Feature: Why Did Baghdad Emerge as the Gastro Capital of the Ancient World?

Library > Community Presentations

In this afikra feature, Mohamad Tassabehji talks about the city during Baghdad’s Golden Age and the production of cookbooks in that era. He does so by asking: Why did Baghdad emerge as the Gastro capital of the ancient world? & Why did they produce so many cookbooks during that era?

Sources and Further References

• Wilson, Ben, 2020, Metropolis, A History of the City, Humankind’s Greatest Invention

• Alkhalil, J.  2010, When Baghdad was centre of the scientific world

• Meija, P. 2018 The 10th-Century Baghdad Cookbook That’s a Poetic Tome to Food

• Ibn Sayyar Al Warraq, Nasrallah, N. 2010 Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens

• Baghdad and the silk road

• Story of cities #3: the birth of Baghdad was a landmark for world civilization

• SHELF LIFE; The Story of Islam's Gift of Paper to the West

• Top Middle Eastern foods | CNN

Note: All community presentations are prepared & presented by non-experts on the subject. They are sharing information in the hopes of spurring interest in that subject.

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Bas Sou'al

afikra is all about asking questions and exploring something new. This series takes some of the questions about the histories and cultures of the Arab world asked and explored in one of our community presentations, and broadens it into a podcast episode hosted by Mysa Kafil-Hussain and Yasmin Khawaja with community members from our global chapters.