Best of Delectable Foods and Dishes from al-Andalus and al-Maghrib: A Cookbook by Thirteenth-Century Andalusi Scholar Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī (1227–1293)

The thirteenth-century cookbook Fiḍālat al-khiwān fī ṭayyibāt al-ṭaʿām wa-l-alwān by the Andalusi scholar Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī showcases the sophisticated cuisine that developed in the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule through its 475 exquisite recipes. Now available for the first time in English, this edition contains al-Tujībī’s complete text, based on a newly discovered manuscript now available for the first time in any language. To introduce readers to the wonders of cooking and foodways in al-Andalus and the Maghreb, the translated text is supplemented with an extensive introduction and glossary, illustrated throughout with 218 color miniatures and artifacts, with 24 modernized recipes to give readers a taste of the cuisine. This is a key resource on medieval material culture and the Arab culinary heritage in Iberia, and a delight to all lovers of food and cookbooks.

One of only a handful of surviving medieval Spanish cookbooks, Ibn Razin's Fiḍālat has been long known to scholars, even if incompletely. By at least the 17th century, 55 of its 475 recipes had disappeared. Then in 2018 a nearly complete 15th-16th century copy of the cookbook, originally composed in Tunis around 1260 CE, surfaced in the British Library. Alerted to the discovery, Nasrallah, a food historian, set out to produce the first complete English translation, preserving lbn Razin's culinary legacy while modernizing 24 of the recipes for the home cook. The book serves as Ibn Razin's ode to the cuisine of Muslim Spain, before having to flee the Iberian Peninsula's conquest by Christian armies. He nostalgically surveys a wide range of dishes, from everyday boiled fava beans to special-occasion sinhaji, an elaborate stew and forebear of Spain's classic olla podrida. This faithful translation is an important contribution to the history of Andalusi cuisine.