
“1001 Fritters: Food in the Arabian Nights” by Charles Perry
Culinary Historians of San Diego will present “1001 ‘Fritters’: Food in the Arabian Nights,” featuring Charles Perry, at 10:30 am January 21, 2023, in the Neil Morgan Auditorium of the San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd. A tasting will follow the presentation. The event is free and open to the public.
As a collection of wonder tales being recited to hungry audiences in Middle Eastern bazaars, The Arabian Nights naturally included a number of references to foods. Translators have generally fudged their identity with guesswork — even though several medieval Arab cookbooks have been translated by now, several by Charles Perry. For instance, three totally unrelated sweets are usually translated as ‘fritters.’ Charles will lift the curtain on these mysterious treats.
About Charles Perry
Charles Perry, grandson of a silent film screenwriter and great-grandson of Gold Rush pioneers, is an internationally known food writer. He is the president of Culinary Historians of Southern California, was a major contributor to The Oxford Companion to Food and served two terms as a trustee of the annual Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Perry is the author of numerous publications in the fields of Food and the Sixties.
About the Culinary Historians of San Diego
Culinary Historians of San Diego (CHSD) is a nonprofit organization that provides the public with a history of food and drink and their roles in society, both locally and worldwide. Membership in this non-profit organization supports both CHSD activities and the culinary collection of the San Diego Public Library.
Speaker
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Charles PerryAuthor, President, Culinary Historians of Southern California
Charles Perry, grandson of a silent film screenwriter and great-grandson of Gold Rush pioneers, is the president/co-founder of the Culinary Historians of Southern California. He majored in Middle East studies at Princeton and UC Berkeley. After a detour as a roommate of a famous LSD millionaire and eight years as a staff writer at Rolling Stone (1968-76), he became a food writer and served as a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times food section (1990-2008). Perry has written widely on Middle Eastern and California food history.