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Arabesque: Sumptuous Food From Morocco Turkey And Lebanon
In the 1960s Claudia Roden introduced Americans to a new world of tastes in her classic A Book of Middle Eastern Food. Now, in her enchanting new book, Arabesque , she revisits the three countries with the most exciting cuisines today—Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon. Interweaving history, stories, and her own observations, she gives us 150 of the most delectable some of them new discoveries, some reworkings of classic dishes—all of them made even more accessible and delicious for today’s home cook.
From Morocco, the most exquisite and refined cuisine of North couscous dishes; multilayered pies; delicately flavored tagine s; ways of marrying meat, poultry, or fish with fruit to create extraordinary combinations of spicy, savory, and sweet.
From Turkey, a highly sophisticated cuisine that dates back to the Ottoman Empire yet reflects many new influences a delicious array of kebabs, fillo pies, eggplant dishes in many guises, bulgur and chickpea salads, stuffed grape leaves and peppers, and sweet puddings.
From Lebanon, a cuisine of great a wide variety of mezze (those tempting appetizers that can make a meal all on their own); dishes featuring sun-drenched Middle Eastern vegetables and dried legumes; and national specialties such as kibbeh , meatballs with pine nuts, and lamb shanks with yogurt.
Claudia Roden knows this part of the world so intimately that we delight in being in such good hands as she translates the subtle play of flavors and simple cooking techniques to our own home kitchens.
From Morocco, the most exquisite and refined cuisine of North couscous dishes; multilayered pies; delicately flavored tagine s; ways of marrying meat, poultry, or fish with fruit to create extraordinary combinations of spicy, savory, and sweet.
From Turkey, a highly sophisticated cuisine that dates back to the Ottoman Empire yet reflects many new influences a delicious array of kebabs, fillo pies, eggplant dishes in many guises, bulgur and chickpea salads, stuffed grape leaves and peppers, and sweet puddings.
From Lebanon, a cuisine of great a wide variety of mezze (those tempting appetizers that can make a meal all on their own); dishes featuring sun-drenched Middle Eastern vegetables and dried legumes; and national specialties such as kibbeh , meatballs with pine nuts, and lamb shanks with yogurt.
Claudia Roden knows this part of the world so intimately that we delight in being in such good hands as she translates the subtle play of flavors and simple cooking techniques to our own home kitchens.
Hardcover
First published October 27, 2005
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2573 people want to read
About the author
Claudia Roden
58 books120 followersClaudia Roden was brought up in Cairo. She finished her education in Paris and later studied art in London. Starting as a painter she was drawn to the subject of food partly through a desire to evoke a lost heritage - one of the pleasures of a happy life in Egypt.
With her bestselling classic, A Book of Middle Eastern Food, first published in 1968, Roden revolutionized Western attitudes to the cuisine of the Middle East. Her intensely personal approach and her passionate appreciation of the dishes delighted readers, while she introduced them to a new world of foods, both exotic and wholesome. The book received great critical acclaim.
Mrs Roden continued to write about food with a special interest in the social and historical background of cooking.
Then came the BBC television series, Mediterranean Cookery with Claudia Roden and the accompanying book entitled Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery.
In 1992, she won the Glenfiddich Trophy, the top prize in the Glenfiddich Awards.
With her bestselling classic, A Book of Middle Eastern Food, first published in 1968, Roden revolutionized Western attitudes to the cuisine of the Middle East. Her intensely personal approach and her passionate appreciation of the dishes delighted readers, while she introduced them to a new world of foods, both exotic and wholesome. The book received great critical acclaim.
Mrs Roden continued to write about food with a special interest in the social and historical background of cooking.
Then came the BBC television series, Mediterranean Cookery with Claudia Roden and the accompanying book entitled Claudia Roden's Mediterranean Cookery.
In 1992, she won the Glenfiddich Trophy, the top prize in the Glenfiddich Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
June 4, 2013
Claudia Roden has been my mentor for 40 years. Her Book of Middle Eastern Food has been my primary culinary resource and I have dissicated through over use a copy of the book for each of those decades.
Her other books are OK but always useful -- esp her culinary tour of Italy. This one however, fills a niche.
