Feast: Food Of The Islamic World

"There are cookbooks that teach you how to cook, and there are others that just teach you, period. Feast is definitely the latter. Anissa Helou has assembled an astonishing treatise on food of the Islamic world, which includes recipes from countries as far flung as Iran, Somalia, India, Turkey, Oman and Nigeria. Her chatty, almost breezy voice belies what an effort this book must have been, and when she draws connections – say, between the supposed favorite meal of the prophet Muhammad (“tharid … layers of dry bread topped with a stew of meat and vegetables”) and Indonesian roti – you pay attention."