Vegetarian Appetizers, Side Dishes, and Salads

Appears in
Delights from the Garden of Eden
Delights from the Garden of Eden

By Nawal Nasrallah

Published 2019

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Puréed Fava/Broad Beans

Zalatat Wa Muquabbilat

When everything is cooked, remove the meat from the fire, and before the broth cools, serve it accompanied by garlic, greens and vinegar. (From a Babylonian recipe for pigeon stew, c. 1700 bc; Bottéro, Mesopotamian Culinary Texts)

With all the vegetables and greens the ancient Mesopotamian kitchen garden offered, it should not be surprising to learn that salads and appetizers were an important component of their menus. Vegetables were the mainstay of the poor, who could not afford expensive meat. When a person was utterly poor, they said, ‘In his stomach the vegetables are too little’ (Levey).