An Interview with the Authors of the Book “Halal Food: A History”

An Interview with the Authors of the Book “Halal Food: A History”

It is with great pleasure that I was able to bring to all of you an enlightening discussion with the authors of the book, Halal Food: A History, the first and only book (that I know of at least), which covers the complete history of Halal food up to our current times.


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ir?t=myhalalkitche 20&language=en US&l=li2&o=1&a=0190088400You can order the paperback book here. Kindle version here. Audiobook version here. Hardcover here. Audio CD here

The book is a fascinating read that spans the historic inception of halal as a dietary custom all the way up to today’s halal business industry of food certifiers, global standards, bloggers and chefs. They cover the topic of halal and tayyib and ethical halal (my favorite topics) as points of reference to which the basis of halal has historically stood, including in it examples of consumer goods that aim to reflect such values. I won’t say more here, because now you can watch the livestream that was recorded on Friday at 8AM PST/11AM EST/7PM ISTANBUL time. Hop on over to the My Halal Kitchen Facebook page to see the live stream or watch it here.

 

Author Bios 

Febe Armanios is a Professor of History at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she is also co-Director of the Axinn Center for the Humanities. Her research focuses on comparative religious practices between Christians and Muslims, and among Christian communities in Egypt as well as throughout the Middle East and Balkans. She is a former Fulbright scholar who has authored or co-authored two books, including Coptic Christianity in Ottoman Egypt (Oxford UP, 2011), as well as several articles, chapters, and blog entries. In her writings, she looks at everything from the veneration of saints and pilgrimages, to diverse food and fasting traditions, comparative gender roles, and (recently) at the history of Christian television in the modern Middle East. 

Boğaç Ergene (Bo-Atch Air-gen-a) is Professor of History at the University of Vermont. He’s the author and co-author of three books, including Local Court, Provincial Society and Justice in the Ottoman Empire (Brill, 2003) and The Economics of Ottoman Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2016). He also edited or co-edited two books, including Judicial Practice: Institutions and Agents in the Islamic World (Brill, 2009). He’s published multiple articles in major history, law, and economic history journals. His research over the past two decades has focused on Islamic law and legal practice in the Ottoman Empire, a topic which he has explored both qualitatively and quantitatively. He is currently working on a book project that explores perceptions of corruption in the Ottoman context.

7 Books & Cookbooks I’m Reading While in Quarantine

7 Books & Cookbooks I’m Reading While in Quarantine

Everyone I know who isn’t on the front lines of treating patients or in the service industries, is working at home, safe and sound under quarantine. We’re all trying to occupy ourselves with something good and productive such as cooking, crafting, gardening or things like that. I would say that this is not the time to pressure ourselves to be productive and to start that side hustle (even though pretty much everyone is feeling the economic hit). Instead, we should be kind to ourselves because we’re all dealing with collective grief, whether we choose to admit it or now. Let’s be kind to ourselves and others and indulge in some self-care practices, such as reading a good book– something we may not ever make time to sit down and otherwise browse through simply because we had so much else to distract ourselves with outside. 

Here’s a list of what I’m ready and why you might want to do the same..

A Cottage and Three Acres: The Story of One Woman’s Return to Ireland in her quest for Eden by Colette O’Neill.

A Cottage on Three Acres

This book is only available on the author’s website, Bealtine Cottage.  Her YouTube channel has captivated me for years, as she’s been a calming voice in the midst of a lot of my own personal chaos and worry over the future of our planet or even my own abilities to achieve a life surrounded by nature. Colette is one of my all-time favorite people to watch on YouTube because she’s a sensible, earth-loving, mature, wise and self-reliant woman- all of the things I strive to be, which makes her a fantastic role model for anyone who thinks it’s impossible to start over in life, to make your home and your land a heaven on earth, or to survive on all eco-friendly, economical materials. Colette is living proof that this is not only possible, but that it’s a fantastic, peaceful way to live. She wrote a book as a result of her experience leaving London for her homeland of Ireland where she bought a cottage on land that was pretty much dead, but over a period of years, she has planted so much on it that it’s a virtual garden of Eden, a thriving place where nature convenes and her way of living leaves a very low-impact footprint on our precious earth. One of my favorite quotes from her book is:

“So what goes to make up a simple life? A simple life is one where culture is developed and creativity valued. A simple life is one where Bees are appreciated for the work they do and not just viewed as a source of honey.”

Eat Your Vitamins: Your Guide to Using Natural Foods to Get the Vitamins, Minerals, and Nutrients Your Body Needs by Mascha Davis, MPH, RDN.

