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cookbooks
New Food of Life
From Persia to Napa
Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey
A Taste of Persia
Persian Cooking for a Healthy Kitchen
nowruz
New Food of Life: Ancient Persian & Modern Iranian Cooking & Ceremonies

New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies (Mage; $44.95; 440 pages) is a treasury of 240 classical and regional Iranian recipes. 120 color photographs intertwined with descriptions of ancient and modern ceremonies, poetry, folk tales, travelogue excerpts, and anecdotes make this not just a collection of recipes but also an introduction to Persian art and culture. Food-related pieces from such classics as the 10th century Book of Kings, and 1,001 Nights to the miniatures of Mir Mussavar and Aq Mirak, from the poetry of Omar Khayyam to the humor of Mulla Nasruddin are all included.

Each recipe is presented in a format that is brilliantly logical and marvelously easy to follow. You will learn how to cook rice, the jewel of Persian cooking, simply yet deliciously. And by combining it with a little meat, fowl, or fish, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, you'll have a balanced diet.

From Persia to Napa: Wine at the Persian Table

Wine is seen as the natural partner of many great cuisines, but few people associate it with Persian food, one of the world’s most sophisticated culinary traditions. The ties, in fact, are age-old. From Persia to Napa: Wine at the Persian Table (Mage; $50; 264 pages, with 160 color photos) weaves together history, poetry, a look at modern viniculture, and a wealth of recipes and wine pairings to celebrate the rightful relationship of wine and food on the Persian table.

In this lavishly illustrated book, Najmieh Batmanglij explores that long and eventful history, then shifts her story to California’s famed Napa Valley, half a world away. There, in a kind of up-to-the-minute homage to the past, an Iranian-American named Darioush Khaledi uses the latest vinicultural techniques to make superb wines at a winery reminiscent of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the ancient Persian empire.
Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey

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. The result was the connecting and enrichment of dozens of cuisines. In Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey (Mage; $35; 336 pages) she 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.

The scope of her culinary journey of discovery is vast -- from Xian in China, to Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan, to Isfahan in Iran, to Istanbul in Turkey, and to the westernmost terminus of the ancient trade routes in Italy. Her recipes include such exotic yet simple fare as Persian Pomegranate and Walnut Salad; Chinese Hot and Sour Tofu Noodle Soup; Turkish Almond and Rice Flour Pudding; Uzbek Candied Quince with Walnuts; and Sicilian Sour Cherry Crostata.

A Taste of Persia: An Introduction to Persian Cooking

A Taste of Persia (Mage; $19.95; 176 pages) is a collection of authentic recipes from one of the world's oldest cuisines, chosen and adapted for today's lifestyle and kitchen. Here are light appetizers and kababs, hearty stews and rich, golden-crusted rices, among many other dishes, all fragrant with the distinctive herbs, spices, or fruits of Iran. Each recipe offers clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. Most take less than an hour to prepare; many require only a few moments; many others can be made in advance. Besides its 100 recipes and 60 photographs, the book includes a useful dictionary of Persian cooking techniques and ingredients, a list of specialty stores around the nation that sell hard-to-find items, and a brief history of Persian cookery. Together these make a complete introduction to this wonderful cuisine.
Persian Cooking for a Healthy Kitchen

Persian cuisine is exotic yet simple like a poem by Omar Khayyam, healthy yet colorful like a Persian miniature painting. It combines rice, the jewel and foundation of Persian cooking, with a little meat, fowl or fish; plenty of onion, garlic, vegetables, fruit, nuts, herbs; and a delicate, uniquely Persian mix of spices such as rose petals, angelica seeds, dried limes, candied orange peels, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and saffron to achieve a delicious and balanced diet. Drawing on her 15 years of experience collecting and adapting authentic Persian recipes, and inspired by her years in Southern France and the United States, Najmieh Batmanglij has brought about a marriage of ancient Persian cooking, French Provencal food presentation, and contemporary American eating styles. The result is Persian Cooking for a Healthy Kitchen (Mage; $22.50;200 pages), 95 exquisite kitchen-tested recipes that are low in fat yet high in flavor--a feast for both the eyes and the taste buds--that meet the current health goals of limiting the calories from saturated fats.
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Happy Nowruz: Cooking With Children to Celebrate the Persian New Year

Nowruz – the Persian New Year – is one of the world’s great festivals, a full month of activities celebrating the earth, the arrival of spring, and the rebirth of nature. Most of all, it is a festival for families. Children and adults alike can share in preparing special meals, decorating the house, and performing the many ceremonies that welcome the New Year. This book is a guide to customs thousands of years old yet as vital as ever – enjoyable for families no matter where they live or what their beliefs. Happy Nowruz offers twenty-five fun, easy, and innovative Nowruz recipes, with lots of photos to show you what to do. This is an ideal guide for parents, teachers, and kids – age six and older – to know more about the origins of Nowruz and to get everyone involved in preparing for the arrival of spring by:

• baking Haji Firuz cookies • germinating seeds in eggshells • coloring eggs
• making a Nowruz garland • jumping over fires • setting the Haft-sinn (seven-s) holiday table
• planting narcissus and hyacinth bulbs • selecting and buying goldfish
• banging spoons for trick-or-treating • cooking the Nowruz dinner
• enjoying the Outdoor Thirteen picnic