Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine

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Summary: Finally, a SYRIAN cookbook, and more!
Review: As an American married to a Syrian, I always have a hard time finding authentic *Syrian*, *not* Lebanese, recipes. Most Middle Eastern cookbooks tend to focus on Lebanese which is fine if you don't know the difference, but those Damascenes are discriminating! :) This is not only a Syrian cookbook, but the author's modifications of traditional recipes to make them healthier is wonderful! (The author is a nutritionist.) No gobs of that awful "samne arabii" to be found here, only lesser amounts of healthier oils. I also LOVE her recollections of growing up in Syria, and her time spent in both rural Syria and in Damascus. Shukran, Sanaa!

Rating:
Summary: Leaves something to be desired.
Review: If you are familiar with middle east cooking, this book may be a good choice, but for a newcomer to the cuisine, it leaves a lot to be desired. The directions seem to assume you have made similar recipes before, and know the procedures. You will find yourself asking, now what do I do? Then trying to figure out what seem to be missing steps. On the good side, the first two chapters have some great information on general nutrition, and how it applies to the Mediterranean kitchen.

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Summary: Sanaa rocks.
Review: If you EVER get to Sioux Falls, look up her restaurant - it's fantastic! The recipes in her book are the same ones she serves on the menu. There's something to the way Sanaa approaches food - I highly doubt real-life Syrian food is like the stuff she creates because if it were, there'd be Syrian restaurants on every street corner.

Instead, Sanaa is a brilliant chef who draws upon her Mediterranean heritage to create food that makes franchise-fare seem positively inedible.

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Summary: Savory Levantine recipes interpreted
Review: In Secrets Of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine, Sanaa Abourezk offers savory Levantine recipes as interpreted by an accomplished chef and nutritionist. The kitchen cook will appreciate her extensive information on basic nutrition, the nutritional labeling system, healthy cooking tips, and detailed information on the selection and use of spices. From Bulgur Wheat Salad, Eggplant Stew, and Stuffed Zucchini in Yogurt Soup, to Roasted Potatoes, Sweet Peas with Chicken, and Pancakes stuffed with Ricotta, Secrets Of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine showcases 150 delicious recipes that range from appetizers to salads to main dishes to desserts. Exotic, nutritious, and highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Leaves something to be desired.
Review: The author might be a great cook but this book is'nt worth the paper it's printed on. This book is full of MISTAKES, missing ingredients, misleading lists of ingredients. You will have to know how to cook what you're about to cook in order for it to come out right with these instructions.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible cook!
Review: This is an awesome book for those who care about your health and for those who enjoy the finer things in life. These recipes are top notch and the most unbelievable part is that they are really easy to make. Sanaa is an incredible cook (I have had the honor of eating a meal from this book in her home) and this book definitely should be on every gourmets shelf, or better yet, on their counter!

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Summary: More Syrian than Nutrition. A rare Arab oriented book
Review: This second book by nutritionist Sanaa Abourezk deals with the two very timely topics of good nutrition and Eastern Mediterranean, specifically Syrian, cuisine. The subject in itself was interesting, but the interest in doing a review of the book was piqued by the uniformly poor reviews the book has been given up to now on Amazon.

A common theme in the reviews is that the nutritional information is good, the Syrian material is welcome, but the culinary information is poor. Of these three issues, I cannot judge the authenticity of the Syrian ethnic material, but I do have a somewhat different opinion on the other two issues.

In the introduction on nutrition, the author comes very close to quoting from influential works on 'the new nutrition' such as 'Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy' by Harvard's Walter C. Willett. On that point, her statements are probably quite safe and as close to good contemporary thinking as she can be. I am inclined to believe the author is a little too close to orthodoxy than she needs to be. On the issue of cholesterol, for example, I have it on good medical authority that high cholesterol levels are largely a result of a genetic heritage. Your body is producing too much or it is not eliminating bad cholesterol efficiently, and no amount of diet will change that fact. Cholesterol you may take in with animal fats is probably much less dangerous than the internal imbalance. On the other side of the coin, there is a lot of important nutrition to be gained from at least some reasonable measure of animal fat and protein. So, eliminating animal fat from one's diet may have some risk associated with it. It will also make one's food much less palatable.

Abourezk's presentation of her rather narrow interpretation of nutritional doctrine is also weak. How can her readers reasonably understand the difference between two pyramids, if you don't show pictures of these two pyramids. Her octopus metaphor for explaining saturated and unsaturated fats is also a bit weak. She should take a few lessons on effective explaining from Alton Brown. I am also a little suspicious of her chronology of the two food pyramids. I know the USDA picture came out in the early 1990's, but I was under the impression that the 'new and improved' Harvard pyramid came out later. Dr. Willett's book with its 'All-New Food Pyramid' was published in 2001, not 1984.

On the bright side, I thought Abourezk's suggestions on reducing the amount of animal fat in one's cooking were informative, as I was seeing some of them, such as parboiling vegetables before sauteeing to reduce fat absorption. Common kitchen technique, especially French technique, would have you do this anyway. Now you have another reason to do it.

On the culinary side, I must say I am pleased to see the Table of Contents with a complete list of recipes. Regardless of how good the recipes are, this increases the value of the book to the reader. I also think the chapter on Herbs and Spices is a better than average treatment in a general book. It is especially refreshing to see the Arabic names of the spices. I was a bit annoyed with some of the little stories, especially those associated with garlic, which gives one the impression that the myth of garlic as a vampire repellant originated in modern America. I think Bram Stoker, the author of 'Dracula' in 19th century England would be surprised at that statement.

On the recipes, I think the nutritional value per serving was a waste of effort. The variation in ingredient contents and the variation in cooking styles means this can vary as much as 50% from person to person. On the contents and cooking instructions, I compared several recipes in this book to the classic 'The New Book of Middle Eastern Food' by Claudia Roden and, of course, I found differences. If I had not, I would have suspected Ms. Abourezk of plagerism. The differences are probably more due to differences in sources (Egyptian versus Syrian, for example) than to lapses in reporting. I do feel, however, that these differences make Ms. Roden's versions of Middle Eastern standards more appetizing. I was very surpised to see, also that while Ms. Roden put the Arabic names of dishes in her index, Ms. Abourezk did not. Too bad.

On balance, I have to say that if you want a good book on Middle Eastern food, stay with the classic from Roden. But, if you want something specifically from Syria with a distinctly Arabic point of view, this book will have some value for you, especially at the relatively modest list price.