The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean: 215 Healthy, Vibrant, and Inspired Recipes

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As I view my shelf of Paula Wolfert's books, I am amazed with her body of work, all the interesting cuisines and flavors she has brought forward for our enjoyment over her long writing career. This book is one of my favorites, with dishes that have become firm favorites of family and friends (for example a white bean or blackeyed pea salad with walnuts, herbs and pomegranate molasses, a pilaf made with freekh (green wheat) and lamb) and many more dishes yet to be tried. While this is hardly a vegetarian book, its emphasis on grains, beans and vegetables is very contemporary and Wolfert's illumination of culinary corners and specialties (for example in this book a group of recipes from Gazientep in Turkey, and a collection of kibbe recipes) makes it very special. As usual, Wolfert works through the local flavors and ingredients to give us the real dish, applying modern techniques without watering down the taste. Her recipes can be complex (though plenty of those published hin this collection are not) but the results justify the effort. To my taste the most rewarding book presenting the food of this region, if you can have only one.

nicely written with stories about regional chefs, great recipes. perfect for cooks who are also armchair travelers.

Excellent resource for delicious and primarily vegetable based recipes. Wonderful when the garden is over run with squash and eggplant, cucumbers too. Pomegranate syrup and seeds are frequently needed along with saffron.

Paula Wolfert's books always deliver and this happens to be one of her best! Great, dependable recipes represent Macedonian, Turkish, Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Israeli & even Georgian cuisines. A must-own cookbook for the Middle East/Mediterranean region.

I EXPECTED A LITTLE DIFFERENT BOOK, BUT THIS ONE IS HELPFUL AND DEFINITELY HAS SOME GREAT RECIPES. I'M GLAD I BOUGHT IT.

An interesting cookbook if you want to learn about the area. But after leafing through it a couple of times, I can't find anything that looks worth cooking : It's focus is on authentic, local cusine rather than recipes that an American cook could make with readily available ingredients. Grab the  Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Mediterranean Cooking: Authentic recipes from Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, The Middle East, North Africa  if you want inspiration and a great collection of useful recipes.

Great book!

Paula Wolfert has here collected many wonderful recipes demonstrating a real love and understanding of food and flavours. A large proportion of the recipes are suitable as part of a mezze spread. The book includes such delights as muhamarra (a roasted red pepper, walnut and pomegranate dip), a Georgian walnut and pomegranate sauce, Turkish tarator (a nut and garlic sauce), za'atar pie (a herby, spicy bread), manti (a Turkish ravioli with a minced lamb filling), aubergine in pomegranate sauce, fifty different variations of kibbeh (balls of bulghur wheat and ground lamb with various other ingredients or fillings), and kofte with loquats.Not a stylish book by any means - many American cookbooks seem to have evaded the attentions of publishing stylists unlike in the UK - there are not even any photographs of the food herein (just the occasional small blurry black and white photograph of a wizened Middle Eastern woman in her kitchen). Normally I would mark a book down for such an omission, but the selection of recipes more than makes up for that.

Authentic,intensive and well researched.As far as I know, it has been out of print for years but it is well worth hunting a copy down. For me , nothing beats Claudia Rosen on the food around the Mediterranean , but Paula Wolfert adds another layer to this fascinating subject. The only drawback for us European cooks is that all measurements and names of certain foods are in American. I.e. confectioner's sugar, scallions, hubbard squash, Near Eastern Pepper etc.Annoying but not insuperable. Also an informative read. Lovely.

After I read the existing reviews I was a little worried about obtaining the ingredients needed for the recipes which were almost universality described by the other reviewers as "esoteric". But I realized that the book came out in 1994 and the last review was written in 2004. Food culture and the availability of ingredients has expanded greatly since then. I got the book and could not be happier with the purchase. It is wonderfully written, includes little personal stories about the origin of the recipes and, importantly, it is easy to follow. Recipes are simple and delicious.I thought it worthwhile to specifically address the 'esoteric' nature of the ingredients; This was a consistent and very fair criticism offered by the previous reviewers. But I wonder if they would offer the same comments today and this is why...In 1994 when the book came out the author, Paula Wolfert, smartly and necessarily included an Appendix which shared how one could obtain 'unique' or rare ingredients such as sumac, fenugreek, lentils, bulgur, pomegranate molasses, fereekeh (green wheat) or the seeds to grow your own amaranth, arugula, orach or kale and dandelion greens. Having looked through the book these are the ingredients that could be said to be the most 'unusual' or 'unfamiliar' to the North American cook. "Reliable" Mail Order addresses for these 'unusual' (at the time) ingredients are provided in the book - It's not that long ago but please note that this was all before Amazon and the explosion of internet shopping. Amazon did not go beyond selling books until 1999 and food items were not available until even later. Today, what was 'esoteric' or hard to find even in 2004 can be readily ordered via Amazon. If you are not into internet food shopping getting ingredients to make the recipes in this book should still not be a problem. I can speak to the Canadian market from Ottawa westward to Vancouver Island (I am not as aware of the availability of ingredients in the eastern part of Canada but imagine it's similar) and between Bulk Barn and all sort of regular grocery stores in most medium to large cities these ingredients are readily available. The reality is that we have enjoyed increasing diversity of population across Canada and with population diversity stores have adapted to carry more varied ingredients.Ingredient availability was the biggest source of negative comment for this book and the comments were very fair for their time. But much has changed in ingredient availability since the last Amazon review for this book (written in April 2004). This is by far the best book of all-around "Eastern Mediterranean" cooking that I have found and is my current go-to when I want to use all the eggplants I grew in my garden. If you are curious to try the foods that your new Syrian refugee neighbours (I have some) are cooking then this is a fabulous resource.

I spent two months cooking only from this cookbook and I still did not exhaust the treasure trove of healthy, practical recipes in it. I am a vegetarian, and even so, I had lots and lots to choose from. This is a classic for a reason. Some of the recipes are a bit labor-intensive, so look before you leap. But many of them are fine for a week night. Lots of make-ahead soups and hearty pilafs, as well as unusual, unexpected favorites like vegetable paté. Few, tiny pictures, unfortunately. But ultimately it didn't matter. Strongly recommended.

My wife is happy with the book.