What the Mesopotamian Kitchen Passed On to Modern-Day Iraqi Food Traditions | Nawal Nasrallah

To kick off the new season of Matbakh, we sat down with iconic and award-winning food historian, researcher and educator Nawal Nasrallah. We travel back in time to Medieval Iraq and talk about inherited food traditions, social histories, and 10th century understandings of cuisine and cooking. Nawal delves into her book "Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and a History of Iraqi Cuisine", recounts her experience translating Kitab al-Tabikh, details the influence and trade of certain ingredients, and describes what a kitchen looked like in Mesopotamia. Finally, we discuss the surprising similarities between our present-day dining and eating etiquette and decorum and 10th century Iraq's, as well as debate who best cooks Sambousek.

Nawal Nasrallah is an independent US based Iraqi food writer, historian, English literature scholar and translator. Nasrallah’s best known work is Delights from the Garden of Eden, a cookbook showcasing Iraqi cuisine which won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Nasrallah’s translation of the Abbasid-era cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq – titled Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens – also won Gourmand World Cookbook Award’s “Best Translation in the World” and “Best of the Best of the Past 12 Years” awards. 

Connect with Nawal 👉https://nawalcooking.blogspot.com

Theme music: Peninsular, Tarek Yamani 🔊 https://spoti.fi/47I59ns

Hosted by:

Mikey Muhanna 👉 https://www.instagram.com/mikey_mu/?hl=en-gb

THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK

Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl48-5Y0F7sx2xoexSoeBUWJ&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA

afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.

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THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK
Explore all episodes in this series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl48-5Y0F7sx2xoexSoeBUWJ&feature=shared

ABOUT AFIKRA
afikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.
📍 Local events in 40+ locations worldwide http://afikra.com/chapters
🎧 New podcasts + videos weekly http://afikra.com/podcasts
⚡ Become a member: https://www.afikra.com/membership
🔗 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afikra_
🔗 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/afikra.official
🔗 Twitter: https://twitter.com/afikra