For lovers of Turkish food, and for those interested in the history of Turkish cuisine, this is an excellent book, containing wonderful information on Ottoman cuisine. The recipes are primarily from Constantinople (now Istanbul), both from the Sultan's palace and surviving handwritten and early published cookbooks. But there are a few of the common people as well.

The recipes span from the 15th through the 19th centuries. The author includes in-depth discussion of the available sources on Ottoman cooking and the changes over time, as the style of cooking changed and new ingredients arrived from the Americas, primarily in the 18th century, such as tomatoes, bell peppers, chili peppers, among others. Through these recipes and Yerasimos's essays, one can see how different Turkish cuisine of the past was from that of our time.

However, i find it frustrating that the author included almost no original historical recipes (IIRC, there's *one*), but only her modern interpretations. This won't deter the average cook. But for those of us who are food historians this aspect is quite disappointing.

Still, i am extremely happy to have it in my cookbook library, since so few modern published Turkish cookbooks cover recipes from the 15th and 16th centuries. And combining recipes from "500 Years..." with Stephane / Stefanos Yerasimos's book "A la table du Grand Turc" / "Sultan Sofralari" i have about 1/3 of the recipes from Mehmet Shirvan's still untranslated 15th c. Ottoman cookbook and can taste for myself royal dishes of the Ottoman Empire's "Golden Age". ( )