Product Description

Nazneen Sheikh has lived among the kings and queens of Mughal food—in fact, they're family. Through tales of her Kashmiri relatives and the wonderful meals they have shared together, she brings alive the food-mad history and enduring culture of the Mughal people.

Pink tea served in a samovar by her grandmother, a gift of wild black mushrooms from her matinee-idol uncle, her aunt Khush's secret recipe for Kashmiri hareesa—the sight, smell and taste of these and other delicacies infuse Nazneen's memories of her childhood. From entertaining Pakistani cabinet ministers to feasting to end Ramadan and picnicking in the countryside, Tea and Pomegranates is a culinary delight.

In ten chapters, each accompanied by a rare and delicious Mughal recipe, Nazneen invites us to enjoy a banquet that starts at the break of day and ends at night. As captivating as a novel, this unique memoir takes the reader on a fascinating journey into a culture that never fails to celebrate the rich possibilities of food, life and love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #466256 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Books in Canada
This is a small book with just 10 food recipes. It is as advertised: a memoir of food, family, and Kashmir. What isn't advertised is the elegance with which those three elements are integrated and rendered indivisible, and how deliciously informative it is, both in the culinary and cultural sense. Like most Canadians, I've tended to lump the regional cuisines of India together. Nazneen Sheikh demonstrates that this is a diminishment of their delicate specificity, and, well, more than a small insult-and not just because the several distinct cultures on the subcontinent disagree on virtually everything.
Sheikh herself is a kind of ambulatory cultural bridge, born in Kashmir, raised in Pakistan, educated in the United States and a long-time resident of Canada. Like many of Toronto's writers, I've eaten at her table, and thus can authenticate her expertise as a cook. She's fabulous in the kitchen, but she tosses it all off so casually that I didn't recognize how careful she is with her cuisine, or how integral it is to her sensibility. She has written a book you can read for its love of food, and its ten magnificent recipes. But if you leave it there, you'll be missing a first-rate cultural history of one of the planet's political flashpoints. You'd also be missing some great storytelling, with a finely drawn cast of characters worthy of anyone's attention. It makes you wish Penguin had taken the book a little more seriously, asked her to go on a bit longer, and put the book in a larger, more readable and usable format. Most books are small books acting big. This one is a big book playing smaller than it ought to.
Brian Fawcett (Books in Canada)

M.G. Vassanji
'"Tea and Pomegranates" is a delightful offering of romance and history, celebrating culture and memory through the medium of food.'

James Chatto, author of "The Greek for Love"
'In "Tea and Pomegranates", Nazneen Sheikh weaves past and present into a fascinating memoir. Her loom is the history of Kashmiri Mughal cuisine, her silks are the exotic, mouth-watering dishes of a privileged childhood. I wanted to run to the kitchen to try her recipes, but I couldn't put the book down.'