My mom always told me I didn’t need the supplements I was taking because I was such a good eaterI definitely dismissed her advice, but shouldn’t have. Mother knows best…and this book is a great guide to what you can eat to fill in those gaps of vitamins that your body is lacking. Simply turn the pages to the vitamin in question (i.e. Vitamin B12, Amino Acids, Choline Copper, Phosphorous, etc.) and registered dietician and nutritionist Mascha Davis gives you a run down of what said vitamin is, it’s role in the body, its benefits, side effects, warnings, and precautions, signs of deficiency (super useful), how much you need and tolerable upper intake levels by age group, best way to consume, natural food sources (love that), and a recipe that offers an example of how to incorporate this particular vitamin into your diet, with the amount of said vitamin (in mg) in that recipe. It’s genius and brilliant and so super useful- definitely not just another health book and not another recipe book. One of my favorite lines is:

“Your body needs certain nutrients and vitamins to survive and thrive, so why can’t you just swallow a pill that contains those particular nutrients? It is best for your body and your overall health to get these nutrients from food sources.”  


Medieval Cuisine in the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes by Lilia Zaouali. Translated by M. B. DeBevoise.

Would you believe that I’ve had this book for several years and each time I opened it a little, I got distracted by something else, but I always felt so annoyed that I couldn’t dive in deeper- until now. I’m obsessed by the history of food in the Islamic world, for reasons I can’t truly explain. It started with my journey to discover Islam, perhaps that is what drew me in to begin with. It’s just so interesting to me to learn and understand the empires and individuals who contributed to the way food was prepared, the flavor profiles that became viewed as traditional and all of the health benefits to the foods that were chosen, which often times was the main reason for combining or not combing foods to make certain dishes.

The recipes in this book are not exactly all doable with today’s ingredients, but they can be a guide for making something similar, as many of the ingredients simply don’t exist or are so specific to a certain region of the world that they’re unattainable to most. Some of the most interesting sounding recipes to me are: Liver Sausages in the Manner of Caliph Al-Mu’tamid; Smoked Scallops of Meat in the Egyptian Manner; and Gilt-Head Bream with Grape Juice Reduction. This last one ends with this paragraph: “…one can also cook it at home. In this case, proceed as described earlier in the book. Let cool and then eat with God’s blessing.”

I find the glossary in the back of the book to be an invaluable source of information for my research, as it’s a fantastic explanation of so many interesting and hugely unknown culinary terms. 

One of my favorite lines in the book is:

“Recreating these dishes is an adventure for the cook and a risk for those who are bold enough to sample the ‘novel’ tastes and flavors of a culinary heritage that goes back more than a thousand years– an opportunity and a challenge both, not only for recreational cooks but also for the greatest chefs of our time.”

Then And Now: Food in the Time of the Prophet (ﷺ ) and Food Now by Umm Sakeenah. Then and Now Giveaway 1

This book is a gem, pure and simple. It pulls information from the wisdom of food and how to eat given to us through the Sunnah (way of life) of Prophet Muhammed (ﷺ) and gives us a modern day guide to the current state of our food and water supply to the solutions on how to fix our ways through the reminders given in the book. Author and nutrition consultant Umm Sakeenah even provides space in the end of the book for readers to gain their own personal assessment to help one identify intention and purpose, benefits of change, fears and concerns. I suggest this book for individuals as well as families, as there is so much good that can come from both the awareness and the solutions contained here. This book will be available for purchase in our online store in a few days. One of my favorite lines from her book is:

“I believe there is great wisdom in not only the beautiful example we have to follow but also in the flexibility that these guidelines allow. The lack of specificity naturally accommodates the immense variance between people, places, preferences, individual needs and local availability.” 

Three Veg and Meat: Flip the Balance on Your Plate by Olivia Andrew

The photos in this book make me want to head to the kitchen and cook because my stomach started rumbling looking at the very large, colorful, gorgeous photos.  The intro is short and sweet, getting straight to the point that,

“Plant-based foods are what our bodies need, and what most of us are lacking. Our plates should be 50 per cent vegetables and our diets 70 per cent plant-based foods.”

