Tunisia a country whose culinary history embraces that of ancient Carthage (close to the city of Tunis), imperial Rome, the Ottoman Empire, and the Arab conquest of N. Africa, has also been exposed to strong Italian (especially Sicilian) influences, to even stronger French ones (during the period when Tunisia was a French Protectorate), besides showing traces (e.g. in the port of Sfax) of Greek influence. So it is a rich and complex cuisine. One of the best sources for studying it is a wonderfully erudite monograph by a French savant, Dr Gobert, which was published in 1940 in the Archives de l’Institut Pasteur in Tunis, but still awaits an English translator. In recent times, Mohammed El Kouki has done much to preserve the national repertoire of recipes in his huge compilation thereof.
