Every one of the 12 cookbooks that Arto der Haroutunian wrote became a classic; his thoughtful erudite writing helped to explain to westerners the subtlety complexity & diversity of Middle Eastern & North African cooking. Arto der Haroutunian was born in Aleppo Syria in 1940 & grew up in the Levant but came to England with his parents as a child & remained here for most of his life. He studied architecture at Manchester University & established a career designing restaurants clubs & hotels. In 1970 in partnership with his brother he opened the first Armenian restaurant in Manchester which eventually became a successful chain of six restaurants & two hotels. Given his passion for cooking it was a natural progression that he should then begin to write cookery books as they combined his love of food with his great interest in the history & culture of the region. It was his belief that the rich culinary tradition of the Middle East is the main source of many of our Western cuisines & his books were intended as an introduction to that tradition. All the many cookbooks written by Der Haroutunian have now been out of print for many years & second hand copies fetch hundreds of pounds. He died in 1987 at the untimely age of 47. He is survived by his wife & son who still live in Manchester. As well as his passion for cooking Arto der Haroutunian was a painter of international reputation who exhibited all over the world. His other interests included composing music & translating Turkish Arab Persian & Armenian authors. He was a true polymath. This is a wonderful cookbook & has become one of the two or three I reach for first & use most. The recipes are easy to follow & make the explanations are clear. Many of the recipes are introduced with stories from the region.