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Muna Salloum and Leila Salloum Elias

September 2024

The Arabs set their culinary delights down in writing and wrote books glorifying the art of cooking and the use of a multitude of ingredients. The extant Arabic primary sources (see below) that have come down to us, overwhelmingly reflect the eating habits of the royal courts and urban upper classes, primarily from four centres – Baghdad and Aleppo under the Abbasids (750-1258), Cairo under the Fatimids (909 -1170), Cordoba under the Umayyads (756-1031) and Muluk al-Tawa‘if (the Petty Kingdoms) (1031-1091) of al-Andalus – that the culinary literature reaches us today.

The medieval Arab period spanned from the 8^th to the 13^th centuries, from the borders of China in the east to the Iberian Peninsula in the west.  Proud of their culinary creativity and adventurous in their borrowing of foods and dishes from the pluralistic societies they encountered whether by conquest, trade (the Silk Road for example) and with whom they lived.

The Arabs, for the sake of posterity, transcribed their culinary delights and wrote cookbooks glorifying the art of cooking and the use of a multitude of ingredients.  A significant aspect of these Arabic cooking manuals was the stress on cleanliness, nutrition and overall health benefits of particular ingredients and dishes.

As the artist draws the picture or the poet rhymes the words, the medieval recipes recorded the methods but not necessarily the minute details in measurements.  The idea was to let those who cooked these culinary delights become part of the realm of the culinary art theatre – to use intuition, ingenuity, and taste and to contribute to the history of the world’s cuisine.

The medieval Arab world was an adventure in gastronomy

Baghdad in the 9^th century drew in masses of peoples involved in various trades, professions, academic pursuits, and those in the artistic fields bringing with them their own traditional techniques of their local or regional cooking traditions.

The city was considered a ‘paradise on earth’ replete with orchards and gardens, lush vegetation, palatial edifices and learning centres.  For instance, in one of the earliest references to the abundance of orange trees, al-Mas^cudi (died c. 956) states that the Caliph al-Qahir (932-934) had a royal garden filled with these trees and laden with red and yellow fruit which he had brought back from India.

With a population of between a half million to a million persons, products for food production and the creation of foodstuffs and experimentation with them went hand in hand.

The cuisine of the upper class and the Bedouin

The cuisine with its procedures and reliance on the kitchens of the elite of society developed from the hallowed kitchens of the ancient temples, from the foodstuffs and common fare of the indigenous Arab inhabitants and contacts with non-Arab societies to influence the later medieval upper classes in Baghdad, Aleppo, Damascus, Cairo and Arab al-Andalus.  On the other hand, the techniques and offerings of the rural population and Bedouin tribes changed very little as the centuries moved on.

And as the decades passed and gastronomy became an art amongst the upper classes, those with the financial abilities to get whatever they wanted, came to scorn, as recorded by al-Jahiz (c. 776-869) in al-Bukhala’ (The Book of Misers), the rudimentary elements of Arab food typified by the cuisine of the Bedouin.  Many are the stories of nobles and the elite who invite a Bedouin to an elegant dining table and await his reaction to a feast.

Take for example the story of one Bedouin who, as a guest of the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (685-705), was presented with a lavish table filled with an assortment of sumptuous dishes.  He surprised his host by remarking that although the variety was breathtaking, none of the dishes could compare to the tastiest dish he had ever eaten – the tender meat of a female donkey’s navel wrapped in two juicy dates (Kitab al-Aghani, 9^th century).

Beyond food preparations

From the Arabic culinary manuscripts, we learn not only about the methods of food preparation, but of the aromatics, spices, herbs, colouring agents, meats, poultry, grains, vegetables, fruits, and sweeteners that were available.  These texts provide insight into medieval Arab life, for it is from their dishes and ingredients, that we have a mirror reflecting their society.  These food manuals include chapters and intermittent advice on:

• Nutrition and health
• Dining etiquette
• Hygiene and table manners
• Kitchen utensils and tableware
• Hospitality and generosity
• The do’s and don’ts for culinary techniques in the kitchen

Dishes prepared for the dining tables

In the Arab kitchen records exist of dishes prepared for the dining tables of the caliphs, kings, and nobility. Recipes,

