Encountering the Middle East

Catalogue Entery: Kitab al-Tabidk

The Kitab al-Tabidk – a Window into Ancient Islamic Food Culture

All the information scholars have about ancient Islamic culture is what people chose to write down throughout history. Unfortunately, many things were taken for granted as normal by the people living during an era. We now must fill in the gaps between what was chosen to get written down and what wasn’t. Food and food culture is one thing that often got passed around through word of mouth, not by written recipes with explicit explanations. Because of this, a full cookbook from 10^th century Baghdad, was an incredible find for scholars. Through the Kitab al-Tabidk, there is now a window into what food was popular, how it was prepared, and how the Islamic people interacted with it. Food and eating are universal for all social class and for all people within a community, making it a central part to what makes up the culture of a community.  

The Abbasid Empire was centered around Baghdad between the 9^th and 13^th centuries CE. Baghdad became the center of culture during this time, known now to scholars as the Golden Age of Islam. When the Abbasids came into power after the Umayyads fell in 750, the Islamic capital was moved from Damascus to Baghdad. With this, the dynastic identity was also moved, and recentered around Eastern culture.¹ This new capital stood that the crossroads of many different cultures: Arab, Greek, Indian, and Turkish. It is seen through the Kitab al-Tabidk, however, that the main cultural influences in Baghdad were Arab and Persian.² It was in Baghdad that many different cultures and languages came together to form the unique mixture of Islamic culture during the Abbasid dynasty. It was during this time that many different areas of Islamic culture came to a peak, such as art, architecture, dining, writing, and food traditions. Food and dining specifically became an important part of the culture during this time. Along with this prosperous age came wealthy leisurely classes that became very interested in the best that food and cooking could offer. The caliph, al-Ma’mun, would frequently enjoy luxuriously prepared food and even cooking contests. This was also reflected in the lower classes, who became infatuated with preparing gourmet food, but didn’t have the same resources as a caliph might have. In order for less-affluent classes to enjoy similar food to the upper classes, people started writing down recipes in cookbooks, such as the Kitab al-Tabidk. 

Ibn Sayya’r al-Warraq, the author of this cookbook, was a scribe, and was commissioned to write the Kitab al-Tabidk on the dishes and common foods of the caliph and other members of the upper-class.³ Scribes and the writing down of materials were becoming more important during the 10^th century in Islamic culture. Much of our historical knowledge today come from the writing of scribes, but much of what got written down was dictated by elites. Scribes would commonly write on governmental information, religious ideas, public ceremonies, rituals, and human health and wellness.⁴ Scribes were not the only people who were writing down recipes and methods. Caliphs, people of the noble classes, and physicians would also construct cookbooks to expand the reach of culinary culture.⁵

During this time, a large part of food culture was its medicinal qualities. Cookbooks and physical copies of recipes would often include sections on how food impacts physical health and wellness. Islamic culture paid close attention to how health, food, and religion intersected.⁶ A main focus in the Kitab al-Tabidk is the connection between certain foods and their health and well-being properties, known during the time as ‘humoral properties’. During the medieval era, cookbooks were written to focus on preparing foods so that they promoted health and harmony for the diner. In the cookbook, Al-Warraq discusses different ways of preparing foods to make them more beneficial for the diner’s health. He spends a lot of time in different recipes discussing each of the different foods’ properties, as well as how they help cure different ailments and promote well-being.⁷

A large part of Islamic food culture come from rules written out in the Qur’an. These rules about what is permissible in Islam is called halal. The literal translation of the world halal from Arabic to English is ‘lawful’ or ‘permissible’. While many people today think of halal as rules stating what is permissible in a food context, halal extends into all areas of life. There are many suras in the Qur’an that mention food culture and rules, but the most notable is sura five, title Al-Ma’idah, or in English, ‘The Feast’. This sura discusses what foods are permissible to eat, how they are allowed to be eaten, as well as how and when to properly hunt for food. It states that these instructions about what food is lawful are created by God, and that God created these laws to help lead humans on the right path.⁸ Another interesting part of Islamic food rules is how they compare to the rules and traditions of other Abrahamic faiths. Out of the three Abrahamic religions, Islam is the only one that does not condemn the consumption of foods prepared by any other Abrahamic religions. In the Qur’an, the sharing of food between Judaism and Christianity is allowed and encouraged.⁹This shows the emphasis of community that is placed on food and dining in Islamic culture. One of the main focuses of halal is reducing animal suffering. A main intersection between Islamic food rules and modern animal welfare is in the reduction of animal suffering through humane raising and slaughtering of animals.¹⁰

The Kitab al-Tabidk is a very long and wide-reaching cookbook. It covers many different types of food and recipes. Some notable dishes include roasted and stewed meats, fish dishes, baked breads, and beverages.¹¹ The cookbook does not only list ingredients in its recipes, however. The Kitab al-Tabidk is a notable cookbook for its time because of the how detailed it is about the health and well-being of the diner, as well as important methods and information about kitchen techniques. Al-Warraq includes chapters on spoiling food, utensils used in cooking, humoral properties of different foods, and even exercises to do before a meal. The foods and extra information in the cookbook illustrate a couple of different things about culinary culture during this time. These recurring foods in the cookbook give insight into popular cuisine during this time, foods people generally enjoyed eating and how they were commonly prepared. They also show how nobility’s cuisine translated into recipes for the common people. Most people did not have the tools or funds to make foods as extravagantly as the noble class was able, but they still wanted to enjoy the luxury of good food. The Kitab al-Tabidk takes recipes and popular foods from the caliph’s kitchen and translates them into recipes that were accessible to the masses. The recurring foods in the cookbook might also be representative of what Ibn Sayya’r al-Warraq’s or the commissioner of the books favorite foods and recipes were. It would make sense that the author of the cookbook would place special emphasis on what he thought was the most important parts of food culture during the time. 

