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What is Delights from the Garden of Eden?
Delights from the Garden of Eden is Nawal Nasrallah's cookbook and history of Iraqi cuisine. It combines recipes with cultural and historical background, organized by category such as breads, dairy, stews, rice, meat, poultry, fish, pastries and desserts. The site describes it as both a practical cookbook and a culinary history, with more than 300 color images in the revised edition.
What kind of book it is
- Audience: home cooks curious about Iraqi food, and readers interested in Middle Eastern culinary history.
- Structure: chapters move from breads and dairy through main dishes to desserts, with "By-Ways and Asides" offering historical and cultural notes.
- Editions: the site lists an abridged 440-page edition and a complete 572-page edition available as an e-book.
Practical use
If you want to cook from it, start with the bread, rice and stew chapters, which cover foundational Iraqi dishes. If you are reading for context, the historical asides and ingredient indexes are the distinctive part. The trade-off is depth versus convenience: the complete edition gives fuller history, while the abridged edition is easier to handle in the kitchen.
For a next step, browse the chapter list on Delights from the Garden of Eden to see whether the recipe range matches what you want to cook.
What is the difference between the abridged new edition and the original complete edition of Delights from the Garden of Eden?
The abridged new edition is the shorter, updated version: 440 pages, published by Equinox, with more than 300 colour images of dishes, art and history woven through the text. The original complete edition runs 572 pages and survives mainly as an e-book (via iBooks). So the trade-off is straightforward: the abridged edition gives you the revised, heavily illustrated book in print; the complete edition gives you roughly 130 more pages of material, but in digital form.
Which to choose
- You want a physical reference to cook from and browse: take the abridged edition. The colour images and the revised layout make it easier to use at the counter, and it still covers the full chapter range, from breads and dairy through stews, rice, stuffed foods and desserts.
- You want maximum depth, including the historical asides and citations: the complete e-book preserves the fuller text. The site's supplementary material (indexes of ancient, medieval and present ingredients, the full list of 145 "By-Ways and Asides," and the works cited) shows how much historical apparatus sits alongside the recipes, and that is where the longer edition earns its extra pages.
- You are researching rather than cooking: the e-book's searchability plus the fuller text is the better fit; the print abridged edition suits reading and kitchen use.
A practical next step: if a specific recipe or historical note matters to you, check the table of contents and the "By-Ways and Asides" list on Delights from the Garden of Eden before deciding, since those lists reveal what the abridged version keeps. Nawal Nasrallah also posts recipes and history at her companion blog, In My Iraqi Kitchen, which is a low-cost way to sample her approach before buying either edition.
Where can I buy Delights from the Garden of Eden and its e-book version?
Buy Delights from the Garden of Eden through the channels listed on its official site, Delights from the Garden of Eden. That page names Amazon (US and UK), ISD as the US distributor, and Equinox Publishing as the UK publisher for the new abridged 440-page edition. The original complete 572-page edition is offered there as an e-book via iBooks.
Practical next step: decide which edition you need before buying. The abridged edition suits most home cooks who want the recipes and the revised color images in print; the complete e-book suits readers who want the fuller original text and are happy reading on a screen. Check the retailer's listing against the edition details on the official page so you receive the version you intended.
What types of Iraqi recipes and chapters are covered in Delights from the Garden of Eden?
The site lays out the book's contents chapter by chapter, covering the full range of Iraqi cooking: breads; dairy products; vegetarian appetizers and salads; soups; meat and vegetarian snacks, sandwiches and side dishes; stews; rice and other grains and beans; lamb and beef; stuffed foods; poultry; fish; savory pastries; and desserts, split into puddings and ice creams and desserts with syrup. There are also sections on Iraqi ingredients, pickles (turshi), and cookies, plus sample recipes on the site such as breads, a side dish and a soup, stew and rice, fish, chicken, and drinks.
The book is framed as both a cookbook and a history of Iraqi cuisine, with the author's historical material woven through the recipes—the site notes indexes of foods and ingredients spanning ancient, medieval, and present-day use, and a list of 145 "By-Ways and Asides." That makes it useful for two kinds of readers: someone who wants to cook everyday Iraqi dishes like stews, rice, and breads, and someone interested in how those dishes fit into a longer culinary history. The trade-off is depth versus convenience: a 572-page complete edition versus an abridged 440-page new edition, so check which edition a given listing refers to before buying.
