Food in Islamic Studies (Islamic Studies)

Introduction

Study of food in Islamic societies was pioneered by the work of the prolific Syrian orientalist Habib Zayyat (b. 1871–d. 1954) published in Arabic, especially his “Fann al-ṭabkh wa islāḥ al-aʾṭima fī al-islām” (Art of cooking and preparing food in Islam) in al-Mashriq 41 (1947): 1–26. The French sociologist of Islam Maxime Rodinson (b. 1915–d. 2004) produced a number of works during World War II when he was resident at the French Institute in Damascus, including his more extensive “Recherches sur les documents arabes relatifs a la cuisine,” published in Revue des Etudes Islamiques (1949): 95–163 (see Rodinson 2001, under Cookbooks and Cooks). After the war, studies situating food into the larger cultural and economic context of medieval Muslim societies included Eliyahu Ashtor’s “Essai sur l’alimentation des diverses classes socials dans l’Orient medieval,” in Annales Histoire Sciences Sociales (1968): 1017–1053 (see Ashtor 1975, under Historical), and studies using a philological approach to focus on the cultural significance of food in a particular region and time period (see Miranda 1965, under Cookbooks and Cooks). Later works followed, including Muhammad Ahsan’s Social Life under the Abbasids (London, 1979) and Tadeusz Lewicki’s West African Food in the Middle Ages according to Arabic Sources (Lewicki 1974, under Cuisines and Food Culture). Synthetic studies such as those by Peter Heine, Geert Jan van Gelder and Lewicka’s more recent Food and Foodways of Medieval Cairenes (Lewicka 2011, under Historical) represent a fuller maturation of scholarship using “food studies” as a useful analytical perspective on the history of Islamic thought and societies. Such studies not only illuminate particular Muslim ideas and practices, but are also effective in allowing nonspecialists to use Islamic materials in the comparative and more general study of food history and culture.

General

The field of food studies is relatively young, and attention to food and food culture in Islam has not been frequent. Most of the general works are introductory and provide broad overviews with little depth in any given area. Zaouali 2007 is mostly a listing of recipes, but the author does use the dishes to illustrate what she defines as the medieval Islamic world. Heine 2004 is less specialized but more expansive and readable, covering a wider array of issues. Chabbouh 2004 provides a good starting place to identify many of the major sources and genres related to food in medieval Islamic scholarship. Waines 2011 is an interesting collection of articles from the Encyclopaedia of Islam on food including, its acquisition and ingredients, the place of food in Islamic thought, and the role of specific types of food, mainly in premodern Islamic societies. The edited volume Zubaida and Tapper 2000, although now slightly dated, is an excellent introduction to the field of food studies in Islam, bringing together a diversity of contributions by recognized scholars on a number of different issues.

Chabbouh, Ibrahim. The Cuisine of the Muslims. London: Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 2004.
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Brief introduction to some of the most prominent medieval Arabic texts dealing with food and its significance in Islam. Includes short sections on food in medical and scientific treatises, cookbooks, works on growing food, and literary accounts of the manners and practice of eating.
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Heine, Peter. Kulinarische Studien: Untersuchungen zur Kochkunst im arabisch-islamischen Mittelater: mit Rezepten. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1988.
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German work focused more narrowly on Arab and Islamic foods from the medieval or classical period. Includes examination of sources (adab, geographies, histories, cookbooks, and hisbah manuals), the cook and the kitchen, ingredients, main dishes, and the significance of food to medieval Arab Muslims. Also includes a selection of recipe descriptions, a list of Arabic terminology, and a bibliography.
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Heine, Peter. Food Culture in the Near East, Middle East, and North Africa. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2004.
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This general work includes a timeline of Islamic history and colorfully practical descriptions of “street foods” in the context of eating out in the contemporary practices of the region. Other sections provide overviews of and unique insights into cooking and the kitchen, typical meals, food on special occasions, and diet and health. The book is introduced by a concise outline of geography, political history, and culture as they apply to food and eating habits.
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Waines, David, ed. Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies. EI Reference Guides 3. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2011.
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Collection of articles relating to food from the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam. Selections include food sources (agriculture, livestock, food laws, hunting, specific animals), food resources (food and drinks, cooking and kitchen, spices and ingredients, food and culture), and medicine (specific physicians, medicines, marketplace). Introduced with a brief history of food studies in Islamic societies, an overview of sources for this study, and a synopsis of the articles in the volume.
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Zaouali, Lilia. Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes. Translated by M. B. DeBevoise. Foreword by Charles Perry. California Studies in Food and Culture 18. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
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Section one provides a concise but insightful and helpful examination of food in the Islamic world from Spain to Central Asia. Topics include sources for the history of Islamic culinary history, the “cult of cuisine and gastronomy,” food and identity, phobias and obsessions, a historical overview of the development of Islamic food, and a study of materials, techniques, and terminology. Section two gives a number of medieval recipes, and section three provides modern North African recipes.
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Zubaida, Sami, and Richard Tapper, eds. A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. London: Tauris Parke, 2000.
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Contains a number of contributions by specialists in the food culture of the Middle East and Islam. The first two chapters provide an overview of food production in the Middle East and the national and international implications of food cultures in the region. Remaining chapters are divided into three broad areas: cuisines, dishes, and ingredients; food and social order; and language of food. Those chapters most relevant to Islam and food are listed separately below: Yamani 2000 (under Cuisines and Food Culture), Tapper 2000 (under Drinks), and Aubaile-Sallenave 2000 (under Particular Foods).
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Depictions of Food

Scholars interested in classical Arabic literature have drawn attention to the significant place of food, especially the practices of presenting and consuming food in different types of settings and among different groups of people. Geert Jan van Gelder is recognized as the pioneer in this field, and his work is regularly cited as a reference for the study of food in Islam, despite its more narrow focus (see van Gelder 2000). The references cited here are more general introductions to the history and place of food in Arabic literature, while many of the references included in later sections of this bibliography also deal with specific genres and particular literary representations of food.

