Food

Peace, one and all…

‘My Lord, forgive me and my parents and whoever enters my house in faith…’
(Surah Nuh 71:28)

‘Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be hospitable to his guest…’
(Prophet Muhammad, alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam)

Mevlevi spirituality places great importance on the preparation and serving of food, as well as on welcoming guests into our homes.  Mevlana often likens cooking to the process of spiritual development, as in this beautiful example:

‘Look at the chickpea in the pot,
how it leaps up when it feels the fire.
While boiling, it continually rises to the top
and cries, ‘Why are you setting the fire under me?
Since you bought me, why are you turning me
upside down?’
The housewife keeps hitting it with the ladle.
‘No!’ she says, ‘boil nicely now,
and don’t leap away from the one who makes the fire.
It’s not because you are hateful to me that I boil you,
but so that you might gain flavour,
and become nutritious and mingle with essential spirit.
This affliction is not because you are despised.
When you were green and fresh,
you were drinking water in the garden;
that water-drinking was for the sake of this fire’
Masnavi 3.4159-4165

One of the things I really enjoy in my spare time is cooking. I love cooking mostly because I love eating! At any rate, this page provides links to a number of cookery blogs and websites, showcasing recipes from all over the world.  If you have any good recipes you would like to share, feel free to send them to me.  Affiyet olsun…..

Traditional Islamic/Sufi Hospitality

• Serving the Guest

Useful Websites

• BBC Food

World Cuisine

African Cuisine

• All Nigerian Recipes
• Motherland Nigeria

American Cuisine

• Southern Food & Recipes

Arabic Cuisine

• Arabic Cuisine
• Mom’s Arabic Food Recipes

Caribbean Cuisine

• Bahama Breeze
• Caribbean Pot

Traditional East End, Cockney Cuisine

• Pie ‘n’ Mash

Turkish Cuisine

• Binnur’s Turkish Cookbook
• Turkish Cookbook.com
• Turkish Cooking Recipes