Mesopotamian Culinary Texts.

• Author: Powell, Marvin A.

By JEAN BOTTERO. Mesopotamian Civilizations, vol. 6. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 1995. Pp. x + 252, including plates. $39.50.

A delectable pleasure to read and review, this book is a chef d'oeuvre of cuisine and of Assyriology and splendidly reflects the lifelong research interests, culinary talents, and character of Jean Bottero.

The technical parts of the book are in French, but chapter 2, titled "The Yale Culinary Tablets," is "an adapted version of the relevant sections of 'The Culinary Tablets at Yale,' JAOS 107 (1987): lift." (p. 3), plus a new English translation of the Akkadian culinary texts based on the French "traduction suivie" in chapter 4, and a broad ranging appraisal of their contents based on chapter 7 ("Tableau general de la cuisine"). This English chapter can, therefore, be read both as introduction to and resume of the book. It will surely be the most widely read portion of the book, especially by people interested in the history of cuisine or food. My comments are those of a historian of agriculture and gardening and a practicing cook since 1954.

The English translation of the Akkadian texts and the "traduction suivie" differ in subtle ways from the technical - and more literal - translations offered, along with transliterations and commentary, in ch. three ("Les textes"). Thus, anyone seriously interested in Babylonian cuisine will have to make the effort to use the transliterations and commentary in chapter three together with the excellent culinary glossary of Akkadian terms presented under "Lexique" on pp. 195-223.

One example will suffice. The recurrent (and key) phrase sirum iz-za-az, which probably means literally "meat/flesh will stand," becomes in the technical French translation of chapter three "il y a de la viande," but in the free translation "il y faut de la viande" and in the English "meat is used." The simple negative of this expression, sirum ul iz-za-az, "il n'y apas de viande" of the technical translation, becomes not only "il n'y faut pas de viande fraiche" / "fresh meat is not used" but also "il n'y faut pas d'autre viande" / "other meat is not used," and is rendered by additional nuances that are not readily apparent in the Akkadian. It seems clear that we are dealing here with a technical use of the verb izuzzum, "to stand." I remain skeptical, however, about whether the proposed interpretations have struck the right nuance, and, for better or worse, this phrase is essential to understanding...