Dursteler, Eric. “Infidel Foods: Food and Identity in Early Modern Ottoman Travel Literature.” Journal of Ottoman Studies 39 (2012): 143–160.
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Overview of the depictions of food and food practices among non-Muslims by Ottoman travelers, primarily to locations throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, but also to Ottoman provinces outside of Anatolia and places further afield in Asia. Using literary analysis and detailed historical references, the author is able to make sophisticated connections between food practices and religious identity.
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Ghersetti, Antonella. “En quête de nourriture: Etude des themes lies aux pique-asslettes (tufayliyyūn) dans la literature d’adab.” Al-Qanṭara 25 (2004): 433–462.
DOI: 10.3989/alqantara.2004.v25.i2.142Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the fascinating theme of the “uninvited guest” or “parasite” (tufayl) in Arabic literature, with particular attention to the themes of generosity and greed, hospitality, wit, and excess.
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Hafez, Sabry. “Food as a Semiotic Code in Arabic Literature.” In Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 257–280. London: I. B. Tauris, 1994.
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Concise and theoretically rich essay exploring the notion that food can be understood to represent a semiotic code in Arabic literature. The author uses examples that illustrate social, cultural, and religious meanings, making conclusions applying to Arabic culture as a whole.
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van Gelder, Geert Jan. God’s Banquet: Food in Classical Arabic Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
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This is the best overall study of the relationship of food to literature in the classical Arabic tradition, ranging from pre-Islamic poetry to the 18th century. After three chapters dealing with different historical phases in the development of food themes in Arabic literature, van Gelder examines the use of food for satire and parody, and the use of food metaphors for speech, sex, defecation, and in dreams. Reprinted as Of Dishes and Discourse: Classical Arabic Literary Representations of Food (Richmond, UK: Curzon, 2000).
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Texts in Translation

Much of the scholarship on food in Islam takes the form of translations of and commentaries on medieval Arabic texts. Some of these translations are treated separately below in the sections Cookbooks and Cooks and Food and Medicine. The works here are more general in character, referring to food and food practices, especially as defined in Islamic law.

Buckley, R. P., trans. The Book of the Islamic Market Inspector: Nihāyat al-Rthba fi Ṭalab al-Ḥisba (The Utmost Authority in the Pursuit of Ḥisba). By ʿAbd al-Rahman b. Nasr al-Shayzari. Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
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English translation of a good example of a so-called “hisbah manual” from the 14th century. Introduction provides a history of the market inspector (muḥtasib) in Islam and a brief overview of the manual and its author. The manual itself includes a number of sections relevant to the study of food, including sections on types of food, cooks and butchers, food merchants, and measures used in purchasing and preparing food.
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Johnson-Davies, D., trans. Al-Ghazali on the Manner Relating to Eating: Kitab Ādāb al-Akl, Book XI of the Revival of the Religious Sciences. Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 2000.
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Readable and scholarly English translation of the eleventh chapter, dealing with the relationship of the individual to society from Ghazali’s well-known magnum opus. Topics include dietary laws, hygiene, abstaining from gluttony and wanting more than what is provided, manners during eating and after, and company in eating. Ghazali also discusses generosity, hospitality, and the piety of fasting.
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Klein-Franke, Felix, ed. The Physicians Dinner Party. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1985.
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Edited but not translated Arabic text of Ibn Butlan’s Daʿwat al-Aṭibbāʾ, an 11th-century text on a fictional dinner party. Klein-Franke provides a brief introduction to the author, genre, and text in English.
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Margoliouth, D. S., ed. and trans. “Abu ‘l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Correspondence on Vegetarianism.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1902): 289–332.
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Arabic text and English translation of a series of letters regarding the virtues and rules of meat eating and vegetarianism in Islam and in Arab practice between the well-known author Abu al-Ala al-Maʿari and a certain Hibatallah Ibn Musa or Ibn Abi Imran in the 11th century. The introduction focuses on the author and the history of the text, but the text itself offers clever insights into certain Arab and Islamic attitudes toward the nature of food and human consumption.
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Cookbooks and Cooks

The earliest scholarship on food in Islam took the form of translations and commentaries on medieval Arabic cookbooks. Arberry 2005 (first published 1939) is a translation of the 13th-century “Book of Cooking,” one of the earliest examples of this type of scholarship, and a work regularly cited as a source for food practices in medieval Islam. Rodinson 2001 and Perry 2001 are translations found in the same edited volume, Medieval Arab Cookery. Perry 1981 is a short article that is a useful starting point to compare some of these different cookbooks. Miranda 1965, Nasrallah 2013, and Garbutt 1996 are each devoted to showing how a given cookbook can be interpreted to represent the food practices of certain periods in medieval Iraq and Spain. Waines 1995 is an attempt to produce a useable modern cook book from medieval Arabic texts.

