The Oldest Kitchen in the World: 4,000 Years of Middle Eastern Cooking Passed Down through Generations

by Matay de Mayee

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Miss✧Pickypants ᓚᘏᗢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cookbook is a beautiful love letter from the author to his Mother. The recipes are hers, the author has put them to paper on her behalf because she grew up in a time and place when girls did not learn to read or write. The dishes included in the book are Middle Eastern but through the lens of an Assyrian cook.

Recipes are well-written and accompanied by pleasing, full page colour photos in this well-designed book. Headnote's contain historical information about the dish and how it fits into Assyrian culture. While many dishes are familiar Middle Eastern foods, what makes this book special is how the author also uses the book to tell his Mother's story and to educate the reader about the Assyrian story and its food culture.

[Mary Dent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful cookbook with wonderful photographs. I haven’t tried the recipes, but the stories about Assyrian food and culture make this a very informative book that happens to be a cookbook. I love middle eastern food, and I really appreciated the way that this author illuminates the ancient history of these traditions by telling the story of his family, living in exile and keeping true to their ancestors.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful cookbooks I have read and cooked from. Much more than 60 delicious recipes; memoirs, history, map, beautiful pictures and very well designed. Listed in the ‘Best cookbooks made’ according to Saveurs magazine. Can’t wait to cook again one of the recipes. Ingredients are easy to find.

[Hala · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is beautiful cookbook and introduction to a cuisine that really has evolved from or into current cuisines in the middle east. The author rubbed me the wrong way without paying enough homage to the fact that these ancient societies all took from one another instead of trying to owe wholly what many for centuries have come to known as Middle Eastern cuisine.

[Jenina · Rating 5 out of 5]

greatest love letter I’ve unspooled

[Maegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many yummy looking recipes! I also appreciated how the cookbook was formatted- with nice photos and interviews with his mother about her life.