• some simple, such: as al-jazar (carrots) and al-khassiya (lettuce);
• some time consuming, such as isfanakh (spinach, chickpeas and lamb) and ḍafā’ir (fried dough shaped in the form of braids);
• some strange for today’s tastes as found in mawz ma^ca lahm (bananas with meat) and fustuqiya (chicken stuffed with sugar and pistachios);
• and others that symbolize the word imagination, like nuhud al-‘adhra’ (breasts of the virgin); and dimagh al-Mutawakkil (the brain of the Caliph al-Mutawakkil);
• some named after a person, such as buraniya and badhinjan Buran introduced at the dining table of the Caliph al-Ma’mun and his bride Buran who is said to have introduced it to Arab society or the dish was named after her; al-ma’muniya (rice pudding) named after the Caliph al-Ma’mun or it being his favourite dish;
• some named after a region, city or village such as al-akhmimiya (a type of cake) taken from the name of Akhmim, a town located 300 miles south of Cairo; khulat baysani (cold yogurt and cucumber soup) from a city in Palestine;
• recipes that evolved over time such as klaycha based on an ancient Mesopotamian round cookie called qullupu, then later known by the Persian-influenced name khushkanāj then named klaycha based on the unit of measure they called the kaylacha. These round cookies were one of the foodstuffs served to Ibn Baṭṭuṭa at the dining table of Qutludumur, Emir of Khawarizm in his travels and hummus kasa that eventually developed into the contemporary hummus bi tahini;
• recipes prescribed for Lent such as harisa (a slow cooked pottage) where meat is substituted with leeks; and sanbusaj (stuffed meat patties) made with prawns.

“Redaction of these recipes was made according to modern-day measurements and techniques. Many of the medieval recipes do not provide measurements and exact cooking times.  Most of the experimentation used to create the final product was based upon family know-how and experience.”  Muna Salloum, Leila Salloum Elias 

Arab medieval cooking evolved into modern day dishes

Just as it is said history is a lesson in itself, medieval Arab cookery texts have done the same in that the dishes of that period and even before became lessons in cuisine which introduced innovations and creations that, over time, evolved into modern-day dishes encompassing the tables of the Arab west to the Arab east, from Fez to Baghdad.

The badi^cya (ground meat with fried halloum cheese and spices) and al-ja^cfariya (a slow-cooked saffron chicken) of medieval Arab al-Andalus (Arab/Muslim Spain) grace today the dining tables of Morocco in a variant form as the country’s national dish, evolving from its antecedent as today’s tajine.  From these metropolises variant dishes from the medieval Arab tables spread to the European continent to such places as Portugal with its bolas de figo e almêndoa (stuffed figs balls), its origin in hays; Spain, escabeche (sikbaj – sweet and sour lamb and vegetable stew); France, couscous (kukusu); Malta, maqaret (maqrud – semolina date cookies); and Sicily’s cannoli (qananiṭ – deep fried tube-shaped dough stuffed with nuts or cheese mixed with nuts and rose water) or cubaita di giuggiulena (juljulaniya – sesame cubes).

Sanbusaj/sanbusak have found their way through the centuries on the take-out counters of restaurants and cafes throughout the Arab East.  Described as a stuffed pastry in the early 9^th century, their popularity as a meat-stuffed turnover or as a deep-fried pastry filled with a nut-sugar paste, reached the point where poetry lauded its wondrous attributes calling it the ‘tastiest food for the hasty diner’. Sanbusaj/sanbusak moved west of the Middle East as the Arabs expanded their empire appearing nowadays in new cultural contexts as Italian calzones and Spanish empanadas.

Dinner feast at the caliph’s court

The court of the caliph played an important role in the dissemination of the city’s rich culinary heritage as well.  It set the pattern for the upper and middle classes to imitate regal gastronomy thus creating a culinary haute culture.  although the food with its tastes and presentation were of major importance, there were additional activities required to make the feast a success.  For instance, it was not unusual for poets such as Ibn al-Rumi with his verses of adulation of the crispy almond-stuffed lawzinaj or Khushajim’s eloquent praise epitomizing the glory of qata’if (fried sweet pastry stuffed with nuts, sugar and rose water). Physicians attending would advise which dishes were healthy and those that were not. Even contests were held pitting one dish against another to determine which was the best. All these activities supplemented the feast presented at the caliph’s dining table.

The following is a possible scenario of the menu with examples of the variety of dishes that were part of medieval Arab cuisine.

APPETIZERS
Barida min Baqili li Ibn Abi Nuh al-Katib – A Cold Dish of Fava Beans by Ibn Abu Nuh al-Katib (fava beans and chard dip)
Badhinjan Mahshi li-Ibn al-Mahdi – Ibn al-Mahdi’s Stuffed Eggplant (seared eggplant and walnuts)
Barida Mujarraba – A Cold Dish Tried and Tested (cold roasted chicken with almonds and pomegranate seeds)

SOUPS
Khulat Baysani – A Mixture from Baysan (cold yogurt and cucumber soup)
Shurba Khadra – Soup of Greens (leeks, meat and chickpea soup)

ENTREES
Preparing Asparagus with Meat Coating
Buraniya – of Buran (eggplant and lamb stir-fry)
Dikabrikat or Dhajibrija li Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi sana^cahu lil-Mu^ctasim – Dhajibrija Made for al-Mu^ctasim by Ibrahim al-Mahdi (lamb and vegetables with spiced onion sauce)
Fi ^cAml al-Kirsh al-Mahshuwa – Preparing Stuffed Tripe (tripe stuffed with lamb, chickpeas and rice)
Fustuqiya – Made of Pistachios (pistachio-stuffed roasted chicken)
al-Samak al-Sikbaj – Fish Made like Sikbaj (fried fish with a vinegary sauce)

