I received a digital advanced reader copy from the publisher and have already preordered a hard copy for myself. The photos are beautiful, colorful and there are a lot of them! The book is broken down into five sections: bright, savory, spiced, nutty, sweet. Each section focuses on a few different middle eastern ingredients. What has me hooked, is that the author explains each of these ingredients, what they are, where they come from, what their used for, and most importantly, how to find good quality. She doesn't stop there though, she goes beyond by giving several recipe for each ingredient too. This is so much more than just another cookbook, and so much more than just a guide to middle eastern ingredients. It is an absolute must for any foodie! ( )

Flavors of the Sun by Christine Sahadi Whelan
The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients

Married in 1978, I moved to Lebanon. Before coming I tried to learn a few words of Arabic and what foods might be offered when I arrived. Forty-three years later I read cookbooks with ingredients I can’t find easily here in Lebanon giving up on many unless I am aware of substitutions I can make. THIS book is quite the opposite as every single recipe in this book is one that I thought about making almost immediately and could taste mentally without any difficulty at all. It was a joy to read and I will be recommending it to my family and friends.

What I liked:
* The history of the family that founded Sahadi’s in New York.
* Reading about a family that survived and thrived and how they did so.
* Thinking about relatives of my husband’s family that I have never met because they left long ago for South America, America and other countries.
* The gorgeous photographs from the past along with the photos of finished recipes
* The information about ingredients and what to look for when buying them
* That multiple ways to use an ingredient were provided along with recipes to try them in
* That ingredients were used in multiple meal course offerings
* The fact that many generations of the Sahadi family have been and continue to be involved in the family business
* Wanting to try recipes that had interesting new ways for me to use local ingredients
* The beverages that incorporated more than one ingredient
* Reading portions of the book aloud to my Lebanese husband and having him say it would be fun to visit the shop in New York
* The recipes for some foods that I have always wanted to try but have only seen recipes written down in Arabic for.
* The excellent index that would make finding recipes easy
* The menus listed at the end that utilize the recipes in the book
* All of it…absolutely!

What I didn’t like:
* Not a dislike but a quandary…and that was that I couldn’t figure out WHICH recipe to try making first!

Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars ( )