As a next step, decide your purpose first—if you mainly want recipes to cook from, the abridged edition covers the same chapter range; if you want the fuller historical asides and indexes, look for the complete edition. The author also writes at In My Iraqi Kitchen and has related books such as Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens and Dates: A Global History.
How does Delights from the Garden of Eden combine Iraqi food history and culture with its recipes?
The site presents Nawal Nasrallah's Delights from the Garden of Eden as both a cookbook and a history of Iraqi cuisine, and its structure shows how the two are meant to work together. The chapter list moves through the practical categories of a working kitchen—breads, dairy, vegetarian appetizers and salads, soups, snacks and side dishes, stews, rice, other grains and beans, lamb and beef, stuffed foods, poultry, fish, savory pastries, and desserts—while the front matter frames the whole book with an introductory chapter titled "Iraqi Food in Perspective." That placement signals the book's approach: historical and cultural context is established before the recipes begin, rather than being scattered as occasional notes.
The site also points to supporting material that reinforces the history side of the project: indexes of foods and ingredients spanning ancient, medieval, and present periods, a table of contents, a complete list of 145 "By-Ways and Asides," and a works cited list. Those asides are the clearest sign of how culture is woven into the recipe chapters—short digressions that sit alongside the dishes rather than in a separate essay section. The revised Equinox edition is described as including more than 300 color images of dishes, art, history, and culture, which suggests the visual material is intended to carry context as well as illustrate food.
Outside commentary on the site supports this dual character. The Times Literary Supplement, quoted on the page, calls it "a labour of love" in which "each page shows erudition, every recipe a passion for food"—an observation from that reviewer, not the site's own claim. SAVEUR magazine selected it as one of its top ten cookbooks of 2013, according to the page.
For a reader deciding whether this fits them: if you want a straightforward weeknight recipe collection, the historical asides and ingredient indexes will be more than you need. If you are cooking Iraqi dishes and want to understand where a bread, stew, or sweet fits in a longer culinary tradition—or you are writing, teaching, or researching Iraqi food—the combination of recipes with context, asides, and a cited bibliography is the main draw. A practical next step is to check the table of contents and the list of asides on the site to see whether the topics match your interests before choosing between the abridged print edition and the complete original e-book.
What do reviewers like Saveur and the Times Literary Supplement say about Delights from the Garden of Eden?
Both outlets praise Delights from the Garden of Eden as a serious work of culinary history, though they emphasize different qualities.
Saveur chose it as one of its top 10 cookbooks of 2013 (issue 161, December 2013). The site quotes the magazine calling the revised edition "a feast to the eyes, soul, mind, and body"—praise aimed at the book's visual and cultural richness as much as its recipes.
The Times Literary Supplement (Eamonn Gearon, 1 November 2013) called it "a splendid achievement" and "obviously a labour of love," noting that Nawal Nasrallah has done "readers, cooks and noncooks alike, a great service." Gearon adds that "each page shows erudition, every recipe a passion for food"—framing it as scholarship that remains usable in the kitchen.
What the two reviews tell you
| Saveur | Times Literary Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Emphasis | Visual and sensory richness; cookbook quality | Scholarship, authorial care, breadth of audience |
| Implied reader | Cooks drawn in by the book's look and feel | Readers interested in Iraqi food history, whether or not they cook |
Read together, the quotes suggest a book that works on two levels: a browsable, image-rich cookbook and a documented history of Iraqi cuisine. If you mainly want weeknight recipes, the TLS line about "noncooks" is a fair warning that the historical material is substantial; if you want context alongside technique, that same material is the draw.
A practical next step: the site lists the book's chapter structure, from breads and dairy through stews, rice, stuffed foods, and desserts. Skim those chapter titles against what you actually cook, then check whether the abridged 440-page edition or the complete 572-page e-book better suits how you'll use it. For a sense of the author's ongoing recipe writing, her blog is linked from the same site, Delights from the Garden of Eden.
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