 

There are other ancient cookbooks from different eras and regions of the world. In the same way the Kitab al-Tabidk provides a window to the culture into 10^th century, these other examples of cookbooks do the same. For example, the De Re Coquinaria, from 4^th century Rome, Daz Buch Von Guter Spise from 14^th century Germany, and The Forme of Cury from 14^th century England, are all examples of ancient cookbooks that provide a window into what food culture was like for different places during different times. 

Food and food traditions were and still are an important part of Islamic tradition. Out of the three Abrahamic religions, Islam is the only one that does not condemn the consumption of food prepared by any of the other Abrahamic religions. In the Qur’an, the sharing of food between Judaism and Christianity is allowed and encouraged.¹² This shows the emphasis of community that is placed on food and dining in Islamic culture. It is clear that the Islamic culture wants to use the intersection between food and religion to bring people together instead of creating more barriers between them. Ancient cookbooks filled with adapted recipes from a caliph written for the common people is an example of this. They didn’t want food to be something that only a certain group of people could enjoy, they wanted good food to be for the large community. 

Islam, like the other Abrahamic religions, is reliant on a large list of rules that its followers are expected to follow. In Islam, this is called halal, and it not only instructs the followers of Islam on how to live their daily lives, but also creates a strong sense of community through the connection that people feel from a common religion. Art, food, language, and religion are all essential parts of understanding a community and culture. These are the things that bring a group of people together to a common understanding of each other. 

Food and eating are parts of culture that everybody in a community shares. This makes dining culture central to understanding the larger cultural norms of a community, and the Kitab al-Tabidk provides a window through recipes, methods, and health advice, into what this part of culture was like for the Islamic people during the 10^th century. 

 

Notes

1. Muqarnas, Volume 25 : Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Celebration of Oleg Grabar's Eightieth Birthday. the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Thirtieth Anniversary Special Volume, edited by Gülru Necipoglu, and Julia Bailey, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/luc/detail.action?docID=489331.
2. Lilia Zaouli and Malcolm B. DeBevoise, Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes. Berkeley: University of California Press https://archive.org/details/medievalcuisineo0000zaou/page/186/mode/2up
3. Nawal Nasrallah, Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchen: Ibn Sayyar Al-Warraq’s Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. Boston: BRILL, 2007 https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/detail.action?docID=468290
4. Kurt A. Faaflaub, Thinking, Recording, and Writing History in the Ancient World, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/luc/detail.action?docID=1557269
5. Zaouli and Debevoise, Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World
6. John Wilkins and Nadeau Robin, A Companion to Food in the Ancient World. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/reader.action?docID=2050948&ppg=1
7. Zaouli and Debevoise, Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World
8. The Qur'an. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2004. Translated by Abdel Haleem https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/reader.action?docID=5824985&ppg=1
9. David M. Freidenrich, Foreigners and Their Food: Constructed Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law. Berkeley: University of California Press https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/reader.action?docID=740303&ppg=1
10. M. Dahlan-Taylor, “‘Good’ food: Islamic food ethics beyond religious dietary laws.” Critical Research on Religion 3.3/3.3 (2015): 250-265 https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303214567670
11. Nasrallah, Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchen  
12. Freidenrich, Foreigners and Their Food

Bibliography

David M. Freidenrich, Foreigners and Their Food: Constructed Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law. Berkeley: University of California Press https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/reader.action?docID=740303&ppg=1

John Wilkins and Nadeau Robin, A Companion to Food in the Ancient World. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/reader.action?docID=2050948&ppg=1

Kurt A. Faaflaub, Thinking, Recording, and Writing History in the Ancient World, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/luc/detail.action?docID=1557269

Lilia Zaouli and Malcolm B. DeBevoise, Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes. Berkeley: University of California Press https://archive.org/details/medievalcuisineo0000zaou/page/186/mode/2up

M. Dahlan-Taylor, “‘Good’ food: Islamic food ethics beyond religious dietary laws.” Critical Research on Religion 3.3/3.3 (2015): 250-265 https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303214567670

Muqarnas, Volume 25 : Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Celebration of Oleg Grabar's Eightieth Birthday. the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture Thirtieth Anniversary Special Volume, edited by Gülru Necipoglu, and Julia Bailey, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/luc/detail.action?docID=489331.

Nawal Nasrallah, Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchen: Ibn Sayyar Al-Warraq’s Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. Boston:BRILL, 2007 https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/detail.action?docID=468290

The Qur'an. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2004. Translated by Abdel Haleem https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.flagship.luc.edu/lib/luc/reader.action?docID=5824985&ppg=1