A book about migrations: of ingredients, recipes and stories, but above all of the people who bring them with them, of a homeland that is no longer a well-defined physical space but a boundless fluid notion, with indistinct borders, free to wander and take on new forms, just as a dish based on aubergines takes on new names as the seasonings change
From the experience and travel memories of an Iranian girl who leaves Iran to move to Europe, taking her memories with her and comparing them with the new reality, a rich and original collection of recipes was born that underline incredible parallels between the dishes of Countries crossed reawakening aromas and flavors that were sometimes dormant or only caressed before this book.
Iranian author Saghar Setareh, known on Instagram and Twitter as @labnoon among the 50 women of food
This original gastronaut story is signed by Saghar Setareh, known on Instagram and Twitter as @labnoon, was born in Tehran and decided to move to Italy in 2007 to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. In 2014 she opened her blog, dedicated to food and photography, and began working as a professional photographer. She also holds Persian and Italian cooking courses in different cities. She is among the 50 women of food according to Corriere della Sera in 2020. The book released in the English edition had an incredible success with the public. Now Slow Food Editore presents the Italian edition of the volume with the title Pomegranates and Artichokes, a volume full of recipes, information and a suggestive iconographic apparatus. The recipes, accompanied by photographs taken by Saghar, are ordered so as to mark the three movements of the journey: Iran, starting point; the Middle East, with a detailed emphasis on Eastern Mediterranean dishes, defined as "middle earth"; and finally Italy, in a surprising continuity of flavors and aromas, a place where the sense of hospitality is perceived and defined in a very profound way, because it is rooted in local identity as much as in the way of cooking and serving at the table.
The Italian edition of the volume published by Slow Food following the great success achieved abroad
“The more I learned about Italy and its cuisine – writes Saghar Setareh – the more curious I became about Iranian food. The more I drew on my memories and those of other people of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origin, the more the culinary heritage of those places gave me the sensation of a layered dejavu of flavors during this unexpected journey through taste and cultures. Following the common thread of common ingredients, I realized how it is possible to glimpse a path from the Iranian palate to the Italian one and back using the entire spectrum of ready-made Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food.
Let's take - underlines the author - the aubergine, for example, brought to Italy by the Arabs in the Middle Ages. It was not much appreciated at the beginning and was viewed with distrust as had already happened in the Middle East in previous centuries. Today it is the backbone of some of the most beloved Italian dishes, think of parmigiana. In Turkey there are many dishes with similar ingredients, including iman bayildi, fried aubergine stuffed with onion and tomato. Aubergine is a favorite throughout the Middle East, one of the most popular preparations and Baba ganoush is a sauce based on grilled aubergines flavored with garlic, tahini and lemon. Even in Iran, aubergines are highly appreciated, one of the most famous dishes there is mirza ghasemi in which the vegetable is once again grilled and then cooked together with tomatoes and eggs. All these foods are naturally very different but what they have in common, besides being delicious, are the ingredients and cooking methods that have crossed the territories over the centuries, appearing in various forms and with various seasonings.
Multicultural menu proposals to give a touch of originality to holiday lunches
The final appendix is very entertaining with multicultural menu proposals to give a touch of class and originality to holiday lunches. We find a proposal for Christmas Eve, one for Christmas, one for plant based Christmas, one for Easter, one for Eid. Then there is the Norouz (Iranian New Year), the Yalda, (Winter Solstice) , the summer meze-style banquet and the BBQ party.
A curiosity at the end of the book, there is a rich bibliography, an analytical index, acknowledgments but you will not find the progression of the recipes because, if we are traveling we have to enjoy it all and then, if necessary, leaf through it again to catch a fleeting moment that particularly struck us.