Roden is primarily a cultural anthropologist who deploys recipes as artefacts. To call her work 'cookbooks' is both a misnomer and to sell them short. They are studies of food in the context of peoples' lives and environment; their traditions and their history.
I wanted a discussion on Turkish food -- my current passion -- and Roden delivers with her usual flare for a well placed anecdote. Her Book of Middle Eastern Food is weak on both Lebanon and Turkey. This failing is made up for in this book.
What she writes about Turkey -- the demographic shift, the culinary traditions and the cultural pretences makes a lot of culinary sense in the light of what may be offered in your locale. The conundrum of Istanbul tucker begins to unravel as she gives you a sense of regional cuisine.
And folks -- thats' where the good stuff lives: a rich and varied platter indeed that has only been bought to the metropolis over the last fifty years.
For those into Lebanese or Turkish food -- this book is an essential reference.
Her other books are OK but always useful -- esp her culinary tour of Italy. This one however, fills a niche.
Roden is primarily a cultural anthropologist who deploys recipes as artefacts. To call her work 'cookbooks' is both a misnomer and to sell them short. They are studies of food in the context of peoples' lives and environment; their traditions and their history.
I wanted a discussion on Turkish food -- my current passion -- and Roden delivers with her usual flare for a well placed anecdote. Her Book of Middle Eastern Food is weak on both Lebanon and Turkey. This failing is made up for in this book.
What she writes about Turkey -- the demographic shift, the culinary traditions and the cultural pretences makes a lot of culinary sense in the light of what may be offered in your locale. The conundrum of Istanbul tucker begins to unravel as she gives you a sense of regional cuisine.
And folks -- thats' where the good stuff lives: a rich and varied platter indeed that has only been bought to the metropolis over the last fifty years.
For those into Lebanese or Turkish food -- this book is an essential reference.
May 7, 2012
I have very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand it is quite pretty, modern-looking, a simple introduction to these 3 cuisines and there quite a few recipes in here I mean to try. On the other hand, it is so much weaker than her The New Book of Middle Eastern Food! It´s like a summary of The New Book of Middle Eastern Food for Dummies (but with prettier styling and great photos. And not only that, but Ms Roden´s conversational style here can get a bit annoying if you are one of those people who reads cookbooks cover to cover (I do, I admit, if not too large and always with skimming when i feel like it. But I like to go over a cookbook cover to cover. That is how I get ideas, and techniques). There was this dinner with these people here, or this event here and that is repeated so very often - it´s not even really personal, it just seems so trivial, and not inducing to great trust that the writer is very familiar with the cuisine she is writing about, and I prefer to hear about history details or medieval tales in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.
December 26, 2020
This is a beautifully presented book. Claudia Roden is one of my favourite cookery writers and the recipes she presents in this informative and interesting book are both sumptuous and accessible. But this is not just a recipe book. It contains background and historical context about the origins and cultures, which surround the dishes. From fresh and delightful salads to rich and robust stews, there's a recipe for every season and occasion.
Some of the dishes were familiar to me from her Mediterranean Cookery book, which I bought back in the late 1980s and still refer to frequently. Her recipe for Kibbeh in that book, which involves making little shells from bulgar wheat and stuffing them, always eluded me, as the shells fell apart. Here in Arabesque, she offers a layered, baked version, explaining that the traditional Lebanese versions are 'labour-intensive and require skill and application...not the kind of thing you undertake if you are not part of the culture.' So thank you Ms Roden for offering me a second chance!
A delightful book to browse, read and make delicious food from simple, flavoursome ingredients.
Some of the dishes were familiar to me from her Mediterranean Cookery book, which I bought back in the late 1980s and still refer to frequently. Her recipe for Kibbeh in that book, which involves making little shells from bulgar wheat and stuffing them, always eluded me, as the shells fell apart. Here in Arabesque, she offers a layered, baked version, explaining that the traditional Lebanese versions are 'labour-intensive and require skill and application...not the kind of thing you undertake if you are not part of the culture.' So thank you Ms Roden for offering me a second chance!
A delightful book to browse, read and make delicious food from simple, flavoursome ingredients.
