Sandra Benjamin
Autor von Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History
Werke von Sandra Benjamin
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- Geschlecht
- female
- Nationalität
- USA
- Geburtsort
- Troy, New York, USA
- Wohnorte
- New York City, New York, USA
Sicily, Italy - Ausbildung
- New School for Social Research
- Kurzbiographie
- [from Amazon website]
Sandra Benjamin was born in Troy, New York, and moved to New York City when she was sixteen. Eleven years ago she published The World of Benjamin of Tudela: A Medieval Mediterranean Travelogue. Since then she has spent much of her time in Sicily. Always fascinated by the varied ethnic groups of New York City, she was similarly attracted by the diversity of peoples who became part of the fabric of Sicily.
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A very strong recommendation I would make to readers is to read this book concurrent with Mary Taylor Simeti's excellent book covering "twenty-five years of Sicilian Food" entitled Pomp and Sustenance. The chapters parallel one another beautifully and Ms. Simeti's colourful and exuberant writing style helps enliven the history as she also covers her subject chronologically. So read the chapters on the Greek and Roman period in the Benjamin history, then read the related chapters in the Simeti volume. Voila! The paragraphs on agriculture come to life in classic Sicilian recipes still being prepared today. There's not much on culinary traditions introduced by the Vandals and Goths, but the appearance of the Muslim Period in Sicilian history (800s-roughly 1000) meant the introduction of sugar cane, for one, embellished with spices, pistachios and dates, to create many Sicilian desserts with "an Arab imprint, and several that even bear Arab names." This is a reading combination where 1 1=3. Amongst other great additions to world cuisine was tuna. The Sicilians had always been blessed with excellent tuna fishing grounds but it was the Arabs who taught them how to catch them collectively, turning tuna into one of the world's great staples. (And it was a Sicilian who first thought of canning tuna in oil.)
Ms. Benjamin notes in her appendix that most of her sources were in Italian, which explains the rather short suggestions for further reading in English, which is unfortunate, as I consider a book's bibliography one of its riches and often use it as a 'next steps' guide. That said, the few she names are all excellent--Abulafia on Frederick II; John Norwich on the Normans in Sicily, etc.
A good book to get in Kindle format to take with you if you're travelling to or in Sicily, with a very good Index...but don't forget to dip into Simeti's armchair cookbook if you're looking for a more grounded taste of Sicily.… (mehr)