An impressive village of descendants, friends, admirers, and cultural experts gathered to create the gorgeous Persian Feasts: Recipes & Stories from a Family Table. Iran-born Nahid Taghinia-Milani always wanted her gallerist daughter, Leila Heller, "to write a Persian cookbook." Her mother's unexpected death in 2018 inspired Heller--together with coauthors Lila Charif, Laya Khadjavi, and Bahar Tavakolian, who "were like daughters" to Nahid--to pay tribute to her mother's celebrated Persian cuisine; her "cooking was the art of transforming an everyday necessity into a feast."
The result is an exquisite, extravagant array of appetizers and side dishes, soups and potages, main meat dishes, stews, rice, condiments, drinks, and desserts, with each dish accompanied by an inspiring, mouthwatering photograph. Interwoven throughout are family stories--of immigration, longing, adaptation, and a welcoming table laden with delectable treasures. Comprehensive appendices--detailed explanations and directions about staples, menus, ingredients, even "food properties"--encourage and enable the aspiring home chef. --Terry Hong