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Dining at the Safavid Court

Madatolhayat [The Substance of Life], 16th Century Royal Persian Recipes by Nurollah.

M. R. Ghanoonparvar

Availability: In stock
Published: 2017
Page #: xiv + 154
Size: 8.5 x 9.5
ISBN: 978-1-56859-306-7
appendix, glossary, index, notes


$35.00

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"Madatolhayat" is one of the few pre-twentieth century Persian culinary sources to have survived. Its author, Nurollah, was the chef to the most renowned king of the Safavid Dynasty, Shah Abbas I (1588-1629). Regarded as one of the greatest monarchs in Persian history, Shah Abbas moved the Safavid capital from Qazvin to Isfahan, reviving its glory and making this ancient city a cosmopolitan center once again by building magnificent architectural edifices, including palaces, mosques, bridges, and boulevards. In fact, Isfahan during his reign acquired the title of "Half the World," and its central square, with its two grand mosques, the Grand Bazaar, and the most important magnificent royal palace, Ali Qapu [the Grand Gate], became a center of government, religion, and commerce and was given the name "the Image of the World." Ali Qapu, a seven-story building, which with the exception of the domes and minarets of the great mosques was the highest building in the city even up to the second half of the twentieth century, was not only the residence of the royal family, but also the place where the king entertained the nobility and foreign emissaries. In addition to a relatively large number of 16th century royal recipes, Nurollah's manuscript presents to the reader a picture of domestic life in Ali Qapu palace, including not only information about the type of food served but also instances of the king's personal involvement in more mundane tasks, such as cooking and experimenting with food preparation. In Dining at the Safavid Court, M. R. Ghanoonparvar provides us with a translation of Nurollah's culinary treatise, which was presented to his patron, Shah Abbas I, in gratitude for the king's permission to go on an offseason pilgrimage to Mecca, as well as modernized versions of the recipes in The Substance of Life. This volume is profusely illustrated with color drawings of the Safavid period.

author

M. R. Ghanoonparvar

M. R. Ghanoonparvar is Professor Emeritus of Persian and Comparative Literature at The University of Texas at Austin. Professor Ghanoonparvar has also taught at the University of Isfahan, the University of Virginia, and the University of Arizona, and was a Rockefeller Fellow at the University of Michigan. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association of Teachers of Persian (2021) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to presenting Persian culinary arts to the non-Iranian public from Encyclopædia Iranica (2009). He has published widely on Persian literature and culture in both English and Persian and is the author of: Prophets of Doom: Literature as a Socio-Political Phenomenon in Modern Iran (1984),In a Persian Mirror: Images of the West and Westerners in Iranian Fiction(1993), Translating the Garden (2001), Reading Chubak (2005), Persian Cuisine: Traditional, Regional and Modern Foods (2006), Iranian Film and Persian Fiction (2016), Dining at the Safavid Court (2016), and From Prophets of Doom to Chroniclers of Gloom (2021). His translations include Jalal Al-e Ahmad’s By the Pen, Sadeq Chubak’s The Patient Stone, Simin Daneshvar’s Savushun, Ahmad Kasravi’s On Islam and Shi’ism, Sadeq Hedayat’s The Myth of Creation, Nima Yushij’s The Neighbor Says: Letters of Nima Yushij and the Philosophy of Modern Persian Poetry, Davud Ghaffarzadegan’s Fortune Told in Blood, Mohammad Reza Bayrami’s TheTales of Sabalan and Eagles of Hill 60, and Bahram Beyza’i’s Memoirsof the Actor in a Supporting Role. His edited volumes include Iranian Drama: An Anthology, In Transition: Essays on Culture and Identity in Middle Eastern Societies, Gholamhoseyn Sa’edi’s Othello in Wonderland and Mirror-Polishing Storytellers, and Moniro Ravanipour’s Satan Stones and Kanizu. His most recent translations include Shahrokh Meskub’s In the Alley of the Friend and Leaving, Staying, Returning, Hushang Golshiri’s Book of Jinn, Moniro Ravanipour’s The Drowned and These Crazy Nights, Hamid Shokat’s Flight into Darkness: A Political Biography of Shapour Bakhtiar and Caught in the Crossfire: A Political Biography of Qavamossaltaneh, Ghazaleh Alizadeh’s The Nights of Tehran, Ruhangiz Sharifian’s The Last Dream and Doran, and Shahrnush Parsipur’s Blue Logos. He was the recipient of the 2008 Lois Roth Prize for Literary Translation. His forthcoming books are Swan Songs: On Diseases, Death and Dying in Persian Stories and Life Is a Fiction: A Memoir of Life and Literature. His forthcoming translations include Ghazaleh Alizadeh’s The House of the Edrisis and Two Views, Hossein Atashparvar’s From the Moon to the Well, and Reza Julai’s Jujube Blossoms.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
About the Volume

The Substance of Life: A Treatise on the Science of Cooking
Prologue
Prefatory Chapter: On Whom a Master Is and His Attributes
Introduction: On the Varieties of Baklava, Buraq, and So On
Part One: On Khoshk Palav and What Is Necessary for It
Part Two: On Varieties of Palav, Including Sour, Sweet, and Plain
Chapter One: On Plain Palavs
Chapter Two: On Tart Palavs
Chapter Three: On Sweet Palav and Other Palavs
Part Three: On the Varieties of Qelyeh, Including Tart and Plain
Chapter One: On the Varieties of Tart Qelyeh
Chapter Two: On the Varieties of Qelyeh-ye Sadeh
Chapter Three: On the Varieties of Burani
Part Four: On the Varieties of Ash-e Ardineh and So On
Part Five: On the Varieties of Sholeh Palav
Part Six: On Shir Palav and Milk Porridge with Lamb and Chicken Gipa

The Substance of Life: Modernized Recipes
Part One: On Khoshk Palav and What Is Necessary for It
Part Two: On Varieties of Palav, Including Sour, Sweet, and Plain,
Part Three: On the Varieties of Qelyeh, Including Tart and Plain
Part Four: On the Varieties of Ash-e Ardineh and So On
Part Five: On the Varieties of Sholeh Palav
Part Six: On Shir Palav and Milk Porridge with Lamb and Chicken Gipa

Glossary
Index

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