Tastes of North Africa: Recipes from Morocco to the Mediterranean [Hardcover]

Sarah Woodward (Author), Gus Filgate (Illustrator, Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

When, over a thousand years ago, the Moors of North Africa conquered the lands around the Mediterranean, they brought with them foods which were to influence Western cooking for years to come. Spices from the caravan trade, rice from India, citrus fruit, eggplants, spinach, and sugar cane were all introduced to Spain, Portugal, Sicily, and Provence by the Arab invaders, and they still dominate the table today. With nearly 100 recipes for traditional and contemporary dishes, Tastes of North Africa celebrates the rich culinary legacy of an ancient people.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A glorious book, with a huge array of recipes and superb photos.” -- House & Garden UK

“One of the year’s must–haves for the kitchen shelf.” -- The Sunday Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

When, over a thousand years ago, the Moors of North Africa conquered the lands around the Mediterranean, they brought with them foods which were to influence Western cooking for years to come. Spices from the caravan trade, rice from India, citrus fruit, eggplants, spinach, sugar cane were all introduced to Spain, Portugal, Sicily, and Provence by the Arab invaders, and they still dominate the table today. With nearly 100 recipes for traditional and contemporary dishes, Tastes of North Africa celebrates the rich culinary legacy of an ancient people. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Hippocrene Books (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781807255
• ISBN-13: 978-0781807258
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,423,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tastes of North Africa, July 18, 2009

By 

Kate Runyan "katethecook" (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tastes of North Africa: Recipes from Morocco to the Mediterranean (Hardcover)

Tastes of North Africa by Sarah Woodward is a wonderful cookbook which I think should be part of any serious cook's library. Ms. Woodward has wonderful , and slightly different Moroccan recipes, even thought I have many other Moroccan cookbooks which have very good recipes. I love the recipes in this book and I've made several wonderful dishes from the book, and I intend to try more recipes . I ordered another book by ms. Woodward that I'm waiting to arrive on Moorish and Moroccan food.

4.0 out of 5 stars Could have delved more into non Moroccan north african foods, January 18, 2012

By 

D B Crisp "cd singles collector" (Aus) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tastes of North Africa (Hardcover)

I do like this book, it has good recipes, photos of about 50% of the dishes and is easy to follow. It has many of the classic Moroccan dishes and herein is where the problem lies. In terms of North african recipes the main focus is on Morocco, with scant regard shown for Tunisia, Egypt or Algeria. I know it is fairly similar but there are some major differences, for example Tunisian food tends to be hotter. And Egyptian food is even more distinctive.

The 2nd thing that bugged me was the moorish recipes, bearing in mind most people would assume this is a book on North African Cuisine. Sure they may have been influenced by the Moors, but these recipes from Spain, Sicily and Portugal tend to be very different from their original roots. You do not find anything like wine for instance in true North African cooking. If this book was called Tastes of southern and western Meditteranean it would have been more fitting.

Overall it has the usual recipes found in an essentially Morrocan/Spanish/Sicilian cookbook, that being said you could easily get reputable any book on north african cooking and be satisfied. One of my faves is North African Cooking by Tess Mallos, which may have fewer recipes but is more specific. But this is a pretty good book, just expect some doubling up if you own moorish cookbooks.