trade, knowledge, and peoples through which many new foodstuffs and customs travelled to Europe.
Apologies for the audio quality; there were multiple overlapping technical difficulties during the recording of this episode.
Sources for some specific points, f...
This week, we are thrilled to host Muna and Leila Salloum, two scholars and chefs who introduce us to the medieval Arab world and its many culinary delights. As the European Middle Ages got under way, the Arab world was experiencing a Golden Age — a hub of trade, knowledge, and peoples through which many new foodstuffs and customs travelled to Europe.
Apologies for the audio quality; there were multiple overlapping technical difficulties during the recording of this episode.
Sources for some specific points, found in the bibliography above:
- the musician Ziryab, who comes up multiple times in the episode, is mentioned in ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah.
- the source that credits al-Jahshiyari with the compilation of the Thousand Nights and a Night is ibn al-Nadim’s Fihrist.
- the quotation about Cordoba being the “gem of the world” is from Hrosvitha’s “Pelagius” (clarum decus orbis, line 12).
- ibn Firnas’s experiments with unpowered flight are mentioned in al-Maqqari’s Breath of Perfume.
- al-Jazari’s status as “father of robotics” comes from the automata described in his Book of Knowledge.
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Citations & References:
Works by our guests
- Salloum, Habeeb, Leila Salloum Elias, and Muna Salloum. The Scent of Pomegranate and Rosewater: Reviving the Beautiful Food Traditions of Syria. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018.
- Salloum, Habeeb, Muna Salloum, and Leila Salloum Elias. Scheherazade’s Feasts: Foods of the Medieval Arab World. U Pennsylvania Press, 2013.
- Salloum, Habeeb, Muna Salloum, and Leila Salloum Elias. Sweet Delights from a Thousand and One Nights: The Story of Traditional Arab Sweets. I. B. Tauris, 2013.
- Salloum Elias, Leila, and Muna Salloum. Celestial Dining to Entice: An Arab Food Contest in Paradise. Austin Macauley, 2024.
- Salloum Elias, Leila, and Muna Salloum. The Sweets of Araby: Enchanting Recipes from the Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights. Illustrated by Linda Dalal Sawaya, Countryman Press, 2011.
Other works mentioned or recommended
- al-Jazari, Abu al-Izz ibn Ismail ibn al-Razzaz. The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. Translated and annotated by Donald R. Hill, D. Reidel, 1974.
- al-Maqqari, Ahmad. The Breath of Perfume from the Branch of Flourishing Al-Andalus and Memories of its Vizier Lisan ud-Din ibn ul-Khattib. Partially translated [as The History Of The Mohammedan Dynasties In Spain] by Pascual de Gayangos, London, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland / W. H. Allen and Co., 1840–1843.
- al-Warraq, Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar ibn Nasr ibn Sayyar. The Book of Dishes. Translated by Nawal Nasrallah [as Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens], Brill, 2007. Islamic History and Civilization 70.
- Hrosvitha of Gandersheim. “The Sufferings of Pelagius, the Most Precious Martyr, Who in Our Time, at Cordova, Was Crowned with Martyrdom.” The Non-Dramatic Works of Hrosvitha: Text, Translation, and Commentary. Edited and translated by M. Gonsalva Wiegand, 1936, pp. 128–57. St. Louis University, PhD dissertation.
- ibn al-Nadim, Abu al-Faraj Muhammad. The Book Catalogue. Edited and translated by Bayard Dodge [as The Fihrist of al-Nadim: A Tenth-Century Survey of Islamic Culture], Columbia UP, 1970. 2 vols.
- ibn Battuta, Abu Abdullah Muhammad. A Gift for the Curious, concerning the Wonders of Cities and Marvels of the Journeys Thereto. Transcribed/edited by C. Defremery and B. R. Sanguinetti, translated by H. A. R. Gibb and C. F. Beckingham [as The Travels of ibn Battuta], index by A. D. H. Bivar, Hakluyt Society / Cambridge UP, 1958–2000. 5 vols.
- ibn Khaldun, Abu Zayd Abdur-Rahman. The Muqaddimah: Introduction to History. Translated by Franz Rosenthal, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958. 3 vols.
- Nicholson, Reynold A. A Literary History of the Arabs. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907.
- van Gelder, Geert Jan. God's Banquet: Food in Classical Arabic Literature. Columbia UP, 2000.
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