Book Review – Saha

Saha, a chef’s journey through Lebanon and Syria. Greg and Lucy Malouf (Quadrille, 2005, £30 list, but £14.98 from Amazon)

These are difficult times in the middle-east, and with war correspondent’s stories of fighting, atrocity and hatred it is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that the region is mostly inhabited by people with everyday aspirations just like our own – live in peace, be secure, do a decent job, look after those around us, enjoy all that life has to offer.

I read this lovely book in the week that the parties involved in the latest Lebanese conflict continued to slug it out while a cease-fire was discussed. Maybe it was something about the times I read the book in, but it was a genuinely moving experience as well as an interesting culinary tour.

This large-format well-produced hardback has something of a coffee-table book feel to it – high production values with quality paper with lots of pictures of the journey and the people involved as well as of food, but there is a lot more to it.

It’s a travelogue. It is divided into a dozen or so chapters and while each is based around a style of food or a course in a meal, each chapter also takes us on a stage of the authors journey from the south of Lebanon north to Syria. These are more than token introductions, but are several pages of evocative description of what they learned on their journey.

It is a cookbook. I have this idea that much middle-eastern cookery offers a sophisticated take on more familiar Mediterranean food, perhaps with greater use of spices and with some different flavour combinations. Sadly, several of the books I have offer endless variations on kebabs and stuffed vegetables! The recipes in this book are a well-chosen and diverse selection. There are chapters on meat, game and poultry, but others also on dairy, pulses, and ice cream! Recipes mostly appear do-able within a UK kitchen. A visit to a middle-eastern grocer will be needed – I made a few things this week and needed to buy sumac, pomegranate molasses and tahini but everything else was available from good local shops.

Finally, it is a book about the people who produce the food. On a day that Tyre was being pounded with high explosive I read about Mr Hassan who lives in a village nearby. He welcomed the Maloufs warmly when they visited to find out about his honey. He talked proudly about his production of 100% single-flower honey and rhapsodised about his orange-blossom honey in particular. There are pictures of his beehives, and I couldn’t help wonder where he is now, how he’s doing and whether his perfectly-kept beehives survived.

If you’re interested in middle-eastern food then I really recommend this book. The recipes are excellent, the layout is great and the combination of the social and the culinary is done with a perfectly-judged light touch.

Andy Leslie, September 2006