Nawal Nasrallah

Nawal Nasrallah, a native of Iraq, is an award-winning independent researcher and food writer. Her cookbook Delights from the Garden of Eden is acclaimed as the definitive source on the Iraqi cuisine and its history. Of her forthcoming books, soon available for purchase: Second Revised Edition of Delights from the Garden of Eden, elegantly styled and generously illustrated with color photos (Equinox Publishing of London), and Dates: A Global History (by Reaktion Books of London), a charming account of the date palm and its fruit.

She is a member of the Culinary Historians of Boston, and has been giving cooking classes, presentations, and demonstrations on the Iraqi cuisine -- ancient, medieval, and modern -- to culinary groups, schools, and libraries. Her English translation of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's tenth-century Baghdadi cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh, entitled Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens (published by Brill of Leiden), was awarded "Best Translation in the World" and "Best of the Best of the Past 12 Years" of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2007. It also received Honourable Mention in 2007 Arab American National Museum Book Awards. Her recipes featured in many magazines and newspapers, such as New York Times, Boston Globe Magazine, and Food and Wine. www.iraqicookbook.com