(L^) Feast: Food of the Islamic World

Love the book! Easy cooking instructions

This is the second book I buy from Ms. Helou that fails to incorporate any recipe or reference to Palestine. Since this book is centered around Islamic cuisine, I find it outrageous that Palestine, and its importance within Islamic history context, is completely dropped from this book. Shame on you Ms Helou. I certainly won't be buying your cookbooks anymore.

with stunning recipes! some ingredients need to be sourced, in some cases not so easy if you live in a culinary desert like Germany but also not impossible.

This is indeed a huge compendium of recipes from the Islamic world. However, I have to confess I was rather disappointed. One of the reasons is that there are pictures, but not as many as one would expect. I do a lot of Middle Eastern cooking and had been looking forward to adding this book to my collection for some time, but there were a lot of occasions where I found myself looking up pictures on google because I wanted to know what the finished dish should look like and I didn't get that information from the book. In practical terms, well, this book is already on my bookshelf as opposed to it spending months in my kitchen or on my coffee table being used. I think that says quite a lot. I did not find the recipes to be very practical as I live in Latin America where a lot of the ingredients are not readily available - lamb for instance. Many of the spices etc I have collected during my travels but if one lives in an environment with little access to some of the ingredients more readily available in other places - and no reliable alternative delivery system, then it might also be a book which is not easy for you to use. I can appreciate the huge amount of work and research the author has gone to to create the book, but in practical terms, for me, I was very disappointed.

Good insight into the breadth of different cuisines, but doesn’t go in depth as individual styles.

All of the recipes I've tried so far have come out delicious and very close to the dishes that I've eaten at restaurants and in the Middle East. The pictures are gorgeous and the brief description of the history and culture of each dish is much appreciated. Best of all, the recipes on the whole are very accessible (maybe not the roasted baby camel hump) and can be easily made in an American kitchen. I love this cookbook and there's enough here to keep me busy for a long, long time!

If, like me, you have a number of cookbooks from different parts of the world, you'll know there is no lack of publications concerning eastern cuisines on the market. Even titles may bear similarities as nothing else evokes the notion of Eastern opulence like a feast. Given all of the above, plus the fact that I already have In my collection two cookbooks from the region that I tested on a number of occasions and thus could consider my appetite satisfied, I was hesitant to purchase this tome. I am delighted that I finally went for it.This size of the book speaks to the number of recipes contained within. In contrast to other cookbooks on the market, the pages are filled in with dozens and dozens of recipes from different regions. You want a kebab? Choose among which ever region style takes your fancy. Breads? You name a kind, it's there. It's not just a book of pictures, this is a solid resource that can be used for every kind of occasion you can think of. For some, that can be a downside, as this is a recipe book, not a blog.For me, the book took its place together with 'The Arab table' and the cooking from Oman. It is well worth the money!