Khan is a Briton of Pakistani and Iranian heritage. Her experience of the Middle East comes from working for NGOs and a British human rights charity. This is her second cookbook.
The introduction to each course based chapter is an account of visits to the various areas of Palestine. It’s perhaps not surprising that Khan’s politics are rarely far from her writing and, in terms of the putting of food into its social context, this is a good thing to my mind. I found it interesting to note that, even its small area, there are some big differences in the food - for instance, Gazans make much more use of chilli than other parts and they are traditionally very fond of seafood (although the blockade currently makes fishing difficult).
Most of the recipes are traditional to the area but a number represent her interpretation of the cuisine in, say, its use of herbs and spices - for example with salmon roasted with za’atar served with garlicky crushed cannellini beans.
Definitely worth being on your cookbook shelves.