DESSERTS
Dafa’ir – Braids (braided fried dough)
Lawzinaj – Made of Almonds (almond fingers)
Luqam al-Qadi – The Judge’s Morsels (fried dough bites)
Qananit al-Mahshuwa – Stuffed Pipes (almond-sealed stuffed cigars)

BEVERAGES
Habb Rumman – Pomegranate Seed Beverage
Mishmish Lawzi – Almondy Apricot (cold apricot drink)
Sharab Julab – Rose Water Drink (hot rose water beverage)

We chose the dishes based upon ingredients, condiments, appearance and certain dishes named in the medieval Arabic cooking manuals as being presented at the caliph’s table.  Redaction of these recipes was made according to modern-day measurements and techniques. Many of the medieval recipes do not provide measurements and exact cooking times.  Most of the experimentation used to create the final product was based upon family know-how and experience.

The recipes for these dishes can be found in our two books 1) Scheherazade’s Feasts – Foods of the Medieval Arab World, and 2) Sweet Delights from a Thousand and One Nights – The Story of Traditional Arab Sweets.

For the reader:  references to the above information whether they be anecdotes, history of food culture, hygiene, health and the medieval Arabic recipes can all be found in our two publications listed above. Our project entailed reading a great number of primary and secondary sources.

Notes

* © The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

The Arabic Primary Sources

• Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook: Kitab al-Tabikh fi al-Maghrib wa al-Andalus fi ‘Asr al-Muwahhidin, li-mu’allif majhul.  The Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads by an unknown author. (al-Andalus – 13^th century).
• al-Baghdadi, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Karim al-Katib. Kitab al-Tabikh. (Baghdad – 13^th century).
• Ibn al-^cAdim, Kamal al-Din ^cUmar ibn Ahmad. Kitab al-Wusla ila al-Habib fi Wasf al-Tayyibat wa al-Tib. eds. Sulayman Mahjub and Durriya al-Khatib. (Syria – 13^th century,).
• Ibn Mubarak Shah, Shihab al-Din Ahmad. Zahr al-Hadiqa fi al-At^cimah al-Aniqa. ed. Muhammad Abd al-Rahman al-Shaghul. (Egypt – 15^th century).
• Author unknown.  Kanz al-Fawa’id fi Tanwi’ al-Mawa’id. (Egypt – 13^th century).
• al-Tujibi, Ibn Razin. Fadala al-Khiwan fi Tayyibat al-Ta^cam wa al-Alwan. (al-Andalus -13^th century).
• al-Warraq, Abu Muhammad al-Muzaffar ibn Nasr ibn Sayyar, Kitab al-Tabikh fi Islah al-Aghdhiya al-Ma’kulat wa Tayyib al-At^cima al-Masnu^cat. (Baghdad – 10^th century).

About Muna Salloum,

Freelance author and writer residing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Middle East and Islamic Studies from the University of Toronto, specializing in socio-economic history of the Arabs in Spain.  She has had articles concerning stereotyping issues and topical subjects about the Middle East published in various Canadian newspapers, magazines and chapters in books. Currently she writes articles about international and Canadian cuisine and travel. She is co-author of The Sweets of Araby (W.W. Norton, 2011), and co-author of two books: Sheherazade’s Feasts:  Medieval Arab Cookery (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), Sweet Delights from a Thousand and One Nights (I.B. Tauris, 2013 and co-author of The Scent of Pomegranate and Rosewater: Reviving the Beautiful Food Traditions of Syria (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018); and co-author of Celestial Dining to Entice – an Arab Food Contest in Paradise (Austin Macauley, 2024). Muna is currently completing a research study of Spanish words of Arabic origin co-authored with her father, the late Habeeb Salloum.

About Leila Salloum Elias

Author residing in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA.  She holds an M.A. in Middle East and Islamic Studies from the University of Toronto, specializing in literature and Arab history.  She is author of The Syrians who Boarded the Titanic:  The Dream and then the Nightmare:  the story of the Arabic-speaking passengers (Atlas for Publishing and Distribution, 2011). She is co-author of The Sweets of Araby (W.W. Norton, 2011); Sheherazade’s Feasts:  Medieval Arab Cookery (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013); Sweet Delights from a Thousand and One Nights (I.B. Tauris, 2013).  and The Scent of Pomegranates and Rosewater:  Reviving the Beautiful Food Traditions of Syria (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018); Celestial Dining to Entice – An Arab Food Contest in Paradise (Austin Macauley, 2024).  She has completed a revised edition of a study with the late Habeeb Salloum on English words of Arabic origin. Leila is currently working on a new and revised edition of the Syrians who boarded the Titanic.