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A Historian and a Chef Discover a 1,000 Year-Old Arab Cookbook from Baghdad and How Its Recipes Reached Southern Spain.
A Historian and a Chef go on a Culinary Journey Through History to Discover The Roots of Arab Cuisine and Its Influence on the Food and Flavors of Today. Kotoz is a researcher in Arab Food History, and Fadi Kattan is a Renowned Palestinian Chef.
They travel around Europe in search of recipe manuscripts from the days of the old arab dynasties and empires. They start this first episode in the fininnish capital, Helsinki, where they find the book of dishes, the oldest known Arabic cookbook.
It describes ninth-century rivalries, including a singer-music called ziryab, who fell out of favor in the court in baghdad and fled to cordoba in Muslim al-andalus. He brought his knowledge of music, the arts, fashion, and cookery with him to spain and is famous for a stew called Green Tafaya.
Kotoz revives the recipe and cooks it in a 21st-century kitchen, a millennium after it was first created.
