'Claudia Roden is no more a simple cookbook writer than Marcel Proust was a biscuit baker. She is, rather, memorialist, historian, ethnographer, anthropologist, essayist, poet ...' Simon Schama'Every one of Claudia's books introduced us to a delicious new world' Sam and Sam Clarke 'Roden's great gift is to conjure up not just a cuisine but the culture from which it springs' Nigella Lawson'Claudia Roden's writing has the fascination of her conversation. Her books are treasure-houses of information and mines of literary pleasures' Observer About the Author Claudia Roden is a cookbook writer and anthropologist based in the UK. She grew up in Cairo and studied in both Paris and London.