In the book, Australian author Olivia Andrews also includes a weekly meal plan for lighter meals for a month, all of which include recipes from the book. Some of the recipes I’m hoping to try soon are: Sushi Cake (not a dessert, p.22); Bye-Nana Bread (because it has less carbs than the traditional banana breads, and it includes dates, p. 40); Asian Style Coleslaw (p. 52); Corn and Chicken Soup (p. 57); Whiz-Bang Falafel (baked, not fried- p.58); Banh Mi (made with homemade gluten-free rice paper rolls, p. 82); That’s Some Satay Curry (p. 106); Asian Nachos (p. 141); Banoffee Ice Cream (p. 169); Tropical Pavlova (p. 185), and Salted Caramel Slice (p. 186), oh my! The last part of the book contains really helpful recipes for sauces and condiments like Mayo, White Sauce, Tangy Asian Dressing and more. Because of how many useful, practical and appetizing dishes included, this could be a go-to book for anyone hoping to eat less meat and more veg on a regular basis.

Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland by Shauna Sever

This Ohio girl is getting pretty nostalgic just looking at the cover of this book, as it reminds me of my childhood home and my adopted city of 15 years, Chicago, where baked goods from a variety of cultures were brought home from local bakers more often than I’d like to admit. The photos of rural barns make me long for my childhood and long to be home, as I sit here thousands of miles away in a place that couldn’t be further in every way from my beloved Midwest homeland.

I couldn’t have said this part better,

“Midwestern recipes tend to be handed down through generations, most with dynamic immigrant influences. While the big cities of the Midwest have become culinary hotspots, in many of the rural communities, your neighbors are far more likely to be farmers.” 

I wish I could thank author Shauna Sever personally for this book because it’s like a snapshot in time, a collection of everything that be stills my heart about home, family, friends, farmers, bakers and all the colorful characters that filled my childhood with the love that raised me. The recipes that jog my nostalgia and make me want to run to the kitchen to get baking again are: Coffee Caramel Monkey Bread (I learned to make this in Home Ec class in junior high, p. 25), Classic Cider Donuts (what says Fall more than these?!, p. 32-33; Paczki (every good Polish bakery makes these and they’re the only places I’ll get them, p. 35-36); Danish Kringle (omg, how did I forget about these!, p. 46-47), French Silk Pie (p. 86-87); Giant Awesome Peanut Butter Cookies (p. 126, 128); Chocolate Chip Marble Bundt Cake (p. 150, 152), Mom’s Cherry Shortcake Squares (p. 154-155; Cleveland Style Cassata Cake (I grew up eating this! p. 184-186); Apricot and Orange Blossom Kolacky (p. 270).Okay I need to stop here because the nostalgia is becoming a bit much. It’s time to get baking and if you want the real deal on Midwestern baking, then this is the book for you.

The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers

So, the last book on my list isn’t a cookbook, but it’s a book that was gifted to me and then brought over from a friend who visited Turkey last month. Because I’m not an avid fiction or novel reader, I thought I would put it in my guest room for visitors to read, but once I started flipping through the pages, I realized that the storyline is a true one, and something of great interest to me, as I’ve always been a little fascinated about the origins of coffee and the mysterious land of Yemen. 

In this book, best-selling author, Dave Eggers, tells the tale of a young Yemeni American man who, although born and raised in the US, is captivated by the Yemeni origins of coffee and wants to revive their coffee industry by importing it to the U.S. He travels to Yemen to do just that but ends up in the crossfires of the country’s civil war and struggles to get out when he doesn’t have a whole lot of help to do so from his own government. 

The Monk of Mokha highlights not only the dire political situation of Yemen, but its main highlight rests on the story of a Muslim-American immigrant, one who works hard to attain an American dream that pays off with a socially conscious coffee company that is mutually beneficial to the coffee farmers as it is to the consumers who enjoy a luxurious, sensory-filled $16 cup of coffee in San Francisco. 

One of my favorite lines in the book is what Eggers writes in retrospect,

“Now, as I finish the book, it’s been three years since our meeting that day in Oakland. Before embarking on this project, I was a casual coffee drinker and a great skeptic of specialty coffee. I thought it was too expensive, and that anyone who cared so much about how coffee was brewed, or where it came from, or waited in line for certain coffees made certain ways, was pretentious and a fool.”


Adventures in Turkish Eating: Anatolia- A Gorgeous Cookbook Giveaway

Adventures in Turkish Eating: Anatolia- A Gorgeous Cookbook Giveaway

I have so many cookbooks in my culinary library, which has helped shape my cooking and my inspiration for many meals over the years. In recent years, however, I’ve been trying to dig deeper into Turkish cooking, particularly Ottoman Empire recipes and culinary techniques. Plus, I really love all the design elements in the books I do have, so they’re often really pretty to look at. More on that in a later post…

THIS book that I’m about to tell you about, however, has really topped them ALL. It is so beautiful you can keep it as a coffee table book even if you’re not into cooking: Adventures in Turkish Eating: Anatolia is a new cookbook by Somer Sivrioglu & David Dale that I want all of you to know about and love. It’s also something fun and delightful to look at and to read while hunkering down during this global pandemic of the Coronavirus, which has caught all of us totally off guard. Doesn’t that make life a little more pleasant during these challenging times? 