Arberry, A. J., trans. “A Baghdad Cookery Book: The Book of Dishes (Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabīkh), Muḥammad b. Hasan b. Muḥammad b. al-Karīm, the Scribe of Baghdad.” In Medieval Arab Cookery. Edited by Charles Perry. Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2005.
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The British Orientalist A. J. Arberry (1905–1969), well known for his English translation of the Qurʾan, translated this 13th-century Iraqi cookbook. A preface introduces the translation with an overview of the author, the book, and the context of medieval Baghdad. The translation, edited by Charles Perry, includes recipes for different types of dishes. The recipes consist of narrative instructions and most do not contain enough precise measurements to be practical without knowledge from another context. First published as “A Baghdad Cookery-Book,” Islamic Culture 13 (1939): 21–47, 189–214.
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Garbutt, Nina. “Ibn Jazlah: The Forgotten ʿAbbasid Gastronome.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 39 (1996): 42–44.
DOI: 10.1163/1568520962600172Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Concise note provided on Ibn Jazlah, author of one of the earliest food books, organized as a dictionary, in Arabic. Includes biographical information on Ibn Jazlah, an overview of the manuscripts, the contents of the text (medicine, food, drinks, cooking methods), and a study of the relationship of this text with later cookbooks such as that of al-Baghdadi.
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Heine, Peter. “The Revival of Traditional Cooking in Modern Arab Cookbooks.” In Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 143–152. London: Tauris, 1994.
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Much-needed useful survey of modern Arabic cookbooks and cooking manuals from across the Middle East and North Africa. The author focuses not only on how these more recent cookbooks draw upon and modify recipes from traditional and classical sources, but also helps to explain the continuity of many dishes and techniques. The author also discusses the use of certain texts in cooking schools in the Middle East, and allows for the examination of gender and social class in contemporary cooking.
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Miranda, Ambrosio Huici. Kitāb al-Ṭabīkh fi’l-Maghrib wa ‘l-Andalus fī ʿasr al-Muwaḥḥidīn: La cuicina ispano-maghrebina in epoca almohade secondo un manoscritto anonimo. Madrid: n.p., 1965.
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Spanish translation of a cookbook representing foods and food practices from the Almohad period in 13th-century Spain and North Africa. The translator’s introduction is very brief, but the detailed table of contents itself provides a useful outline of the various recipes and food traditions from the medieval Muslim West.
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Nasrallah, Nawal. Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and History of the Iraqi Cuisine. 2d ed. Sheffield, UK: Equinox, 2013.
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This book is not only a broad collection of Iraqi cooking, but also an excellent introduction to the history of cooking in Iraq and the Middle East more generally. The author provides historical and cultural detail on most of the foods, includes a special section on menus and manners, an extensive glossary, and a number of useful indices, including one devoted to ancient foods and ingredients, and another on medieval and Ottoman foods and ingredients. The book is lavishly illustrated.
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Nasrallah, Nawal, trans. Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq’s Tenth-century Baghdadi Cookbook. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2007.
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Translation and study of a significant medieval cookbook attesting to food practices in the caliphal court of the Abbasids. The author provides a study of the text, its author, sources and influence before providing a careful English translation. The general discussion of a medieval Baghdad food culture identifies ingredients and foods from Babylonian, Persian, and Nabataean cultures as they were incorporated into Islamic culture. Includes a brief discussion of the medical perspective or “humoral” theory found in the cookbook.
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Perry, Charles. “Three Medieval Arabic Cook Books.” In National and Regional Styles of Cookery. Oxford Symposium 1981. Proceedings. Edited by Alan Davidson, 96–105. London: Prospect Books, 1981.
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Good introduction to three medieval Arabic cookbooks, focusing on Persian influences. Among the cookbooks studied is that of Ibn Sayyar (translated above as Arberry 2005) and two others found discussed in various secondary studies. Perry also provides details on the subsequent abridgements of these texts.
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Perry, Charles. “The Description of Familiar Foods: Kitāb Waṣf al-Aṭʿima al-Muʿtāda.” In Medieval Arab Cookery. By Maxime Rodinson, A. J. Arberry, and Charles Perry, 275–475. Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2001.
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Long article dedicated to a translation and study of the Book of the Description of Familiar Foods followed by a translation of al-Baghdadi’s 13th-century Book of Cooking. Introduction includes a study of weights and measures, a concordance of the various recipes in different manuscripts, and an overview of the text. The translation of both texts provides recipes for dishes categorized by type, as in other medieval Arabic cookbooks.
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Rodinson, Maxime. “Studies in Arabic Manuscripts Relating to Cookery.” In Medieval Arab Cookery. By Maxime Rodinson, A. J. Arberry, and Charles Perry, 93–164. Translated by Barbara Inskip. Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2001.
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Divided into three parts. Part one is broad survey of the medieval genre of Arabic cookbooks. Part two is a study of the manuscript evidence for a specific cookbook, the anonymous 13th-century Book of the Bonds of Friendship or a Description of Good Dishes and Perfumes, the preface of which is translated here. Part three is a study, using this particular text, to outline the type of cooking reflected in medieval Arab cookbooks.
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Salloum, Habeeb, Muna Salloum, and Leila Salloum Elias. Scheherazade’s Feasts: Foods of the Medieval Arab World. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.
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Brief introduction followed by recipes updated so that they can be reproduced in a modern kitchen. Recipes include the Arabic name in transliteration and are prefaced by an English translation of the relevant passages from one of the medieval Arabic cookbooks used by the authors. Many entries include information about the significance or history of the ingredients in medieval culture, the importance of the dish in Islamic history, and/or information regarding recommendations from medieval Arabic cooks and food writers.
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Schoonover, David, ed. The Khwan Niamut or, Nawab’s Domestic Cookery. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1992.
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This English translation of a Persian text is reprinted here with an introduction to the history of the text, an overview of contemporary Iranian recipes, a chart explaining the measures and weights, and notes. The text was prepared to preserve and transmit to other Europeans certain favored Iranian and Indian dishes prepared in an aristocratic household. The text discusses the dishes themselves, and the techniques for their preparation can be used to help reconstruct the history of some of these practices.
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Titley, Norah M. The Niʿmatnama Manuscript of the Sultans of Mandu: The Sultan’s Book of Delights. Routledge Studies in South Asia. New York: Routledge, 2005.
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This 16th-century Urdu and Persian text was composed by Ghiyath Shahi, the sultan of Mandu, and completed by his son Nasir Shah. It contains several hundred recipes, mostly of Persian influence, discusses specific ingredients, lists the medicinal and aphrodisiacal properties of certain foods, and is illustrated with dozens of paintings. The translation itself is supplemented with a facsimile of the manuscript, images of the miniatures and their description, a glossary, bibliography, and short introduction by the translator.
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Waines, David. In a Caliph’s Kitchen: Medieval Arabic Cooking for the Modern Gourmet. Beirut: Riad El-Rayyes Booksellers, 1995.
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David Waines is recognized as one of the few scholars specializing in the study of food in Islam. Of his publications, this is the least academic but also the most practical. It is a collection of medieval recipes culled from classical Arabic cookbooks not only translated but transformed into modern recipes. Because of his detailed knowledge of the medieval tradition—including the identification of spices, measurements, ingredients, and preparation processes—the recipes here are useable in a modern kitchen.
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Historical

