Eggs a guilty pleasure? There’s a reason for that. Thanks to Dr. Thomas Royle Dawber’s research team and the famous “gold standard” Framingham Study,[1] eggs morphed into things to be eaten on the sly, enjoyed alone, like a whole bag of foil-wrapped Dove chocolates. Based on the weak statistical correlation between cholesterol levels and heart … More The Chicken or the Egg? 3. Instructions to the Cook
Once upon a time, my brother married a beautiful young woman, an exile from Iran. And at their wedding feast, which she and her mother and sister cooked, I ate Persian food for the first time. Such intricate flavors and ingredient combinations, each mouthful a celebration of life and love. And when she, her mother, … More Iran: The Beauty of an Ancient Cuisine
Sit at dinner tables as long as you can, and converse to your hearts’ desire, for these are the bonus times of your lives. (Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens, p. x) Talk about a window into the past and a mirror to the present! A thousand years plus some separate us from the author and … More Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq: The Tenth-Century’s Answer to Jamie Oliver?
Warriors universally used to lay down their swords or knives at the doorway of their enemy when they broke bread together. Eating together, praying together, speaking together were possible only when no one felt vulnerable. Only in that way could “the Other” become human. Like their Bedouin neighbors, and ancestors, Arabs today offer their … More FOOD AND THE STRANGER IN THE MIDDLE EAST : A Different Look at a Misunderstood Culture
CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN 
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