Food Resources and their Transformation - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 169

some crumbled bread. The invention of
this mixture of ingredients is attributed
traditionnally to a prominent member of
Mazūm called Suwayd al-Haramī, who
is also said to have been the first to serve
milk as a drink in Mecca.
Judging by some anecdotes and by a
frequently-cited verse, it was a much-
appreciated foodstuff, especially suitable
for travellers, but equally favoured by
sedentary peoples. However, this dish was
not considered worthy of “being included
in the haute cuisine”.
Furthermore, the idea of a mixture
or mélange contained in the root led to
the word ays being used in a pejorative
sense. Indeed, there was a saying hāā
'l-amr ays “this is a wretched affair”, and
a proverb, āda 'l-ays yuās “the ays has
been remixed”, that is to say, “it was
already bad, but has now become worse”,
uttered when someone criticises a second
person who has performed his task badly,
but himself fails to do it any better.

soaked in water overnight. Discarding
the water, the wheat was next fried thor-
oughly until browned. When cooled, it
was ground, sieved and then stored for use
when it could be eaten by adding sugar.
An alternative, more complicated method
was to husk and dry the grain before fry-
ing. This basic preparation could then be
used in other types; for example, in sawī
rummān three portions of wheat sawī to
one of pomegranate ( rummān ) seeds were
mixed together, cooked, sieved and sugar
added. Sawī was also added to the dough
in making the pastry, kak . According to
al-Rāzī, pomegranate and apple sawī
were intended only for medicinal pur-
poses, while wheat and barley types were
for nourishment. Plain sawī was consid-
ered a nourishing substitute for fresh fruit
when it was unavailable. Medicinal prepa-
rations made from barley are described by
physicians who envisaged different ways in
which it could be used to achieve different
effects within a regimen of health.

(Ed.) (D. Waines)

Sawī Sikbā

(Ar.) is a food preparation of some antiq-
uity, and one widely known throughout
the mediaeval Middle East. Al-aālibī
attributes its first appearance to Alexan-
der the Great, and it is cited in the physi-
cians' works of both eastern and western
Islamic lands. It was recommended for
travellers and was used to feed armies in
the field. For all its fame, it rarely appears
described in the extant culinary manuals,
although some recipes are found in the ear-
liest (4th/10th century) work by Warrā.
Preparation was chiefly from wheat and
barley, the former preferred among the
urban classes which could afford it. The
wheat grain was first washed and then

(Ar.), a vinegar- and flour-based meat
stew or broth cooked with vegetables,
fruits, spices and date-juice. It was appar-
ently a popular Abbāsid dish but very
likely considered simple folk's food, as
borne out by the many anecdotes that
make satirical mention of it. Its ori-
gins, however, seem to have been royal,
namely the Sāsānid court: Ibn Sayyār
Warrā (d. second half 4th/10th cen-
tury) mentions, in his K. al-abī , that
usraw Anūirwān once asked several
cooks to prepare the finest dish they knew
and all independently cooked sikbā. This
perhaps explains the interest of certain
Abbāsid caliphs in the dish.