From Tapas to Meze: First Courses from the Mediterranean Shores of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa [Hardcover]

There are recipes that are poor, not authentic, or contain wrong directons. For example:

*Meatless stuffed grape leaves in olive oil are not traditionally served with yogurt or tzatziki. Only fresh grape leaves should be blanched; preserved leaves just need to be rinsed, and the stuffed leaves should simmer only about one hour. And don't make this dish one week in advance. It's best to eat it within a few days. *Lentil and chard soup is traditionally served as a main course, not as a meze. The recipe fails to say what size skillet and what kind of heat to use for sautéing (medium?) and whether or not to stir the ingredients. And why is it necessary to heat the soup before serving? It's already hot! *Ms. Weir has confused the yogurt and mint sauce on page 208 with çaçik, which contains cucumbers. The Persians don't omit mint from their version of çaçik, and the Iraqis often use mint rather than coriander. The Lebanese don't omit cucumbers. As for this sauce, they make it typically without mint and call it "laban bi toum." Also, the author apparently doesn't realize that her recipe for tzatziki on page 175 is for the Greek equivalent of caçik! *The recipe for tabouleh on page 219 is seriously compromised. Traditionally, this salad is made with fine bulgur (which is first soaked in cold water) and without garlic. If included at all, garlic should be optional, and four to five cloves are too much! Tabouleh is never made with equal amounts of bulgur and parsley but with a minimum of three times as much parsley as bulgur. To say that it is made with parsley and "lots of refreshing herbs" makes no sense. Parsley IS an herb, and mint is traditionally the only other herb used. Moreover, the author doesn't say that the type of parsley should be the flat-leaf variety. Lastly, the dish is served with romaine lettuce or fresh grape leaves, not pita.

Other problems with the recipes include not telling cooks to crush dried herbs where necessary, not specifying spearmint as the proper mint to use, and not calling for lemon juice to be freshly squeezed and strained. Inexperienced cooks need to be made aware of these things.

The text also contains many inaccuracies and inconsistencies, for instance:

*Appetizers are called "mukabalatt" not only in North Africa but also in Lebanon and Syria. *Poutargue is mentioned with reference to France, yet nothing is said about its having been consumed in the eastern Mediterranean since antiquity. *In one place Ms. Weir says that olive trees were brought to Marseilles by Greeks and Phoenicians, but in another by only the Greeks. *On one page she says that the meze tradition originated in ancient Greece and on another that it goes back to ancient Persia. She maintains that the word meze is Turkish in origin; however, "The Oxford Companion to Food" identifies it as Persian. *Sausage making, pickling, and raisins did not come to Greece from Turkey but were well known in the Greco-Roman world. Nor is there proof that yogurt was introduced by the Turks. *The use of sesame seeds and spices in Greece is not due to Turkish influence but dates back to antiquity. *Dolmathes did not come to Greece by way of the Ottoman Empire but already existed in Byzantine cuisine. *The author calls lahmaçun Turkish Lamb and Tomato Pizza yet describes it as an Arab version of Italian pizza (actually, the Arab version may well have preceded the Italian)! To make matters worse, it appears that she doesn't know the Arab name of the dish (lahm bi ajeen). *She wrongly identifies Egyptian brown beans (ful) as "ful medames," which is the name of a dish using these beans. *Ms. Weir writes that meatless dishes cooked in olive oil are called "zeytinyaglilar" in the Middle East, which is wrong; they are called thus only by Turkish-speaking people. *Pages 191 through 193 are particularly rife with misinformation and careless writing. Islam is NOT the backbone of Lebanon; Turkey was (not is) the home of the Ottoman Turks; Ottoman chefs, not their rulers, possessed dexterity in the kitchen; although the name "shish kebab" is Turkish, there is no proof that the dish itself is of Turkish origin; the level of culinary sophistication in the Middle East was high thousands of years before the advent of the Turks; and olive oil is NOT used in nearly every Syrian and Lebanese dish! Egypt fares no better: Ms. Weir writes that in ancient times it was the most sophisticated in the West (sophisticated WHAT?). Also, the Nile River does not separate Egypt from Israel! Furthermore, ta'amiya is not the only name for falafel in Egypt. The word falafel, which the Israelis borrowed from the Arabs, is used in many parts of the Middle East, including the Egyptian city of Alexandria. *And last but certainly not least, still speaking of Egypt, on page 175 the author seems to think that it is neither part of the Middle East nor of North Africa!

This book is a huge letdown. It is full of holes and errors, and the author omits some important appetizers while including dishes that are traditionally not served as appetizers at all (such as the lentil soup mentioned above). Unfortunately, there is presently no book on the market that presents an accurate and comprehensive view of Mediterranean appetizers.