From Persia to Napa

Author: Najmieh Batmanglij
Format: Hardcover:264 pages - 12.2 x 1.1 x 9.4 inches
ISBN: 1933823003

From Persia to NapaWine is seen as the natural partner of many great cuisines, but few people associate it with Persian food, one of the worlds most sophisticated culinary traditions. The ties, in fact, are age-old. This book weaves together history, poetry, a look at modern viniculture, and a wealth of recipes and wine pairings to celebrate the rightful relationship of wine and food on the Persian table. 'Whoever seeks the origins of wine must be crazy', a Persian poet once declared, implying that simple enjoyment of this greatest gift of the grape ought to be enough. Since he wrote those words, however, winemaking has been traced all the way back to the northern uplands of the Fertile Crescent some seven millennia ago, the start of a journey that would take it across the Near East and then into Europe in the dawning years of civilisation. Iran was one of the nurseries of the wine grape, and, as empires rose and fell there, princes, priests, poets and people in ordinary walks of life all embraced wine in various ways. After Islam came to Iran, wine drinking sometimes slipped from public view, but it never disappeared. In this lavishly illustrated book, Najmieh Batmanglij explores that long and eventful history, then shifts her story to Californias famed Napa Valley, half a world away.