February 24, 2013
Quite a nice collection of recipes from Turkish, Moroccan and Middle Eastern cuisines. Our favorites are in the dessert section. The pistachio cake was worth the price of the book.
July 27, 2013
This book provides an excellent introduction to the world of Mediterranean/ME cuisine. Roden is extremely precise in the language she has chosen to explain each recipe, yet the details are never so pedantic that they take away from the taste and texture of each ingredient. She also includes bits and pieces of information about culinary history, traditions and practices in each area. The book contains several beautiful photographs of different dishes (my mouth watered more than once while trying to decide which recipe to attempt!)
The book is divided into three parts – each dedicated to one of the title countries, and further divided into starter/appetizer, main course and dessert sections. Roden gives the traditional recipe, as well as useful information on regional varieties (thus the Lebanese knafe is equated with the Greek kataifi , etc.). Another bonus in the book – she readily suggests substitutions for particular ingredients that might be difficult to find outside of areas with a large influx of people of Med/ME descent (I found this particularly useful as I would otherwise have had to order some of these things online).
All in all, a great cookbook by any measure, but especially for those who have an interest in Med/ME cuisine…
The book is divided into three parts – each dedicated to one of the title countries, and further divided into starter/appetizer, main course and dessert sections. Roden gives the traditional recipe, as well as useful information on regional varieties (thus the Lebanese knafe is equated with the Greek kataifi , etc.). Another bonus in the book – she readily suggests substitutions for particular ingredients that might be difficult to find outside of areas with a large influx of people of Med/ME descent (I found this particularly useful as I would otherwise have had to order some of these things online).
All in all, a great cookbook by any measure, but especially for those who have an interest in Med/ME cuisine…
July 25, 2010
I've only checked it out from the library and didn't get to cook much from it, but the Chicken with Caramelized Baby Onions and Pears is delicious! The country introductions seemed pretty thorough and interesting as well.
December 15, 2008
Such a beautiful book. I've made a few recipes from this, and mostly they've turned out well. Her method for making couscous results in the fluffiest, tastiest couscous ever.
December 20, 2025
Read this book in 2008, 17 years back. Arabesque is Claudia Roden at her most lyrical. Where her earlier books feel archival, this one feels architectural—curved, decorative, sensuous.
The title is perfectly chosen. The book moves like an arabesque pattern itself, weaving Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon into a continuous, flowing design.
The visual beauty is immediate, but it is the cultural depth that holds you. Roden does not treat these cuisines as exotic spectacles. Instead, she shows how their shared histories—Ottoman, Arab, Mediterranean—manifest in spices, techniques, and table rituals.
You begin to see the logic behind flavours that once seemed mysterious.
The Moroccan chapters glow with warmth: slow-cooked tagines, fragrant couscous, and the confident marriage of fruit and meat.
Turkey brings structure and balance—grills, pilafs, and yoghurt-based dishes that soothe as much as they satisfy. Lebanon offers freshness: herbs, citrus, and olive oil are used with astonishing restraint.
What makes Arabesque special is how personal it feels. Roden writes as someone moving between kitchens, welcomed everywhere, learning humbly. Her respect for home cooks is palpable. These are dishes cooked for family, for guests, for festivals—not for applause.
Cooking from this book feels celebratory. The dishes ask for time but reward you with joy. They are meant to be shared, discussed, and remembered. This is a book you open not only to cook but also to dream.
Most recommended.
The title is perfectly chosen. The book moves like an arabesque pattern itself, weaving Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon into a continuous, flowing design.
The visual beauty is immediate, but it is the cultural depth that holds you. Roden does not treat these cuisines as exotic spectacles. Instead, she shows how their shared histories—Ottoman, Arab, Mediterranean—manifest in spices, techniques, and table rituals.
You begin to see the logic behind flavours that once seemed mysterious.
The Moroccan chapters glow with warmth: slow-cooked tagines, fragrant couscous, and the confident marriage of fruit and meat.
Turkey brings structure and balance—grills, pilafs, and yoghurt-based dishes that soothe as much as they satisfy. Lebanon offers freshness: herbs, citrus, and olive oil are used with astonishing restraint.
