Scents and flavors: a Syrian cookbook

This popular 13th-century Syrian cookbook is an ode to what its anonymous author calls the 'greater part of the pleasure of this life', namely the consumption of food and drink, as well as the fragrances that garnish the meals and the diners who enjoy them.

Collecting 635 meticulous recipes, 'Scents and Flavors' invites us to savour an inventive cuisine that elevates simple ingredients by combining the sundry aromas of herbs, spices, fruits, and flower essences. Organized like a meal, it opens with appetizers and juices and proceeds through main courses, side dishes, and desserts, including such confections as candies based on the higher densities of sugar syrup - an innovation unique to the medieval Arab world.