Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories [B1786]

2018 HCDJ, in excellent condition. Winner of the IACP 2019 First Book Award presented by The Julia Child Foundation. Naz Deravian lays out the multi-hued canvas of a Persian meal, with 100+ recipes adapted to an American home kitchen and interspersed with Naz's celebrated essays exploring the idea of home. At eight years old, Naz Deravian left Iran with her family during the height of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis. Over the following ten years, they emigrated from Iran to Rome to Vancouver, carrying with them books of Persian poetry, tiny jars of saffron threads, and always, the knowledge that home can be found in a simple, perfect pot of rice. As they traverse the world in search of a place to land, Naz's family finds comfort and familiarity in pots of hearty aash, steaming pomegranate and walnut chicken, and of course, tahdig: the crispy, golden jewels of rice that form a crust at the bottom of the pot. The best part, saved for last.

In Bottom of the Pot, Naz, now an award-winning writer and passionate home cook based in LA, opens up to us a world of fragrant rose petals and tart dried limes, music and poetry, and the bittersweet twin pulls of assimilation and nostalgia. In over 100 recipes, Naz introduces us to Persian food made from a global perspective, at home in an American kitchen. Note: This highly rated cookbook sells for $12 and UP online.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I'm not normally one to read all the 'fluff' that goes with recipes or in cookbooks these days. I'm the person they made the 'jump to the recipe' button for. But in the last year I read two books about displaced Iranian refugees and in both there was much discussion about Persian cooking. So I bought this cookbook and have made several recipes and read it completely. What a delight!!"; "This cookbook is absolutely stunning. A gem! I was introduced to Persian cooking years ago by an Iranian who fled the Revolution long ago, never to return, and shared her culture through a cuisine that was a rare hidden gem to me. I was fortunate to learn how to make tahdig and some favorite recipes from her directly but I never imagined that a perfect cookbook like this would come to exist. Iranian food is known to be meat-oriented, and I am writing this before beginning the Khoresh chapter, but as a mostly vegetarian 'flexitarian', this cookbook seems ideal. The photography is gorgeous, the layout is clean, and while great recipes dominate, there is just the right amount of text to describe family connection and interesting cuisine attributes."; "Best Persian cookbook! This is one of my favorite cookbooks, with lots of great, easily explained recipes. I get lots of compliments from my Persian in laws when I cook from this book."; "My Iranian friends say it is Americanized but that's kinda what i like about it. Excellent intro to the gloriousness of Persian food."