A general history of food and food practices in Islam does not exist. Most food historians interested in Islam focus on a particular time period, discussed in Lewicka 2011; certain social classes, documented in Ashtor 1975; or particular ingredients, as explained in Fischel 1958. Although it is focused on medieval Cairo, Lewicka’s study is an excellent introduction to the study of food in Islam and the Middle East in general, and is one of the best studies to incorporate and synthesize a variety of medieval sources, contemporary theoretical perspectives, and careful but helpful generalizations.

Ashtor, Eliyahu. “An Essay on the Diet of the Various Classes in the Medieval Levant.” In Biology of Man in History: Selections from the Annales: Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. Edited by Robert Forster and Orest Ranum, 125–162. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975.
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Helpful overview and analysis of the eating habits, with particular focus on the ingredients, and including a social analysis of different classes, from the region of the eastern Mediterranean by a well-known social historian of the medieval Islamic Middle East.
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Fischel, Walter. “The Spice Trade in Mamluk Egypt.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 1 (1958): 157–174.
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One of three articles that, taken together, provide a useful survey of the scholarship on the analysis of food in the economy of late medieval Egypt. Mamluk Egypt is particularly important given its position as a supplier and consumer of food for the broader region. See also: Ira M. Lapidus’s “The Grain Economy of Mamluk Egypt,” JESHO 12 (1969): 1–15; and, Amalia Levanoni’s “Food and Cooking During the Mamluk Era: Social and Political Implications,” MSR 9 (2005): 201–222.
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Lewicka, Paulina. Food and Foodways of Medieval Cairenes: Aspects of Life in an Islamic Metropolis of the Eastern Mediterranean. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2011.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004194724.i-626Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The most detailed and extensive study of food in a specific Islamic culture, providing an exhaustive study of food and the culture associated with it in premodern Egypt, focusing on Cairo. An overview of sources (pp. 23–66) is useful for the study of food culture in premodern Islam more generally. Book is divided into sections on foods (including ingredients and preparation), eating (including the customs related to etiquette), and beverages. The bibliography is extensive.
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Particular Foods

Studies focused on particular foods in Islamic contexts, and especially in the Middle East, are not uncommon. A number of studies concentrate on the production, processing, and consumption of cereals and grains in Islamic contexts. Several deal specifically with bread production, eating, and its symbolism (Waines 1987). Rice is a major staple of many diets, and its relationship to the Middle East and Islamic history is reviewed by Canard 1959. Certain foods in particular contexts are examined in their cultural contexts (Aubaile-Sallenave 2000, Deher), as are certain ingredients, such as oil (Gil), dried fruits (Lagardère), and their use in the processing, production, and consumption of foods and drinks.

Arnot, Margaret, ed. In Gastronomy: The Anthropology of Food and Food Habits. Paris: Mouton, 1975.
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“Bread in the Region of the Moroccan High Atlas: A Chain of Daily Technical Operations in Order to Provide Daily Nourishment,” “Sorghum and Millet in Yemen,” and “Bread in Some Regions of the Mediterranean Area: A Contribution to the Studies on Eating Habits” formulate a good comparative study of how bread production and consumption in three Muslim communities reflects traditional notions of identity and social standing. All three chapters utilize rich ethnographic detail to illustrate cultural concepts represented by these processes.
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Aubaile-Sallenave, Francoise. “Al-Kishk: The Past and Present of a Complex Culinary Practice.” In Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 105–139. London: Tauris Parke, 2000.
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This distinctly Middle Eastern food—a dairy product, usually dried yogurt, cheese, or whey—is a significant staple in Muslim diets. The author examines the food from a linguistic perspective (examining the etymology of the word in Indo-European, Semitic, Altaic, and Caucasic languages), and a semantic perspective (ingredients used and to what the word is used to refer in different cultures), and also addresses the ethno-technical question of its origins and who borrowed what from whom. A wide range of sources from medieval to modern are used.
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Canard, Marius. “Le Riz dans le Proche Orient aux Premieres Siecles de l’Islam.” Arabica 6 (1959): 113–131.
DOI: 10.1163/157005859X00299Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Rich historical study on the origins and use of rice in Islamic contexts, utilizing mostly classical Arabic texts, including histories, travelers’ accounts, and literature. In addition to a discussion of what these texts can tell us about the history and role of rice in Islamic societies, the author provides a detailed overview of medieval Muslim food practices involving rice, providing regional examples of food eaten with rice, rice-dish recipes, and what were considered the medical properties of rice.
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Waines, David. “Cereals, Bread and Society: An Essay on the Staff of Life in Medieval Iraq.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 30 (1987): 255–285.
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Excellent analysis of the cultural significance attached to technological changes in the history of the operation to process cereals into bread, focusing on the ancient Near East and early Islam. Waines compares production processes and how they were used to produce differentiated food traditions. The article is rich with references to secondary literature, and to primary sources such as cookbooks, historical texts, and more contemporary travelogues and ethnographic accounts.
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Drinks