What makes Arabesque special is how personal it feels. Roden writes as someone moving between kitchens, welcomed everywhere, learning humbly. Her respect for home cooks is palpable. These are dishes cooked for family, for guests, for festivals—not for applause.
Cooking from this book feels celebratory. The dishes ask for time but reward you with joy. They are meant to be shared, discussed, and remembered. This is a book you open not only to cook but also to dream.
Most recommended.
April 20, 2022
This is a lovely cookbook with lots of great photos and some good details about the places the recipes come from. I appreciate that she offers more available alternatives for some of the ingredients, although, because she lives in the UK, sourcing some of the ingredients in North America might be less easy to find in some locations. The instructions are easy to follow and practical.
December 17, 2019
This is much more than a cookbook! More even than culinary history. It is a gorgeous book with a history, geography, and anthropology section for each country. I may not recreate a single recipe, but it was worth the few days I’ve spent reading.
October 29, 2021
Excellent. Claudia Roden introduced me to the range of Mediterranean food back in the 1980's when I was a student, with her excellent book, Mediterranean Food. This book includes the best Middle Eastern and North African recipes. Recommend to anybody who appreciates this type of cooking.
March 6, 2018
This is a solid introduction to these cuisines, but I overall found this cookbook a little basic, meat-reliant, and wordy.
September 2, 2021
I longed to read books by Claudia Roden. And this happen to be the first one. I love this !
December 28, 2021
What a wonderful cookbook with great background stories.
June 16, 2022
Fantastic
History in a personal style made me feel present, terrific recipes.
History in a personal style made me feel present, terrific recipes.
June 24, 2023
I read the section on Moroccan food. Gave good insights of what to expect. Soup kinds of food are usual.
June 21, 2025
Very good cookbook with well written recipes. Good explanations and descriptions on methods and ingredients.
March 19, 2009
I picked up this book at the library for the Lebanese recipes, but I had to renew it in order to try some of the Moroccan and Turkish dishes, too. Many of these recipes are simple and quickly made and there are lots of great salads and vegetable dishes. There are some hard-to-find specialty ingredients such as sumac or preserved lemon. Substitutions are suggested but I think it is worth locating the recommended ingredients. I've started using pomegranate molasses in so many (non-Lebanese) dishes that I wonder how I managed without it for so long.
Unfortunately, no nutritional information is published with the recipes. Maybe that is why some dishes have more than two tablespoons of olive oil in a serving! Since I'm on a reduced calorie diet, I was pleased to find that most of the recipes I tried weren't spoiled by using half or even a quarter as much oil as recommended.
There are many foods traditionally served cold, which means this is a good book in which to find recipes for packed lunches.
Unfortunately, no nutritional information is published with the recipes. Maybe that is why some dishes have more than two tablespoons of olive oil in a serving! Since I'm on a reduced calorie diet, I was pleased to find that most of the recipes I tried weren't spoiled by using half or even a quarter as much oil as recommended.
There are many foods traditionally served cold, which means this is a good book in which to find recipes for packed lunches.
September 13, 2007
The food issue of the New Yorker had a profile of Claudia Roden, which led me to head to go out and get a library card. I was happy to discover that Arabesque wasn't checked out. So far, I've tried two things...a tomato spread from the Morocco section and baba ganoush, which I think was in the Lebanese section. Both turned out well. I will say that I have never seen a cookbook with so many recipes that use eggplants--I just wish I'd read this earlier in the summer when there were tons of them at the local farmer's market.
I plan to keep trying recipes, although I suspect I'll mostly stick with the mezze (kinda like tapas) rather than the main courses.
I plan to keep trying recipes, although I suspect I'll mostly stick with the mezze (kinda like tapas) rather than the main courses.
January 11, 2008
What I've made so far:
1. Saffron Chicken. Super easy and fast. I thought it would be difficult, but it turned out really well.
2. Phyllo Dough Stuffed With Feta. Phyllo dough sucks. I really hate it, but if you can master it, these are really good and not too hard to make. The trick is that you have to work with the dough as little as possible while also working very quickly before the dough can start to crumble.
