Customer Reviews (1)

It's the only cookbook you'll ever need.
I just married into an Iranian family and was given the opportunity to cook for a family of 15. The recipes in this book were classic. I received many raves. Easy to follow, easy to make recipes make this book a must buyfor anyone wishing to try Persian food....Keep the recipes coming! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Book, But Be Aware That...
Foremost, I wanted to say that the book is a very good selection of recipes from this region of the world. I have been studying Middle Eastern cooking as a hobby for a few years now, and have been studying cooking in general for over 10. I own a very large selection of cookbooks and many of them are Middle Eastern cookbooks, so I have seen quite a few cookbooks, and as an enthusiast I recommend this one.

There are three things I must point out about the book before I recommend it, as these may discourage the buyer. First of all, be aware that the dimensions of the book are smaller than Tess Mallos' other books. The dimensions are 7.5 inches by 5.5 inches by .25 inches, and the book has a total of 64 pages, so it is a rather small book. Second, if you own Tess Mallos' 'The Complete Middle East Cookbook' (which I highly recommend), then you already have every recipe that is in this book, save perhaps one or two. Third, consistent with the size of the book, it's a bit lean on recipes.

Those things being stated, I would still highly recommend the book to anyone interested in experimenting with the cooking of this region. It's a wonderful cuisine and one of my favorite in the Middle East. If you are new to this cuisine but are familiar with Indian cooking you will find some similarities but the food tends to not be as seasoned or hot as Indian food. Most of the ingredients are not difficult to find, and there is a sampling of meat dishes (7 recipes), poultry (3 recipes), fish and seafood (4 recipes), along with rice dishes, salads, vegetables, sweets, etc. There is advice on eating Arabic-style, some background on different spices and seasonings used in the area, recipes for pickles and spice blends, and other miscellaneous information.

If you are interested in the cuisine please do not hesitate to purchase it. The price is right and it's a good book to have. Again, however, if you have Tess Mallos' 'Complete Middle East Cookbook' then you already have all of the recipes in this book. Finally, if you do not have 'Complete Middle East Cookbook' and are interested in a (very good) general overview of Middle Eastern food, you may want to look into that one as well, as I found it to be excellent. Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1633 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Intended to provide a comprehensive description of the enterprise of education both within the United States and throughout the world. Articles offer a view of the institutions, people, processes, and products found in educational practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

As good as my mom's cooking!
I am an Iranian girl who moved to California when I was 13yrs. old. I learned how to cook Persian cooking through my lovely mother who's cooking was quiet famous among our friends. The only problem was that my mother was such a perfectionist that she always kick me out of the kitchen fearing I will ruin her cooking. I was smart enough to watch her and observed the process. When I got married and started my own family I was interested to cooked Persian dishes trying to mimic from what I have remembered from my mom; But there was always something missing and it did not taste perfect like my mom's. Unfortunately I lived far away from my mother and I would call her and ask for recipes on the phone and my old fashioned mother never was about measuring things. She always told me a little of this and handful of that and when I ask how much exactly it was very confusing. Until I spotted this book and I was so anxious to try out the recipes and I was really happy with the results. the recipes are very authentic and great tasting so now I producing much better tasting Persian dishes than before and family is impressed. My food actually taste as good as my mom's if not better. I like the pictures on the cover those are all my favorite foods. The recipes are very accurate and easy to follow. this is perfect and a must have cook book for any Iranian girl who enjoys cooking Persian food for their family and friends.

Fabulous Book!
I purchased 3 copies of this wonderful book ... one for each of my sons and one for me!Whether you are of Persian decent, have lived in Persia, or simply have a love of cultural diversity and delicious food - this is a "must have" book.I had the previous version of this book and was delighted to find that the author had a new, updated version.The recipes are the healthist you'll find and so delicious!The information about Persian holidays are a delight ... very concise.I enjoyed the addition of the wine chapter.I have recommended this book to friends and will continue to do so!Thank you very much for taking the time to create such a fabulous book!

Best Persian Recipes!
My inlaws are Iranians and they're all excellent cooks.I bought the original "Persian Cuisine" years ago and found the recipes very similar to the food my inlaws cook.They were surprised that I could cook so well!My cookbook suffered a mishap--I left it on top of my Showtime rotisserie and it burned!!I was delighted to find this new edition, which is far better than the old original as it is a compilation of both of the author's previous books.The photos are amazing, too.And it helps non-Farsi speakers like myself, as unlike the originals that were in Farsi and English, this is all in English.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is married to a Persian, or who simply want to try some of the very best cuisine in the world.Also, if there are any Persian girls who can't cook (and I've only met one in my life), this is the way to go.

Persian Cuisine
I was excited to find that the author M.R. Ghanoonparvar had published another Persian Cuisine Cookbook.I purchased my first Persian Cuisine cookbook published in 1982 as a newlywed in 1985.My husband is Persian and was surprised and delighted that I was able to make him delicious home cooked persian dishes.25 years later the cookbooks (tradition and regional cooking) are so well used that I have been wanting to replace them.The recipes are simple compared to more traditional cookbook yet have repeatedly passed the taste test when I've cooked for my husband's family.Most importantly I have been able to include traditional Persian foods for my children to appreciate their heritage.I am excited to include this cookbook into my kitchen.

Persian Cuisine, Traditional, Regional and Modern foods
I was pleased with the entire process from purchasing to recieving.The book was shipped when stated and recieved soon after in a well protected box. The book itself was more than I expected. I have many Persian recipe books and this one includes recipes that I have been looking for. The recipes themselves, at least the ones I tried were right on.Thank you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Well crafted and qualty book
To put it shortly, whether you're an experienced chef or novice, especially with Persian cooking this book is essential for your kitchen.The author give some background to the recipes and not just a quick-list of instructions and ingredients mixed.Plus, she offers the ability to create such recipes in area where not all the ingredients are readily available fresh or in a market with easy access as one of the critics mentioned.After all, at least in the US some ingredients are hard to find and unless you're in NY or Los Angelas there isn't exactly much of a density of Persians elsewhere in the US.

Short version:Definitely buy this book - its a worthwhile investment.

Concise, practical and with family/regionally-specific authenticity
My wife and I have bought, read, collected, and used hundreds of recepies from tens of cookbooks; among the few hundred cookbooks we own, there are about half a dozen on Iranian and Persian cooking; and, perhaps a dozen about and on Middle Eastern cooking. This book alone stands among the best of them (since its first publication in 1960), even with very few illustrations, and under 200 pages, it still delivers its message and concise content very well indeed. Obviously as with any cookbook, what is "authentic" to one region/family, may not appear authentic to another family or regional variations and styles (be it the addition/deletion or amounts of certain ingredients). I have even given it as a gift many times!

One of my favorite cookbooks!
This is one of my favorite cookbooks.The recipes are just as they should be - traditional and easy to follow.The author also gives a little personal background or history of each recipes, which enables you to connect more with each dish.I think it is a very special book that everyone can cook with and enjoy tremendously!

In a Persian Kitchen(Well Recommended Must Have)
I have owned this book for more than four or five years and find it invaluable. I am an Italian American and love to cook. There are striking similarities to Persian and Italian cusine. You will not be disappointed in this cookbook. very easy and very well done.

This cookbook is OK, if OK is good enough for you.
This book would be fine for someone who is curious about Persian food, but wants a simplified version of it, but the food is not authentic.The author has changed the recipes to make them slightly easier to cook (except for the times when the recipes aren't clear), and has eliminated the need to search for a Persian market for special ingredients.Sadly, for people looking for really, really good Persian food, it is the special ingredients and extra work that make it the most delicious food in the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Wine is seen as the natural partner of many great cuisines, but few people associate it with Persian food, one of the world's most sophisticated culinary traditions. The ties, in fact, are age-old. From Persia to Napa: Wine at the Persian Table (Mage; $50; 264 pages, with 160 color photos) weaves together history, poetry, a look at modern viniculture, and a wealth of recipes and wine pairings to celebrate the rightful relationship of wine and food on the Persian table.

"Whoever seeks the origins of wine must be crazy," a Persian poet once declared, implying that simple enjoyment of this greatest gift of the grape ought to be enough. Since he wrote those words, however, winemaking has been traced all the way back to the northern uplands of the Fertile Crescent some seven millennia ago, the start of a journey that would take it across the Near East and then into Europe in the dawning years of civilization. Iran was one of the nurseries of the wine grape, and, as empires rose and fell there, princes, priests, poets and people in ordinary walks of life all embraced wine in various ways. After Islam came to Iran, wine drinking sometimes slipped from public view, but it never disappeared.

In this lavishly illustrated book, Najmieh Batmanglij explores that long and eventful history, then shifts her story to California's famed Napa Valley, half a world away. There, in a kind of up-to-the-minute homage to the past, an Iranian-American named Darioush Khaledi uses the latest vinicultural techniques to make superb wines at a winery reminiscent of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the ancient Persian empire.

The final section of the book offers 80 recipes, a guide to Persian hospitality, both old and new, and seasonal menus for various occasions. Grapes play a role in most of the recipes, whether in the form of the fruit, the leaf, the juice, the syrup, unripe grapes or their juice (verjuice), vinegar or wine. Although these recipes are presented for the modern table, they are traditional--based on sources as various as a tenth-century Persian cookbook or the culinary archives of a sixteenth-century Persian court.

The book has two special sections. One, written by Dick Davis, a leading authority on Persian literature, discusses the unique links between poetry and wine-drinking in Persian culture. The other, by wine-and-food expert Burke Owens, offers guidelines for pairing wine with the distinctive ingredients used in Persian cooking. He has also provided wine suggestions for each recipe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

The best coffee table book for wine or art lovers
I have number of books of this author.Beautifully describes the history of wine with beautiful pictures, illustrations, and wonderful Persian food recipes.This book makes a great gift for any many occasions.

Fantastic.
A great book for everyone.This book takes you to the beginnings of wine and a culture that influence the world to this day.Beautiful photographs, recipes and poetry.
Anyone who loves wine and cooking, should read this book.

A beautiful book
From Persia to Napa is a beautiful book, larger format, great for a coffee table book.It is loaded with photos and history and information on Persian wine, poetry and food.This book made a wonderful gift for a Persian friend who loves all three.

Nice companion to Food for Life
I bought this for my Persian husband who is an avid cook.We have owned "Food for Life" for years and he consults it regularly.As avid wine drinkers, we have been guessing on which wine to drink with the various dishes, and now have a fantastic guide to help us.This book also has a number of different recipes from the Food for Life. Definitely one of our better purchases this year.

History, culture, food and wine... all in one book!
I have been enjoying "New Food of Life" for the past several years, and when I saw "From Persia to Napa" for sale at a vineyard in Napa, I knew I had to have it.While "New Food of Life" is primarily a cookbook sprinkled with wonderful bits of history, culture, poems, fables and Persian art, "From Persia to Napa" is a love story about wine.In the first half of the book, Ms. Batmanglij covers the history of wine, the evolution of wine and culture in Iran, and includes a long discussion of the new Darioush Winery in Napa Valley, with many vivid photographs.The second half of the book are persian recipes that she has designed specifically to be paired with wine.The recipes are in general designed for high-end meals.Most are accompanied by photographs which make my mouth water!At the end of the book she includes suggested menus for persian meals at different times of the year.This is an aesthetically wonderful book as well as being fascinating reading, and she has elevated it to much more than a book of recipes matched with wine. ... Read more

Product Description
Iranians love their food and cooking. Not only in Iran, their flavours are found everywhere in the world. Most of the non-vegetarian dishes in India, Pakistan, and other part of Asia had its roots somewhere in Iran. Mouth watering dishes from Iran leave a very long lasting aroma because of the flavoring agents used in them.

The cuisine of Iran is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, culinary traditions and styles distinct to their regions. The list of Persian recipes, appetizers and desserts is extensive.

Herbs are frequently used along with fruits such as plums, pomegranates, quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. The main Persian cuisines are combination of rice with meat, lamb, chicken, or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian flavorings such as saffron, dried limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.

Enjoy these dishes. Be a chef at home! Goodbye to restaurants! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The best Persian cookbook I've found!
I've had this indespensable book for about 17 years now.I am not Iranian, but have several Iranian/Persian friends who all tell me this book is very authentic.Don't know what I would do without it.

I'm ordering it again to replace my missing book!
I have missed this book.I had two Persian cookbooks and of the two, this one was by far the better book: for its presentation (easy to read and follow); for the finished product (the food always tasted great); and theauthor presented the cook with substitutes which were easy to find in anygrocery store.I remember making some adjustments (e.g., too much salt wasused in the steamed rice or "polo" instructions or once or twicewe believed there was a mistranslation) but this is minor.Overall I cameto use this book quite a bit and have missed having it my kitchenrepertoire so much that I went out of my way to track it down! THANK YOUAMAZON.COM!

This book is a staple in my kitchen.
The directions are simple and easy to follow.Recipes are in English on one side and Farsi on the other.Suggestions for substitutions are helpful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Food is easy to cook and delicious!
The recipes are easy to follow and the food turns out just like the pictures! The food is delicious!

Cusine made simple
The books layout makes it easy to read and to follow, the pictures are beautifull and bright, very easy on the eyes. ... Read more