Many studies focus on drinks and drinking in Islamic culture, especially because of the seeming ambivalent attitude to wine and alcohol in Islam, and because of the significant role played by coffee and tea in certain social settings in the Middle East and elsewhere. Tapper 2000 is a comparative study of liquid consumption—including alcohol, water, blood, coffee, and tea—that includes the particulars of cases from modern Turkey and Iran. Zubaida 2002 is likewise a general comparative work centered on the place of drinking in the larger context of food practices. Hattox 1985, a book on coffee drinking, is a standard reference for many other scholars, to be supplemented by the more specialized examining of tea and coffee consumption in Qajar Iran in Mathee 1999.

Hattox, Ralph. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Middle East. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1985.
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Richly detailed and readable study of the role of coffee in the premodern Middle East. Includes the origins of coffee in the region, coffee and wine in Islamic law, use of coffee as medicine, the coffeehouse as an alternative to taverns, the social life of coffeehouses, and the cultural and social norms represented by the beverage and the coffeehouse institution.
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Heine, Peter. Weinstudien: Untersuchungen zu Anbau, Produktion und Konsum des Weins im arabisch-islamischen Mittelater. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1982.
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Careful and concise study of wine in classical Arabic and Islamic culture. Most detail is given to discussing attitudes toward and the practice of the consumption of wine, the cultivation of fruit, and the production of the drink. Shorter but useful studies of the legality of wine and its place in commerce help to complete the larger picture of wine as a symbol in a generalized cultural context.
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Kueny, Kathryn. The Rhetoric of Sobriety: Wine in Early Islam. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001.
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One of the few books on food and food practices in Islam written by a historian of religion, this study not only focuses on the apparently ambivalent or multivalent attitude of early Muslims toward wine, but also includes an examination of how wine is used in Islam to signify and differentiate social identities.
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Mathee, Rudi. “From Coffee to Tea: Shifting Patterns of Consumption in Qajar Iran.” Journal of World History 43 (1999): 228–240.
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Careful historical study of the origins of coffee and tea consumption in Iran in relationship to religious and political connections between Iran, Europe, and Asia. Argues that tea was introduced to the Middle East by the Mongols in the 13th century, and coffee introduced into Iran from Arabia by way of Ottoman pilgrim traffic. Detailed references to Persian and European accounts of Safavid and Qajar practices. See also Matthee’s “Coffee in Safavid Iran: Commerce and Consumption,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 37 (1994): 1–32.
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Tapper, Richard. “Blood, Wine and Water: Social and Symbolic Aspects of Drinks and Drinking in the Islamic Middle East.” In A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 215–231. London: Tauris Parke, 2000.
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Not just about wine, but also coffee and tea, water drinking, and blood consumption, this chapter shows how certain food practices can take on ritual dimensions both in practice and in social implications. Tapper examines particular drinks, their place in the Qurʾan and Islamic law, customs for drinking, drinking and conceptions of health, and the particular role played by specific drinks in Egirdir (Turkey), and in post-revolutionary views of pre-revolutionary Iranian drinking practices.
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Zubaida, Sami. “Drink in the Structure of the Meal: Middle Eastern Patterns.” In The Meal: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2001. Edited by Harlan Walker, 265–270. Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2002.
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A short but insightful study providing examples that illustrate the symbolic and practical place of drinks and drinking practices in the context of eating in the Middle East. The author uses examples ranging from the sequence of when particular foods and drinks are presented and consumed, the role of drink in the mezze, and the influence of European culture on these practices, beginning in the 18th century.
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Food and Medicine

Many medieval Islamic medical texts include references to and detailed discussions of food and food practices. Like the study of cookbooks, the study of medical manuals offer insights into certain practices. The studies listed here include the translation of a pharmacy text, as discussed in Chipman and Lev 2006, a medical treatise from medieval Egypt, explained in Dols 1984, and a careful philological study of Ibn Sina’s work on pharmacology (Paavilainen 2009).

Chipman, Leigh, and Efraim Lev. “Syrups from the Apothecary’s Shop: A Genizah Fragment Containing One of the Earliest Manuscripts of Minhāj al-Dukkān.” Journal of Semitic Studies 51 (2006): 137–168.
DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgi086Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Translation and study of a 13th-century Egyptian pharmacological text listing the medical properties of different foods and spices. The popularity of this text is demonstrated by its attestation in thirty different manuscripts and continued use in rural Egypt into the 20th century. Provides the edited Arabic text and an English translation, along with a discussion of the place of this text in the history of medieval pharmacology.
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Dols, Michael. Medieval Islamic Medicine: Ibn Riḍwān’s Treatise “On the Prevention of Bodily Ills in Egypt.” Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
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English translation and edited Arabic text of this medical text from 11th-century Fatimid Egypt. The translation is readable and includes scattered numerous references to foods as they relate to certain ailments and treatments. Dols provides an overview of medicine in early Islam and in Fatimid Egypt, information on the author, and the text’s description of Egypt at the time. This is a good example of a typical medical source that is often used to document food practices in medieval Islamic contexts.
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Paavilainen, Helena. Medieval Pharmacotherapy: Continuity and Change; Case Studies from Ibn Sīnā and some of his Late Medieval Commentators. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2009.
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004171190.i-796Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Specialized work providing a broad historical context and close analysis of the work of Ibn Sina on the medical properties of certain food products. Paavilainen examines the work of Ibn Sina and later Arabic and Latin commentaries on it in three specific areas: treatment of nosebleed, cough, and diabetes. A brief but helpful section evaluates the efficacy of medieval medicine according to contemporary standards. Included are copious tables in the appendices illustrating the texts examined.
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Food and Law

