Persian Culture and Cuisine
As Islam expanded, it took over regions that were part of the
Byzantine Empire, whose people were the direct heirs to Greco-
Roman civilization. The Muslims adopted their science, medicine,
technology, and literature; translated everything into Arabic; and
became an extraordinarily learned civilization.
The Muslims added to Greek science in particular, and they were
reading Aristotle centuries before anyone in Europe could read
it, so for the fi rst time, there was a real expansion of Greek ideas.
Muslims not only tolerated Jews and Christians in their realms, but
there was also a fruitful interchange of ideas, especially in medicine
and literature. The other civilization they rolled over were the Persians, at this
point ruled by the Sassanid dynasty, who had been fi ghting with the
Byzantines for decades. Both were pretty much exhausted, which
is partly why Islam spread so easily into these regions. Islam also
absorbed Persian culture, which had its own long and rich culinary
traditions. The dominant style of cooking in the Islamic world is also that
of the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad. We don’t really know much
about the earlier Sassanid cuisine, but there’s extensive documents
from Islamic times, so it’s hard to say how much of it goes
back earlier. Distinctive Persian cuisine of this period favors young meats—like
lamb, kid, and veal— much more than mature ones. These were
usually roasted or fried in butter or oil and cut into small pieces
that you could scoop up. Meat was also often cooked with sugar or
some kind of syrup. The idea of marinating meats in sour sauces
with a lot of spices is also prominent in Persian cuisine. Chicken is
probably the most frequently eaten kind of fowl. Perhaps the two most important foods that are spread from one
end to another are rice, cultivated in Spain for the fi rst time, and