Claudia 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.
A solid overview which has been revised after 20 years by the author for the reader that wants a journey. The harder edge of coffee, the slavery, the crushing poverty, and the colonial attitude of the large coffee buyers are glossed over or ignored.
What book this could have been if a chapter on the reality of the coffee trade replaced the cake and dessert chapters which are anachronistic and better suited to culinary book.
Good enough to stay on my shelf but what a book this could have been with all of that knowledge writing about the reality instead of the fable of coffee.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
For one desiring the basics, this book had just the right amount of information--history, growing selecting and brewing. Plus, it is beautifully illustrated.