For many scholars, the classical and most basic definitions of food and religion, in any tradition, are to be found in the legal and ritual stipulations regarding eating. Islamic law regulates which foods are allowed and not allowed for Muslims, including foods that are recommended but not required, and foods that are reprehensible but not prohibited. Surprisingly little scholarship outside of specialized legal studies has been devoted to examining and comparing the Islamic tradition with others. Much of what has been written focuses on three broad areas: food laws and the origins of Islam, as discussed in Cook 1984; using food laws to compare Islam with other religions, such as Judaism and Christianity, illustrated in Freidenreich 2011; and studies focused on particular food prohibitions, such as De Smet 1995. Tlili 2015 is unique but overlaps in all three of these areas.

Cook, Michael. “Magian Cheese: An Archaic Problem in Islamic Law.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 47 (1984): 449–467.
DOI: 10.1017/S0041977X00113692Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
One of two important articles focusing on the origins of Islamic food laws as they developed alongside, in conversation with, and in contradistinction to food laws observed in other contemporaneous religious practices. (See also “Early Islamic Dietary Law,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 7 [1986]: 217–277.) The earlier article (1984) is a specialized examination of how early Muslims may have borrowed certain food practices from Jews. The second article (1986) treats the subject in a broader historical context and includes discussions of the lawfulness of eating lizards, hares, eels, birds of prey, equines, and creeping things.
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De Smet, Daniel. “Les Interdictions Alimentaires du Calife Fatimide al-Ḥākim: Marques de Folie ou Announce d’un Règne Messianique.” In Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras. Edited by Urbain Vermeulen and Daniel De Smet, 53–69. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 1995.
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Fascinating study of the unique food prohibitions instituted by the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim in light of his view of the dawning of a new messianic age. De Smet provides insights into Fatimid notions of food and the role of Platonic thought in Ismaili definitions of practice. He also suggests connections with other groups, such as the Sabians.
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Freidenreich, David. Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011.
DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520253216.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This study uses food and food practices to examine how Muslims, Jews, and Christians view one another as being different. The author focuses on the preparation of food by adherents of a different religion and the act of eating with people of a different religion to think about how these three religious groups identify themselves. The section on Islam looks at the origins of food practices in the Qurʾan, and at legal discussions regarding the permissibility of Muslims eating meat from animals slaughtered by non-Muslims.
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Tlili, Sarra. “Animals Would Follow Shāfiʿism: Legitimate and Illegitimate violence to Animals in Medieval Islamic Thought.” In Violence in Islamic Thought from the Qur’ān to the Mongols. Edited by Robert Gleave and Istvan T. Kristo-Nagy, 225–244. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015.
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Based on a comparative analysis of Islamic legal discussions regarding lawful and unlawful methods of slaughter, types of animals whose meat may and may not be consumed, and other issues relating to the treatment of live animals, the author argues that the Shafiʿi school maintains the most human perspective on animal rights.
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Halal and Marketing

Recent years have seen an increase in publications related both to promoting a certain definition of “halal,” or a lawful Muslim diet, and to studying this promotion. Two examples of recent attempts to define halal, Hussaini 1993 and Riaz and Chaudry 2004, illustrate modern reformulations of the classical Islamic legal tradition regarding food and food practices. Such works incorporate cursory references to Islamic legal precedents (usually Qurʾan and hadith, but sometimes from Islamic legal manuals) with modern scientific standards related to hygiene and health. This phenomenon itself is examined in a range of studies in what has come to be called “Islamic marketing,” applying approaches drawn from business and marketing to ethnographic observations of halal—not only food, but also a wide range of products, including financing and cosmetics.

