In this intriguing blend of the commonplace and the ancient, Jean Bottéro presents the first extensive look at the delectable secrets of Mesopotamia. Bottéro’s broad perspective takes us inside the religious rites, everyday rituals, attitudes and taboos, and even the detailed preparation techniques involving food and drink in Mesopotamian high culture during the second and third millennia BCE, as the Mesopotamians recorded them. Offering everything from translated recipes for pigeon and gazelle stews, the contents of medicinal teas and broths, and the origins of ingredients native to the region, this book reveals the cuisine of one of history’s most fascinating societies. Links to the modern world, along with incredible recreations of a rich, ancient culture through its cuisine, make Bottéro’s guide an entertaining and mesmerizing read.

What do we think about when we think about Greek food? For many, it is the meze and the traditional plates of a Greek island taverna at the height of summer. In Gifts of the Gods, Andrew and Rachel Dalby take us into and beyond the taverna in our minds to offer us a unique and comprehensive history of the foods of Greece. Greek food is brimming with thousands of years of history, lore, and culture. The country has one of the most varied landscapes of Europe, where steep mountains, low-lying plains, rocky islands, and crystal-blue seas jostle one another and produce food and wine of immense quality and distinctive taste. The book discusses how the land was settled, what was grown in different regions, and how certain fruits, herbs, and vegetables became a part of local cuisines. Moving through history—from classical to modern—the book explores the country’s regional food identities as well as the export of Greek food to communities all over the world. The book culminates with a look at one of the most distinctive features of Greece’s food tradition—the country’s world renown hospitality. Illustrated throughout and featuring traditional recipes that blend historical and modern flavors, Gifts of the Gods is a mouth-watering account of a rich and ancient cuisine.

Apicius is a collection of Roman cookery recipes, thought to have been compiled in the 1st century AD and written in a language in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin; later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ficatum, bullire) were added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as iecur, fervere). Based on textual analysis, the food scholar Bruno Laurioux believes that the surviving version only dates from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history of De Re Coquinaria indeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".The name "Apicius" is taken from the habits of an early bearer of the name, Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet who lived sometime in the 1st century AD during the reign of Tiberius. He is sometimes erroneously asserted to be the author of the book pseudepigraphically attributed to him.Apicius is a text to be used in the kitchen. In the earliest printed editions, it was usually called De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), and attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE" or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It is also known as De re culinaria.

Casablanca is the exciting debut from Moroccan chef Nargisse Benkabbou. This book features more than 80 recipes for simple and satisfying dishes such as Artichoke tagine with peas, baby potatoes & preserved lemons, Peach & ras el hanout short rib stew with garlic mash and Sweet potato & feta maakouda. Also featured are tasty western classics with a unique Moroccan twist: try your hand at Kefta & kale mac & cheese, Roasted almond & couscous stuffed poussin and Moroccan mint tea infused chocolate pots. Nargisse breathes new life into Moroccan cuisine, blending that authentic Moroccan spirit and the contemporary to create accessible recipes for the everyday.

In The Making of Macau’s Fusion Cuisine: From Family Table to World Stage, Annabel Jackson argues that Macanese cuisine cannot be seen as a unique product of Portuguese colonialism in southern China. Instead, it needs to be understood in the context of Portugal’s culinary footprint in Asia and beyond. She contends that the culinary cultures of other Portuguese colonies in Asia and Africa also influenced the cuisine in Macau. Macanese cuisine plays a role in evoking a sense of Macanese identity within Macau as well as in the Macanese diaspora. As the Macanese have increasingly defined themselves as an ethnically and culturally distinct group, their cuisine has growingly been seen as a critical identifier of cohesion and difference. The book shows how Macanese cuisine is moving from being an everyday production of food in a domestic setting to something more symbolic and ceremonial. It also argues that the practice of recipe sharing, historically controversial among the Macanese, is now viewed as an important process. Drawing on information gathered through interviews and surveys, the book is a fascinating study of the history and development of Macanese cuisine, one of the oldest fusion cuisines in Asia. ‘Annabel Jackson has more than enough knowledge to share with the readers many insights and interesting stories, which are embedded in history and cultural interactions among various ethnic groups in Macau and beyond. Given the fact that Macau has become the city of gastronomy, this book brings in rich information and knowledge for locals and visitors to “taste” and to remember.’ —Sidney Cheung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong ‘Annabel Jackson’s study of the development of Macanese cuisine and its role in evoking a sense of Macanese identity within Macau and the Macanese diaspora should contribute to the growing interest in the study of food and foodways within cultural and postcolonial studies. Written in a lively and engaging way, it achieves a good balance between the use of primary sources and theoretical references to buttress its arguments.’ —David Brookshaw, University of Bristol

Based on the popular Harvard University and edX course, Science and Cooking explores the scientific basis of why recipes work. The spectacular culinary creations of modern cuisine are the stuff of countless articles and social media feeds. But to a scientist they are also perfect pedagogical explorations into the basic scientific principles of cooking. In Science and Cooking, Harvard professors Michael Brenner, Pia Sörensen, and David Weitz bring the classroom to your kitchen to teach the physics and chemistry underlying every recipe. Why do we knead bread? What determines the temperature at which we cook a steak, or the amount of time our chocolate chip cookies spend in the oven? Science and Cooking answers these questions and more through hands-on experiments and recipes from renowned chefs such as Christina Tosi, Joanne Chang, and Wylie Dufresne, all beautifully illustrated in full color. With engaging introductions from revolutionary chefs and collaborators Ferran Adria and José Andrés, Science and Cooking will change the way you approach both subjects—in your kitchen and beyond.