In her book entitled “Culinary memory of Algeria, history of recipes”, Yasmina Sellam invites her readers to explore Algerian gastronomy through the prism of the history of food, universal gastronomic literature and through that of the authenticity of a rich local heritage enriched over time, while going back to the gastronomy of antiquity.
Published by Anep edition on the occasion of the 25th International Book Fair of Algiers (Sila), held recently, this beautiful 110-page book is based on a rich documentation work on the history of food since prehistoric times. and the rules of healthy food in the Chinese Empire of Confucius (5 century BC) or the Rome of Apicius, up to the potential of contemporary culinary art.
The author has chosen to publish what our distant ancestors ate and to give readers the desire to explore this diet by considering “that a dish is the story of a region (…) and that the richness Algeria’s gastronomic cuisine is the result of local genius and the imprints of other civilizations”. Yasmina Sellam, who has moved away from the simple recipe book, wonders about the reasons that have left this heritage bequeathed from generation to generation “completely unknown”.
This agronomist by training also exhibits summaries of ancient writings on the culinary arts, such as the Babylonian tablets dated 400 years before our era, considered to be the first culinary documents, and which give “recipes that can be made today”. .
The author also cites “Kitab Al Tabkh” by Ibrahim Ibn El Mahdi, the first cookbook in Arabic that unfortunately disappeared, and another eponymous book by Ibn Sayyar El Warrak which is “the first book to reach us in full”.
Yasmina Sellam suggests tracing the thread of the Algerian culinary art, based first on the oldest utensils discovered on the few writings and research available which provide information on the diet of the Numidians or on the Umayyad, Abbasid, Andalusian or even Ottoman.
In terms of recipes, the author offers the oldest known achievements of the Algerian culinary art such as “Numidian chicken” and “stuffed dates”, cited by Apicius, a figure of Roman high society, and Algerian couscous whose diversity, authenticity and origins are no longer to be demonstrated since its classification as a world heritage site.
A small selection of authentic recipes are also offered by Yasmina Sellam who has chosen to also highlight the enrichment of the Algerian culinary art by different people under the influence of different cultures.
An agronomist by training and teacher at the École Normale Supérieure, Yasmina Sellam opened her table d’hôtes in 2011, after her retirement, with the aim of promoting typical Algerian traditional cuisine. Member of the jury of the “Master Chef Algeria” competition, she also intervenes in numerous television programs to transmit an unknown or forgotten culinary heritage and healthy cuisine based on academic knowledge.
Friday, 15 April 2022 APS