Bergeaud-Blackler, Florence, Johan Fischer, and John Lever, eds. Halal Matters: Islam, Politics and Markets in Global Perspective. New York: Routledge, 2016.
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Collection of essays providing useful analyses of how Muslim food laws impact economic and social issues in contemporary Muslim societies, including Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, Morocco, Europe, and Singapore. Contributing perspectives include cultural anthropology, sociology, food studies, veterinary science, communications, and sustainability studies. Of particular interest are the two chapters by Bergeaud-Blackler on marketing Islamic food and halal certification, and the chapters on Islamic food in London, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey, Iran, and Morocco.
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Fischer, Johan. The Halal Frontier: Muslim Consumers in a Globalized Market. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230119789Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Older and more concise study than Fischer 2016. A chapter each for halal practices in London and Malaysia provide a helpful comparison. Other chapters include an examination of halal logo use, the place of halal marketing and practices in Malaysia and London, and a critical look at claims that halal is more humane, hygienic, and scientifically accurate. The ethnographic detail that pervades the work shows the author’s long experience with Malaysian Muslims.
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Fischer, Johan. Islam, Standards, and Technoscience in Global Halal Zones. New York: Routledge, 2016.
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The most recent of multidisciplinary studies devoted to examining the notion of “Halal” as a marketing strategy and how it relates to Muslim identity, especially in non-Arab societies. Although the chapters appear to address technical issues such as training, lab work, and manufacturing, shops, and restaurants, each addresses issues relevant to the social and cultural impact of food on Muslim societies. The firsthand perspective of the author, almost ethnographic in character, is especially helpful in providing insights throughout.
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Hassan, Siti Nasnah, Stephen Dann, Kharil Annuar, Mohd Kamal, and Ernst Cyril de Run. “Influence of the Halal Certification Mark in Food Product Advertisements in Malaysia.” In The New Cultures of Food: Marketing Opportunities from Ethnic, Religious and Cultural Diversity. Edited by Adam Lindgreen and Martin K. Hingley, 243–262. Farnham, UK: Gower, 2009.
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Supplementing some of the studies mentioned above, this wide-ranging book chapter addresses the role of halal certification, as a type of quality assurance seal, in influencing the consumer perception of food quality. The authors use statistical analysis and a variety of different theoretical approaches drawn from marketing studies.
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Hussaini, Mohammad Mazhar. Islamic Dietary Concepts and Practices. Bedford Park, IL: Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, 1993.
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Good example of a growing corpus of books and pamphlets designed to provide practical advice and explanation of how Islamic food laws apply to contemporary everyday Muslim practices. Sections include an overview of Muslim beliefs and Islamic law, food habits and dietary concepts, fasting, feasts, and several sections on nutrition and health. Citations from the Qurʾan, hadith collections, and selected legal texts punctuate the overall presentation, as do a number of tables indexing “halal” and non-halal ingredients and foods.
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Riaz, Mian N., and Muhammad M. Chaudry. Halal Food Production. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2004.
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To be compared with Hussaini, this is another example of practically oriented studies on what qualifies as halal standards and practices. The authors provide lists of specific foods, ingredients, and production requirements for meat, dairy, fish, and cereal foods. There is a brief comparison of Kosher and halal food laws, and appendices giving halal food laws in Malaysia, Singapore, and a number of US states. The main focus appears to be advocating the need for halal certification as a requirement for Muslim food practices.
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Wilson, Jonathan. “The Halal Phenomenon: An Extension or a New Paradigm?” Social Business 4 (2014): 255–271.
DOI: 10.1362/204440814X14103454934294Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Another good introduction to the contemporary concept of “halal certification” and its implications for Muslim food practices. The author touches on all of the most significant issues, including food prepared by non-Muslims, attempts to define halal food, halal and kosher, overview of the halal industry, halal as a cultural phenomenon, the role of social media, Islamic economics, the “halal logo” concept, and the various implications of these recent developments.
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Wilson, Jonathan, and Jonathan Liu. “Shaping the Halal into a Brand.” Journal of Islamic Marketing 1 (2010): 107–123.
DOI: 10.1108/17590831011055851Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good example of the most recent scholarship examining the economic motivations and implication of using “halal certification” for the purposes of marketing foods to Muslims. The authors provide a detailed introduction to the concept, its history, and the scholarship that has been devoted to understanding these developments. The bibliography shows how little attention has been given to the role of marketing in the formulation and publication of food laws and practices in contemporary Islamic societies.
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Cuisines and Food Culture

Utilizing ethnography, classical philology, and other historical sources such as European travelers’ accounts, scholars have sought to study and characterize distinct cuisines and cultural traditions associated with certain time periods and locations. Cuisines examined include Arab, discussed in Yamani 2000, Zudaia 2004, and Iddison 2002; Iranian and Afghani, documented in Sancisi-Weerdenburg 1995 and Saberi 1986; Turkish, addressed in Emecin 2003 and Chase 1994; Spain and the Maghreb, illustrated in Diouri 1994 and Waines 1992; West African, discussed in Lewicki 1974; and Sufi, discussed in Halici 2005 and Reynolds 2000. Many of these studies synthesize a range of theoretical approaches and make explicit comparisons across time and space to draw general conclusions about Islamic food practices.