1. Saffron Chicken. Super easy and fast. I thought it would be difficult, but it turned out really well.
2. Phyllo Dough Stuffed With Feta. Phyllo dough sucks. I really hate it, but if you can master it, these are really good and not too hard to make. The trick is that you have to work with the dough as little as possible while also working very quickly before the dough can start to crumble.
November 14, 2009
I browsed through this book last night when our date night ended with a trip to Barnes & Noble and although I was intrigued by the title and the cover, I wasn't thrilled or inspired by the recipes enough to want to continue reading it (opting to put it aside and pick up some bread books that looked great) or check it out from my local library. Oh well. Maybe another time this will be more appealing for me, but for now I will leave it on the shelf and go on to other cookbooks.
Read
September 16, 2010I checked this out as an e-book through my library's subscription to Overdrive. I just wanted to let people know that you're missing out on the amazing illustrations and book design if you get this as an e-book. Get the hard copy!
(The text was interesting, and the receipes looked yummy. Lots of salads).
Not rating, because I didn't make any of the receipes - just wanted to warn people off of the e-edition.
(The text was interesting, and the receipes looked yummy. Lots of salads).
Not rating, because I didn't make any of the receipes - just wanted to warn people off of the e-edition.
October 30, 2010
Claudia Roden has written another fascinating cookbook, which not only gives lovely recipes with titles listed in Arabic and English, but also tells a history of the food in each country and how it is traditionally prepared. Gorgeous photos and the print looks nice. I didn't bookmark that many recipes however simply because I have read many cookbooks on the topic, so most of them were nothing new. Recommended for food historians and those who like to cook delicious ethnic food.
March 22, 2012
I wish this had more pictures that would communicate how awesome these dishes are. I was blessed to know what each recipe looks like! Overall, it's a REALLY good cookbook with authentic recipes. I know that it is probably directed to westerns and not middle easterns, but there is no real difference between that and a local cookbook. I actually love accurate universal measurements, so I prefer this one.
Can't wait to attempt Lahma Bel Ajeen and most of the salads. :D
April 19, 2013
This is my go to cookbook for Middle Eastern food. All the recipes I have tried have been very good and even excellent. Many of the recipes are illustrated with beautiful photos. Claudia Roden gives a brief introduction to each recipe including suggestions for accompaniment, something sorely missing in most cookbooks. She shows the same attention to detail in each recipe when she discusses issues such as how to correct mistakes and serving suggestions. I highly recommend this book.
June 30, 2008
I enjoyed that this cookbook had recipes from three different Middle Eastern regions. It gave you a broad range of recipes to chose from. I am a beginner to Middle Eastern cooking, and I would have liked to see more photos of the finished dishes. One thing I did enjoy about the recipes in this cookbook is that they use similar ingredients in many of the recipes.
July 7, 2011
I agree with earlier posters who love the hardcover edition. The copy I have is even more beautifilly designed than the one pictured here on GR. It inspires one to get in the kitchen and get tactile and messy. I have tried a few recipes, and have many more bookmarked ... and I'm a veggie too! Really nice book
August 5, 2016
I love this beautiful book. It is well written, both in terms of recipes and the various Middle Eastern cultures. The photographs of the completed dishes always make me hungry when I'm flipping through the chapters. Everything I've tried so far has turned out well. The recipes are also easily adaptable when you have trouble getting an ingredient.
August 25, 2013
Good recipes and introduction to each of the 3 sections. A bit disappointed in the Turkish recipe selection and would have preferred more. In general I don't like cookbooks without a photo of each recipe. Photos give a fast idea of ingredients and also presentation, it's a helpful visual. Not to have one for each option in a cookbook where some of the foods are unfamiliar is annoying.
July 15, 2014
Love it. Love it. Love it. Turkish food is my favourite cuisine - I first visited Turkey in 1975 and found it difficult to persuade people that it was better than Greek food - then popular because of travel and migration to Australia.
Good additional information - substitute ingredients, ancedotes - and easy to follow very straight-forward recipes.
Good additional information - substitute ingredients, ancedotes - and easy to follow very straight-forward recipes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews