Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq

{{transliteration|ar|Abū Muḥammad al-Muẓaffar ibn Naṣr ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq|italic=no}} ({{langx|ar|أبو محمد المظفر بن نصر ابن سيار الوراق}}) was an Arab author from Baghdad. He was the compiler of a tenth-century cookbook, the {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh}} ({{langx|ar|links=no|كتاب الطبيخ}}, The Book of Dishes). This is the earliest known Arabic cookbook. It contains over 600 recipes,{{cite web|author=Urtatim|title=Kitab al-Tabih|url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18463142|website=Good Reads|publisher=Goodreads Inc.|access-date=20 May 2015}} divided into 132 chapters.{{cite web|url=http://www.albasrah.net/ar_articles_2012/0812/tabikh_060812.htm|website=Al Basrah Network|title=كنز من كنوز الحضارة الاسلامية يعود للحياة من جديد|access-date=20 May 2015}}

The {{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh}} is the oldest surviving Arabic cookbook, written by al-Warraq in the 10th century. It is compiled from the recipes of the 8th and 9th century courts of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Some scholars speculate that al-Warraq may have prepared the manuscript on behalf of a patron, the Hamdanid prince Sayf al-Dawla, who sought to improve the cultural prestige of his own court in Aleppo as the court in Baghdad had started to decline.{{cite book |last=Zaouali |first=Lilia |title=Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World |publisher=University of California Press |date=2007}}

Some recipes in the book, like {{transliteration|ar|ʿaṣīda}} (date-sweetened porridge), come from the relatively simple cuisine of the Arabian Peninsula, but the book also contains recipes for fancy stews with Persian names. There is also an entire chapter about {{transliteration|ar|nabaṭiyyāt}}, hearty stews of 'Nabataean' (Iraqi) origin.

Several partial or full translations in European languages are available:

Nawal Nasrallah, annotated translationNawal Nasrallah, translator, Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's Tenth-century Baghdadi Cookbook, Brill, Leiden 2007. {{ISBN|90-04-15867-7}}
Lilia Zaouali, selection of two dozen recipes
Sabrina Favaro's Italian translationSabrina Favaro, Il simposio dei sultani: Dal più antico Trattato di cucina arabo-musulmano, 2015 {{isbn|8878015016}}
David Waines, selection of recipesDavid Waines, In a Caliph's Kitchen, 1995 {{isbn|1869844602}}

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq

{{transliteration|ar|Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh}}

See also

References

Further reading