Chase, Holly. “The Meyhane or McDonald’s? Changes in Eating Habits and the Evolution of Fast Food in Istanbul.” In Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 73–85. London: I. B. Tauris, 1994.
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Well-documented and richly theoretical analysis of eating habits in contemporary Istanbul, with particular attention to how traditional foods and practices compete with “fast food” outlets, such as McDonald’s and Pizza Hut, being introduced into the environment. Of particular interest in the author’s analysis of a number of signature Turkish dishes and drinks, and her “portrait of a grocery store” section.
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Diouri, Abdelhai. “Of Leaven Foods: Ramadan in Morocco.” In Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 233–255. London: I. B. Tauris, 1994.
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Fascinating explanation of how food and food practices are used to represent religious and social status, using the case study of pancakes, soup, and sweets being prepared and eaten to break the fast during Ramadan in cities across Morocco. Diouri provides helpful charts, diagrams, definitions of certain foods, historical context, and detailed descriptions of the rituals used for food preparation and consumption, all integrated into a rich study that might serve as a model for future scholarship.
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Emecin, Feridun. “The Sehzade’s Kitchen and its Expenditures: An Account Book from Sehzade Mehmed’s’ Palace in Manisa, 1594–1595.” In The Illuminated Table, the Prosperous House: Food and Shelter in Ottoman Material Culture. Edited by Suraiya Faroqhi, 89–126. Wurzburg, Germany: Ergon in Kommission, 2003.
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Introduction to and study of a 16th-century Ottoman register listing the foods stocking an Ottoman palace. The author provides a comprehensive examination of how this list can be used for insights into not only palace foods but also street foods, foods customs relating to Ramadan and other feast days, and regulations on bakeries and food stalls. Analysis of the social and economic aspects of the register and the foods listed underlies the article throughout.
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Halici, Nevin. Sufi Cuisine. Translated by Ümit Hussein. London: Saqi, 2005.
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Dedicated to foods mentioned in the writings of and associated with the well-known 13th-century Persian poet and sufi Jalal al-Din Rumi. The author provides a listing of recipes ranging from soups and meats to rice, salads, sweets, and drinks, including those still prepared in current-day Konya, where the shrine to Rumi is found. The recipes are accompanied by selections from Rumi’s writings and brief descriptions of how each item is related to Rumi and his work.
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Iddison, Philip. “Perpetual Picnics—the Meal in the UAE.” In The Meal: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2001. Edited by Harlan Walker, 113–122. Devon, UK: Prospect Books, 2002.
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Based primarily on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence, this article attempts to outline more traditional food practices in the UAE. The author uses references from European travelers who lived in the Emirates before its modernization. Sections include a state banquet and wedding feasts, and it details not only what people ate but also how it was prepared and by whom.
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Lewicki, Tadeusz. West African Food in the Middle Ages according to Arabic Sources. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1974.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511759796Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examination of the Arabic sources for the history of food and cooking in West Africa, which the author defines as sub-Saharan or black Africa, through the 15th and 16th centuries. Chapters include studies of vegetable foodstuffs, meat and fish, dairy, spices, beverages and sugar, and utensils used for cooking. References to the Arabic sources in the notes are extensive and the author includes a brief overview of these sources and their historical contexts.
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Reynolds, G. S. “The Sufi Approach to Food: A Case study of Ādāb.” Muslim World 90 (2000): 198–217.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.2000.tb03687.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-rounded introduction to how different individual Sufis and Sufi schools understood and used food in their rituals and everyday lives. Sections include food in the Qurʾan and Islamic law, the ritual of eating meals, Sufi manuals dealing with food and food practices, and the relationship of asceticism and food in Sufism. Makes ample use of Ghazali’s work on food and eating, and discusses Sufi traditions involving a person’s mystical ability to sense lawful and unlawful food. Excellent companion to Halici 2005.
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Saberi, Helen. Noshe Djan: Afghan Food and Cookery. London: Prospect Books, 1986.
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Essentially an overview of Persianate cuisine in modern Afghanistan with detailed recipes. The author provides the social context of food; basic information on weights, cooks, equipment, and ingredients; and a helpful conversion table, with terminology used in Afghan cooking translated into English and both metric and standard measures. Recipes include breads, soups, meat dishes, rice, vegetables, pickels and chutneys, fruits, desserts, pastries, and beverages. Also includes maps, illustrations, and citations from selected Persianate literature on food and cooking.
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Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Heleen. “Persian Food Stereotypes and Political Identity.” In Food in Antiquity. Edited by John Wilkins, David Harvey, and Mike Dobson, 286–302. Exeter, UK: University of Exeter Press, 1995.
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Examination of the foods supposed to have been eaten in Iran during the pre-Islamic period, drawing primarily from classical (Greek and Latin) sources such as Aelian and Herodotus. The author focuses on certain ingredients said to be characteristic of an Iranian diet (cardamom and terebinth), discusses meat eating, and looks at the special conduct and food associated with Iranian royal meals. This study can be used as a good backdrop for investigating the Iranian influence on Islamic food and food practices.
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Waines, David. “The Culinary Culture of al-Andalus.” In The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Edited by S. K. Jayyusi, 725–738. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1992.
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Rich overview of the food and food practices of Muslims Spain and western North Africa. After providing a concise overview of sources available for the study of what is called the “Arab-Islamic bourgeois urban culinary” culture of the region, the author focuses on two 13th-century cookbooks. These cookbooks, the history they represent, the eastern (Iraqi) influences they include, and the social life they reflect allow the author to discuss both the cuisine and the kitchen practices of al-Andalus.
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Yamani, Mai. “You Are What You Cook: Cuisine and Class in Mecca.” In A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. Edited by Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, 173–184. London: Tauris Parke, 2000.
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This chapter is written by a well-known Saudi anthropologist. She examines the food practices of a particular social group of Saudis who, although no longer living in Mecca, are from families famous for their historical ties to the city. Many of these families are well known as merchants, religious scholars, and pilgrim guides. Yamani shows how diet, eating practices, ingredients, and other aspects of food culture are used by this social group to distinguish themselves from other non-Meccan groups in Jeddah and elsewhere.
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Yerasimos, Stephane. A la Table du Grand Turc. Arles, France: Sindbad, 2001.
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Standard reference for most studies on Turkish cuisine and food practices. The author emphasizes that Turkish cuisine combines food cultures from East Asia (via the Timurids), South America (via Spain), Greco-Roman Mediterranean, and Arab-Muslim civilization of the Middle East. Particular focus is placed on the period from the 15th to the 18th century, and on how the classical foundations of Turkish food influences contemporary practices in the Balkans and Middle East.
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Zudaia, Sami. “A Culinary History of ‘National’ Cuisine: Egypt and the Middle East.” Cairo Papers in Social Science 27 (2004): 143–155.
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Richly detailed and carefully documented discussion of the notion of a “national” cuisine and how it applies specifically to modern Egypt. The author examines the historical roots of Egyptian cuisine in its Ottoman and Mediterranean food contexts. He also provides in-depth descriptions of certain “Egyptian” food, such as Koshari, foul, taʿmiyyah, ʿaish baladi, and mesh. The article includes a helpful theoretical discussion of public food in the context of a globalized culture.