Want to know what books Diane Seed recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Diane Seed's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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Diane SeedWhen I first came to Italy I took my three small daughters to the seaside. It wasn’t the sea we wanted to enjoy. In Italy, you have the expensive umbrellas, the sun loungers and all the rest of it. People come with enough equipment for three months. You’ve got to stay in the position you reserve. It just wasn’t for us. (Source)
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2
Diane SeedI first met Nevin at a conference of the International Olive Oil Council in Istanbul. She’s probably the person who has done the most in bringing Turkish cuisine to light. The thing about Turkish food is that there are so many different influences. Geographically, the country stretches from right down on the Syrian border to the Caspian Sea and Russia. So you’ve got all the regional foods, the... (Source)
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In this updated and greatly enlarged edition of her Book of Middle Eastern Food, Claudia Roden re-creates a classic. The book was originally published here in 1972 and was hailed by James Beard as "a landmark in the field of cookery"; this new version represents the accumulation of the author's thirty years of further extensive travel throughout the ever-changing landscape of the Middle East, gathering recipes and stories.
Now Ms. Roden gives us more than 800 recipes, including the aromatic variations that accent a dish and define the country of origin: fried garlic and... more In this updated and greatly enlarged edition of her Book of Middle Eastern Food, Claudia Roden re-creates a classic. The book was originally published here in 1972 and was hailed by James Beard as "a landmark in the field of cookery"; this new version represents the accumulation of the author's thirty years of further extensive travel throughout the ever-changing landscape of the Middle East, gathering recipes and stories.
Now Ms. Roden gives us more than 800 recipes, including the aromatic variations that accent a dish and define the country of origin: fried garlic and cumin and coriander from Egypt, cinnamon and allspice from Turkey, sumac and tamarind from Syria and Lebanon, pomegranate syrup from Iran, preserved lemon and harissa from North Africa. She has worked out simpler approaches to traditional dishes, using healthier ingredients and time-saving methods without ever sacrificing any of the extraordinary flavor, freshness, and texture that distinguish the cooking of this part of the world.
Throughout these pages she draws on all four of the region's major cooking styles:
- The refined haute cuisine of Iran, based on rice exquisitely prepared and embellished with a range of meats, vegetables, fruits, and nuts
- Arab cooking from Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan--at its finest today, and a good source for vegetable and bulgur wheat dishes
- The legendary Turkish cuisine, with its kebabs, wheat and rice dishes, yogurt salads, savory pies, and syrupy pastries
- North African cooking, particularly the splendid fare of Morocco, with its heady mix of hot and sweet, orchestrated to perfection in its couscous dishes and tagines
From the tantalizing mezze--those succulent bites of filled fillo crescents and cigars, chopped salads, and stuffed morsels, as well as tahina, chickpeas, and eggplant in their many guises--to the skewered meats and savory stews and hearty grain and vegetable dishes, here is a rich array of the cooking that Americans embrace today. No longer considered exotic--all the essential ingredients are now available in supermarkets, and the more rare can be obtained through mail order sources (readily available on the Internet)--the foods of the Middle East are a boon to the home cook looking for healthy, inexpensive, flavorful, and wonderfully satisfying dishes, both for everyday eating and for special occasions. less Diane SeedClaudia is Egyptian-Jewish, born and brought up in Cairo. She was educated at art school in England but her family is impeccably Middle Eastern. A lot of the cooking in the Middle East originated from Persia. And, like the languages, the various cuisines still have much in common. This book travels across the whole area – in fact, there are some Moroccan dishes in here. She talks about the... (Source)
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American-born Robert Carrier, Britain's leading food writer, takes the first in-depth look at the cuisine of Morocco and the culture that has inspired it in a glorious volume featuring 150 authentic recipes. More than 100 full-color photographs. more American-born Robert Carrier, Britain's leading food writer, takes the first in-depth look at the cuisine of Morocco and the culture that has inspired it in a glorious volume featuring 150 authentic recipes. More than 100 full-color photographs. less Diane SeedIf we’re travelling anti-clockwise we should head to Morocco. The great thing about Moroccan food is that you can go off and do your own thing once you’ve learned a bit about it. You can make up your own versions because the spices and colours are so enchanting. (Source)
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5
If there is one book that belongs on the shelf of food lovers, it is Sicilian Food by Mary Taylor Simeti. This book is a classic, the definitive work on Sicilian cooking and it is full of authentic, hard to find recipes gleaned from the author's friends, family and acquaintances on the island itself. Originally published in 1989 under the title Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty Five Centuries of Sicilian Food and then unavailable for almost ten years, Mary Taylor Simeti s affectionate, exhaustive work has come to be recognized as the definitive book on the food, traditions and recipes of this... more If there is one book that belongs on the shelf of food lovers, it is Sicilian Food by Mary Taylor Simeti. This book is a classic, the definitive work on Sicilian cooking and it is full of authentic, hard to find recipes gleaned from the author's friends, family and acquaintances on the island itself. Originally published in 1989 under the title Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty Five Centuries of Sicilian Food and then unavailable for almost ten years, Mary Taylor Simeti s affectionate, exhaustive work has come to be recognized as the definitive book on the food, traditions and recipes of this sun-drenched island. The author, an American married to a Sicilian, set out to discover Sicilian food first hand. She haunted former convents and palaces where Palermo's libraries have been maintained. She tested each ancient recipe herself and updated the methods. Her directions are clear and easy to follow. The book is organized so that the material reflects both the external influences of a series of conquerors, and the domestic changes brought about by peasant, clergy and aristocrat alike. Her chapter titles hint at the enticing discoveries waiting for the reader and the recipes reflect the chapter titles. There are recipes using the vegetable abundance of the Sicilian landscape, for ice cream or granita, and, yes there are recipes for Virgins Breasts and Chancellor's Buttocks. The book contains more than a hundred illustrations from Sicilian archives and museums and the text quotes freely from Homer, Plato, Apicius, Lampedusa, and Pirandello. Simeti's prose is so descriptive that to read it is to be in Sicily." less Diane SeedI’ve lived in Italy for nearly 40 years. But I don’t like English-language books on Italian food. I don’t really enjoy Italian cookbooks either. Most of the time, I learn from people in food markets and restaurants and other places I visit on my travels. (Source)
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