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Why is this book special enough to be mentioned here? First of all, its cover is pure artistic design, taken straight from Turkish ceramic textiles. It will look beautiful somewhere very visible in your home, not stuffed away in a library shelf, but on a side table, a coffee table- somewhere people will pick it up and read – because I assure you they will. 

Other than recipes, you’ll also find “Essentials: History, Ingredients, & Techniques” at the beginning of the book. After the recipes, there are restaurant suggestions at the end of the book, which is awesome because so many people are always asking me where to get the best food in Istanbul, which I’m still learning myself!

A list of the favorite recipes I want to try because they sound interesting and I’ve not seen them in too many places like restaurants or even in homes here are:  

Beyran (Fiery Lamb with Rice), p. 75

Ali Nazik The Gentle Kebap Lamb and Smoked Eggplant, p. 121

Komurde Ahtapot (Mediterranean Grilled Octopus), p. 200

Pestil (Grape Leather Stuffed with Walnuts), p. 61

Keskul (Palace Pudding), p. 250

After the recipes, there are restaurant suggestions at the end of the book, which is awesome because so many people are always asking me where to get the best food in Istanbul- which I’m still learning myself!

We’re giving away one copy of this book to my readers in the United States, the UK or Australia. If you have a mailing address in any of these countries, please feel free to enter this giveaway by adding your relevant comment to this post. Entries from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia are welcome. Giveaway ends March 30, 2020.

Can’t wait to get the book? Order it now on Amazon:

FEAST: Food of the Islamic World

FEAST: Food of the Islamic World

If there’s one cookbook you’ll want to get this year, it’s this one. FEAST: Food of the Islamic World by Anissa Helou is a feast for the eyes and a journey through the history and food culture of the Muslim world. It’s one of those books that you’ll want in your collection when you’re craving Pakistani food one night and Moroccan the next. From real homemade pita to Iranian Yellow Split Pea Stew, you’ll find a geographic culinary spread of many of the dishes you’ve heard of or tasted, but never really knew how to make. Screen Shot 2018 07 31 at 10.47.27 PM 1One of the most unique recipes I found was this one for Uighur Scallion Pancakes, which I’m eager to try and make soon. The pictures are delectable, so they really encourage readers to dive right in and at least read the headlines which typically dictate a historical background of the recipes and/or the author’s own personal experiences with each one. 

Screen Shot 2018 08 01 at 12.27.12 PM 1One of the most coveted recipes I think will be this Lamb Shawarma Sandwich recipe- everyone seems to love a good shawarma and everyone seems to ask for the secret to making it and this, of course, is just one very delicious way. 

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Anissa Helou, the Lebanese-born author of FEAST, is one well-respected international food writer I’ve been following for longer than I can even articulate. She caught my attention when she would write about Sicily or Sicilian dishes, which is part of my cultural heritage that I hold onto as much as I can. Her work is one I’ve always admired, for her love of Mediterranean food and lifestyle and the way she presents it through her work and everyday living, which you can often see on her Instagram page. It’s a work of art that is inspiring, beyond beautiful and one that puts a spotlight on the cuisine of many Muslim countries. Do check out her work and this cookbook, which you will not regret having in your culinary library. 

Anissa is giving away one copy of her book to MHK readers. All you have to do is go to my Instagram page, browse around the other reviews of FEAST that she’s posted and tell us in the comments below (on Instagram) why you really want to cook from this book. Giveaway ends on January 18, 2019. US mailing addresses only. Winner is randomly selected.

[*This giveaway is now closed]

Book Suggestion | Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

Book Suggestion | Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food

I read a lot of books over the course of year, some of which are skimmed throughly and some of which I hang on to every word, highlighting all of the things I want to share with the world. A book I’ve been reading recently, Deep Nutrition, is one such that will soon be marked up with yellow highlighter marks as soon as I get my own copy and return the one borrowed from the library- it’s way more than I expected it to be. 

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As many of you who avidly read my work know, I’m a huge advocate for real food, particularly traditional foods that have been available for centuries to every culture around the world.  It all started with my first trip to Italy (aka: gastronomic heaven) as a young woman where I became obsessed with the idea that food grown with chemicals, mass-produced and shipped around the globe was not the kind of food that would provide great nutritional value- yet it seemed that most nutritionists and doctors weren’t addressing this fact, although everyone seemed to be recommending the Mediterranean Diet’ as the best in the world, even marketing it as such.

