Abstract

In part one, David Waines looks at the medieval context of food. One of the consequences of the rapid emergence of Islam across the Middle East was expressed by a deep curiosity in and absorption of several indigenous food cultures and the introduction of others across the Islamic domains. The first part introduces the reader to various aspects of Middle Eastern food culture that were expressed in various types of work, written in Arabic, during the period from the early eighth century Muslim dominions to the foundation of the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century.