Annia Ciezadlo

Wonderful book, with Ciezadlo's on-the-ground reporter's view of the situations in Iraq and Lebanon (from 2003 to about 2008). Ciezadlo is also just married, meeting her Lebanese in-laws, learning to cook, and learning about how people live in wartime--the odd mix of horror and basic life-goes-on mentality.

During the first Marine assault on Falluja and the Abu Ghraib court-martials she goes to a Baghdad restaurant for her everyday plate of mixed vegetables. Instead, in the room without show more air-conditioning (failed generator) she finds the chef had made a complicated chicken roulade, filled with cream sauce.
She asks him: 'Why make such a beautiful thing at a time like this?'

"An expression of pride and despair...flickered across his face. 'It's what I do'. show less

This starts out fine, slows down with a bit of a small sigh and then picks up again very quickly. It is a personal memoir of sorts by a young woman who is fascinated by food, culture and war. She writes very well (some phrases and sentences just sing..)and I learned more about Iraq, Iran and Lebanon in this book than in many another more formal history. It also made me fascinated with the food she describes. Most importantly, she brings home the real human cost of wars and the differences show more between those who start them, those who fight them and those who must carve out a life from the rubble left behind. Worth it! show less

Annia took us to places that most people fear to go. And that is into the war zones. However, instead of focusing on the fighting and the soldiers as most “war” stories do, she focuses on the everyday person and how they live their daily lives in spite of bombs going off around them.

She does discuss some of the politics that are taking place at the time of her life in Baghdad. However, this is not at the forefront of her book. This is more like a side note in order for the reader to show more understand the conditions that these people endured. And also to give a frame of reference to everyone else.

This story unfolds one dish at a time. Annia talks about the fact that human civilization revolves around meal times. It is common for people to set aside their differences over a simple meal. How many times have you suffered through Aunt Sally, Uncle Joe, or those annoying cousins because you had to act civil over dinner? Think of those holiday dinners and then enhance it to a global scale.

Annia has a wonderful way of words that you can almost smell the herbs, spices, and meats as they cook. show less

The book is a bit convoluted (moving between Lebanon and Iraq with lots of secondary characters) but it is well written. The author's style is lyrical and I always like reading memoirs about travel or food and this had both.