That’s not something I bought into so easily. Yes, I love Mediterranean food and it sits well with me, I believe, because a large portion of my DNA has origins in Southern Europe. That doesn’t mean it’s the right diet for everyone– or so my instincts told me, and exactly what this book addresses, too. 

I’ve also been an advocate of the Wise Traditions publication, a quarterly one produced by the Weston A. Price Foundation, because of their responsible and extensive research on traditional food and medicine as it intersects with modern day treatment and healing methods that the average person can wrap their heads around- and they also lobby for good in Washington, D.C., not because they’re being paid to lobby or advocate for a certain ingredient. 

Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food (Featuring the Four Pillars of the Human Diet) by Catherine Shanahan, M.D. with Luke Shanahan is one of those books I believe every parent, every adult with chronic illness, and anyone who cares about their health and the health of their families, should be reading. 

In the book, what is covered is a lot of science but a lot of common sense, too. It’s jam-packed with things pertaining to lost wisdom of our elders and an effort to reclaim all of that. In the Introduction, the first line says, “This book describes the diet to end all diets.” (xix)

That’s a pretty tall order. But, I like it. I’ve never been a believer in diets; only lifestyle changes- sometimes ones that need to be massive in order to be not only effective, but also transformative and long-lasting. 

It’s also described as The Human Diet, and “…the first to identify and describe the commonalities between all the most successful nutritional programs people the world over have depended on for millennia to protect their health.” (xix)

This makes a lot of sense to me. For those of you who have pets, think about what you see nowadays in the pet food stores or aisle- a lot of marketing (i.e. descriptions of the best characteristics of a particular pet food) being described as “biologically appropriate” for cats or dogs.  Scientists and nutritionists are just now also talking about how the diet of our fur babies are also being afflicted by the type of food and as a result we’re even seeing an increase in obesity and diabetes in the feline and canine world. That’s astonishing! What have the holistic pet nutritionists and veterinarians done to curb this?  They’ve created biologically appropriate food mixes that address what cats and dogs are supposed to eat- what they would naturally eat in the wild, what’s good for them and doesn’t make them sick but instead makes them thrive, makes their hair shine and keeps them healthy and living long, happy lives.

Why don’t we have the same thing going on in the human food system? 

To quote the author in the beginning of the book, “…in the current healthcare system, people don’t receive the most powerful form of preventative medicine- a comprehensive dietary education.” (viii)

Medical doctors are simply not trained to consider how a person’s diet might contribute to medical conditions other than obesity, diabetes or heart disease…And any physician hoping to fully understand how nutrients and toxins act in the body would need a particularly strong background in biochemistry and cell physiology.” (viii)

I love the insight and personal experience that Dr. 

For example, Part One: The Wisdom of Tradition contains the following: 

  1. Reclaiming Your Health: The Origins of Deep Nutrition
  2. The Intelligent Gene: Epigenetics and the Language of DNA
  3. The Greatest Gift: The Creation and Preservation of Genetic Wealth
  4. Dynamic Symmetry: The Beauty-Health Connection
  5. Letting Your Body Create a Perfect Baby: The Sibling Strategy

Part Two: The Dangers of the Modern Diet

  1. The Great Nutrition Migration: From the Culinary Garden of Eden to Outer Space
  2. Good Fats and Bad: How the Cholesterol Theory Created a Sickness Epidemic
  3. Brain Killer: Why Vegetable Oil is Your Brain’s Worst Enemy
  4. Sickly Sweet: How a Carbohydrate-Rich Diet Blocks Metabolic Function 

Part Three: Living the Deep Nutrition Way

  1. The Four Pillars of the Human Diet: Foods That Program Your Body for Health, Brains and Beauty
  2. Beyond Calories: Using Food as a Language to Achieve the Ideal Body Weight
  3. Forever Young: Collagen Health and Life Span
  4. Deep Nutrition: How to Get Started Eating the Human Diet
  5. Frequently Asked Questions 

There are other additions and resources at the end of the book, which are all very valuable to the reader, including which types of products to buy for a healthy, deep nutrition type of lifestyle but also where to go online to read more and find those items. 

Perhaps once I’m actually thoroughly finished reading the book, I’ll come back with more insights, but for now I think it’s got enough excellent information and research to keep me interested and learning more about this crucially important topic- now, more than ever. 

Get your copy here