Rachel Laudan

One objection that comes up time and again when people discuss my theory about the Islamic origins of mole poblano is this: how come, if mole was introduced by the Spaniards, it is now the celebration dish in small villages all over Mexico?
Perfectly good question. And I think there is an answer to this [...]

In thinking about Islamic culinary traditions in India, one of the books I’ve found most useful is Richard Eaton’s The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204-1760 (University of California Press, 1994). OK, it’s not about the courts of the Sultans or the Mughals. OK, it hardly mentions food. But it [...]

That’s a question I have been asked several times. In my Mexican Kitchen’s Islamic Connection I mention only the Mughals.
Yes, clearly there was. Muslims conquerers had begun entering India around 1200, 300 plus years before the Mughals. The traveler Al-Biruni describes (more or less accurately) meals at the sultans’ courts. The [...]