Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey [Paperback]

Najmieh Batmanglij (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2004

This book is at once an exploration, a celebration, and a little-known tale of unity. It presents 150 delicious vegetarian dishes that together trace a fascinating story of culinary linkage. As renowned cookbook writer and teacher Najmieh Batmanglij explains, all have their origins along the ancient network of trade routes known as the Silk Road, stretching from China in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. On this highway moved not just trade goods but also ideas, customs, tastes and such basics of life as cooking ingredients. The result was the connecting and enrichment of dozens of cuisines.In "Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey", Najmieh Batmanglij recounts that process and brings it into the modern kitchen in the form of recipes that are venturesome and yet within reach of any cook. They are intended for vegetarian, partial-vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike - anyone who is looking for balanced, unusual and exceptionally tasty dishes. The book offers a wealth of information derived from the author's extensive research and her travels along the Silk Road during the past 25 years. She complements the recipes with stories, pictures, histories of ingredients, and words of wisdom from her favourite poets and writers of the region. The chapters include: Introduction: A Traveller's Tale; The Era of Caravans; New Foods - East & West; Toward a Silk Road Cuisine; Salads, Eggs Rice Fruit & Vegetable Braises Pasta, Pizza & Bread Pastries, Desserts & Candies Teas, Coffee & Sherbets Preserves, Pickles & Spices Silk Road Glossary & Resources Credits & Acknowledgements Index.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Iranian-born Batmanglij, author of several other books on Persian food, has spent a good part of the last 25 years traveling the ancient "Silk Road," the spice and trade route from China through the Middle East to Italy. Because of economic realities, the fare native to those countries has been vegetable-based, so Batmanglij concentrates on that here, though her book will certainly appeal to nonvegetarians as well. She presents diverse and wide-ranging recipes, both familiar and exotic, from Alexandrian Spicy Fava Bean Spread to Afghan Garlic Chive Ravioli, among many others, set against a background of culinary and cultural history. More than 250 color photographs, including some great portraits of people whom Batmanglij met in her travels, furnish additional context. Strongly recommended.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

SILK ROAD COOKING: A VEGETARIAN JOURNEY (Mage Publishers, $35) is like a good novel once you start, it's hard to put down. It is ideal for those who like to read cookbooks as much as cook from them....The recipes also pack a punch. I served Levantine pilaf in pastry at a party and felt a genuine thrill as I cut into the golden dome of phyllo encasing a filling of vermicelli and rice flecked with apricots, almonds and raisins and seasoned with cinnamon, cardamom and rosewater...." --The New York Times

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mage Publishers (May 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934211965
• ISBN-13: 978-0934211963
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #960,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Introducing people to the pleasures of Persian cuisine has been a lifelong mission for Najmieh Batmanglij. Her New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies was called "The definitive book of Persian cooking" by the Los Angeles Times, and her Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey was selected as one of the Vegetarian Cookbooks of 2004 by the New York Times. Her book FROM PERSIA TO NAPA: WINE AT THE PERSIAN TABLE was published in September 2006. She has spent the past 26 years traveling, teaching cooking, and adapting authentic Persian recipes to tastes and techniques in the West. She is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier and has taught and lectured throughout the United States. She currently lives in Washington, DC, where she is teaching master classes in Persian cooking and is working on a new book for children to cook with the family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only a great cookbook but a journey through cultures!, September 27, 2002

By 

"cakirogn" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey (Hardcover)

I was fascinated by all the earlier books by Mrs. Batmanglij but her latest book has a special place in my heart. I cannot do enough to highlight this book's difference from the majority of other cookbooks that are out there.

This is not only a flawless book with a vegetarian approach, but its approach is one of great originality: The beautiful recipes are accompanied by even more beautiful pictures and stories of the land and its people. It leaves us with so many great choices to try, designed to fit any situation: Georgian Stuffed Tomatoes for a warm a fall evening, and Sweet and Sour soup for a cold winter night.

Unlike many other cookbooks, this book takes us to the world it is borrowing its recipes from: the Silk Road, a world where different culinary cultures are and have been connected to each other, crossing the mountains and deserts of Central Asia to connect East Asia and the Mediterranean. In a way not known to many of us, the Silk Road was an important cultural crossroads and this book celebrates that.

Get this book, and you will not only have gotten a great cookbook with recipes of wonderful tasting recipes covering a great part of the world, but you will also be exposed to a beautiful culture - more so a mix of many cultures- that you will be able to see through the beautifully placed stories and pictures.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a cook book - a Silk Road Spell, September 23, 2002

By 

Marlyne Sahakian (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey (Hardcover)

This book is simply magical and quite unique. It carries you on a timeless culinary journey from Genoa to Shanghai, weaving in the mystical writings of Rumi, beautiful pictures of local people, anecdotes that make the rich heritage of the Silk Road come to life, and recipes with pictures that -- well, you just might start smelling the pages.

This is my third cook book by Mrs Batmanglij and I'm so happy to finally have a vegetarian approach to some Middle Eastern and oriental recipes. Not only will you learn about wonderful and creative dishes, you are guaranteed a flawless recipe, uncomplicated and easy to follow.

Get ready to take a long and wonderful journey with every bite. You'll be under the spell the second you open the book...

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey, September 11, 2002

By 

xiaopo huang (Virgina, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey (Hardcover)

Najmieh Batmanglij's Silk Road Cooking is a valuable addition to the great treasure house of Silk Road culture. With remarkable insight, a wealth of facinating information combined with beautifully nuanced stories of the land and its people, the author takes us along with her on this most rewarding journey of culinary discovery.

I have the pleasure of collecting all of Najmieh's cook books over the years, and I have tried many of her recipes in this and other books with joy and pride. In this book, the Silk Road is not a fabled tale of exchanges of wealth between the East and the West, but something we can see, we can touch and we can taste! In a cool night, make yourself a bowl of that simple and cozy Beijing Hot& sour noodle soup; or try Persian noodle soup garnished with garlic, onion, mint and yogurt, my favourate winter treat. To your perfect lunch/dinner party, complete it with Najemieh's Georgian rice salad with tart cherries or Amoli rice salad with barberries. They are easy to make, pretty to look at, taste wonderful, and they are absolutely great crowd-pleasers at any parties.

Get the book, try the recipes yourself and you will get that I-can-do-it-too joy and pride.