Synopses & Reviews
Who can resist a chickpea fritter in Nice, a kebab in Athens, an aniseed cookie in Tuscany, hummus in Tel Aviv, stuffed zucchini in Genoa, or a potato omelet in Spain? Cold or hot, sweet or savory, street food is everyone's temptation.
Anissa Helou loves street food. When she travels, she stops at every tea cart, sandwich stand, and candy stall to trade stories with local vendors and learn the recipes that tempt the crowds. Join her on a fascinating adventure around the Mediterranean, where eating on the street is a way of life. Learn the secret ingredients to the perfect Stuffed Mussels sold on the streets of Istanbul. Come along to a Berber woman's Moroccan Bread stall in Marrakech. Buy a sweet, sticky Semolina Cake from a cart in Cairo. From simple salads to fragrant barbecues to irresistible dips and drinks, each dish can be enjoyed on its own, or two or three may be combined to make a meal. With lively black-and-white photographs from Anissa's travels and more than eighty-five fast, flexible, flavorful recipes, Mediterranean Street Food offers home cooks the chance to experience the tastes of distant lands without leaving the kitchen.
Review
"It is a marvelous book....Ms. Helou joins a number of top writers like Claudia Roden, Paula Wolfert and Nancy Harmon Jenkins, in making the Mediterranean the focus of their studies. And she has done so with depth and confidence." Amanda Hesser, New York Times
Review
"Armchair traveling soars to delicious heights in Mediterranean Street Food." Mat Schafer, Boston Herald
Review
"This book has an air of authenticity rarely found in cookbooks these days...we tested a dozen recipes and 11 were winners, a first-class result." Cook's Illustrated
Review
"The book reads like a travel journal, punctuated with black and white photographs of the street scenes, people and dishes....Helou manages to evoke the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of countries from Spain to Turkey." Linda Giuca, Hartford Courant Food Editor
Review
"The minimalist masterpiece that is cookbook author Anissa Helou's austere loft is enough to make any aspiring chef cry." New York Post
About the Author
Anissa Helou is a writer, journalist, and broadcaster. Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, she knows the Mediterranean as only a well-traveled native can. Lebanese Cuisine, her first book, was nominated for the prestigious Andre Simon Award and was named one of the best cookbooks of 1998 by the Los Angeles Times. Mediterranean Street Food was described by the New York Times as "a marvelous book." It won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2002 as the best Mediterranean cuisine book in English. Helou lives in London, where she has her own cooking school, Anissa's School. She appears frequently on British television and radio. She has written many articles for the Weekend Financial Times, and has contributed to several other publications including Gourmet, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post. An accomplished photographer and intrepid traveler, Helou is fluent in French and Arabic as well as English.