Synopses & Reviews
American Book Award Winnerandlt;BRandgt;Winner of Books for a Better Life Award (First Book)andlt;BRandgt;James Beard Foundation Award Nomineeandlt;BRandgt;BNN Discover Awards, second place nonfictionandlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Bandgt;A luminous portrait of life in the Middle East, andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honey andlt;/Iandgt;weaves history, cuisine, and firsthand reporting into a fearless, intimate exploration of everyday survival.andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;In the fall of 2003, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad and Beirut, she broke bread with Shiites and Sunnis, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honey andlt;/Iandgt;is her memoir of the hunger for food and friendshipand#8212;a communion that feeds the soul as much as the body in times of war.andlt;BRandgt; andlt;BRandgt;Reporting from occupied Baghdad, Ciezadlo longs for normal married life. She finds it in Beirut, her husbandand#8217;s hometown, a city slowly recovering from years of civil war. But just as the young couple settles into a new home, the bloodshed they escaped in Iraq spreads to Lebanon and reawakens the terrible specter of sectarian violence. In lucid, fiercely intelligent prose, Ciezadlo uses food and the rituals of eating to illuminate a vibrant Middle East that most Americans never see. We get to know people like Roaa, a determined young Kurdish woman who dreams of exploring the world, only to see her life under occupation become confined to the kitchen; Abu Rifaat, a Baghdad book lover who spends his days eavesdropping in the ancient cityand#8217;s legendary cafand#233;s; Salama al-Khafaji, a soft-spoken dentist who eludes assassins to become Iraqand#8217;s most popular female politician; and Umm Hassane, Ciezadloand#8217;s sardonic Lebanese mother-in-law, who teaches her to cook rare family recipesand#8212;which are included in a mouthwatering appendix of Middle Eastern comfort food. As bombs destroy her new familyand#8217;s ancestral home and militias invade her Beirut neighborhood, Ciezadlo illuminates the human cost of war with an extraordinary ability to anchor the rhythms of daily life in a larger political and historical context. From forbidden Baghdad book clubs to the oldest recipes in the world, Ciezadlo takes us inside the Middle East at a historic moment when hope and fear collide. andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honey andlt;/Iandgt;is a brave and compassionate portrait of civilian life during wartimeand#8212;a moving testament to the power of love and generosity to transcend the misery of war.
Review
“A lucid memoir of life in the war-torn Middle East…. Through immersion in food and cooking, Ciezadlo grounded herself amid widespread instability while gaining special insight into a people forced to endure years of bloody conflict….This ambitious and multilayered book is as much a feast for the mind as for the heart.”
Kirkus Reviews“Annia Ciezadlo’s Day of Honey is a gorgeous, mouthwateringly written book that convincingly demonstrates why, even with bombs going off all over the place, you gotta eat.”
Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City“A riveting, insightful and moving story of a spirited people in wartime horror told with affection and humour. Food plays a part in the tellingunraveling layers of culture, history and civilization, revealing codes of behaviour and feelings of identity and making the book a banquet to be savored."
Claudia Roden, author of The New Book of Middle Eastern Food“A warm, hilarious, terrifying, thrilling, insanely smart debut book that gets deep inside of you and lets you see the Middle Eastand the worldthrough profoundly humanitarian eyes. And if that weren’t enough, there’s also a phenomenal chapter’s worth of recipes. Buy this important book. Now.”
James Oseland, editor-in-chief, Saveur"Annia Ciezadlo combines 'mouthwatering' and the Middle East in this beautifully crafted memoir. She adds a new perspective to the region and leavens the stories of lives caught up in the tragedies of war, including her own, with recipes for understanding. She is a gifted writer and a perceptive analyst. Ciezadlo’s portraits are unforgettable."
Deborah Amos, author of Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East and correspondent for National Public Radio
Review
and#8220;Her book is among the least political, and most intimate and valuable, to have come out of the Iraq warand#8230;andnbsp;andnbsp; There are many good reasons to read andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honey.andlt;/Iandgt; Itand#8217;s a carefully researched tour through the history of Middle Eastern food. Itand#8217;s filled with adrenalized scenes from war zones, scenes of narrow escapes and clandestine phone calls and frightening cultural misunderstandings. Ms. Ciezadlo is completely hilarious on the topic of trying to please her demanding new Lebanese in-laws. These things wouldnand#8217;t matter much, though, if her sentences didnand#8217;t make such a sensual, smart, wired-up sound on the page.... Ms. Ciezadlo is the kind of thinker who listens as well as she writes. Her quotations from other people are often beautiful, or very funnyand#8230;. readers will feel lucky to find her.and#8221;andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;Dwight Garner, andlt;Iandgt;The New York Timesandnbsp; andlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;Iandgt;andlt;/Iandgt;
Review
and#8220;Her epicurial tour cracks open a different Iraq. She looks into its dusty cookbooks, explores its coffeehouses and savors the foods of its many regions and religious sects. Her book is full of more insight and joy than anything else I have read on Iraq.... Her writing is at times so moving that you want to cry for countries destroyed, but she writes with such wisdom that you don't fret over the future of these 4,000-year-old civilizations."andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;The Washington Post Book Worldandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;Iandgt;andlt;/Iandgt;
Review
and#8220;Her writing about food is both evocative and loving; this is a woman who clearly enjoys a meal. . . . A glass of Iraqi tea, under Ciezadloand#8217;s gaze, is a thing of beauty.and#8221;andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;The Associated Pressandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;Bandgt;andlt;Iandgt;andlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Review
and#8220;In her extraordinary debut, Annia Ciezadlo turns food into a language, a set of signs and connections, that helps tie together a complex moving memoir of the Middle East. She interweaves her private story with portraits of memorable individuals she comes to know along the way, and with the shattering public events in Baghdad and Beirut. She does so with grace and skill, without falling into sentimentality or simple generalizations.and#8221; andlt;Bandgt;andlt;Iandgt;and#8212;The Globe and Mailandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt; andlt;Iandgt;andlt;/Iandgt;
Review
and#8220;Itand#8217;s been a long time since I have enjoyed any nonfiction as much as I did Annia Ciezadloand#8217;s andlt;Iandgt;andlt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416583939/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8andamp;tag=slatmaga-20andamp;linkCode=as2andamp;camp=1789andamp;creative=390957andamp;creativeASIN=1416583939"andgt;Day of Honeyandlt;/aandgt;andlt;/Iandgt;and#8230; Ciezadloand#8217;s determination to know intimately the cuisine of wherever sheand#8217;s staying lends the book both its organization and richnessand#8230; Ciezadlo is a splendid narrator, warm and funnyand#8230; Cooking and eating are everyday comforts, and with any luck, a source of fellowship; andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honeyandlt;/Iandgt; was a beautiful reminder that this doesnand#8217;t change even in the midst of war.and#8221; andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;Slateandlt;/Iandgt;
Review
and#8220;Ciezadlo's memoir is, fortunately, fascinating. And touching. Plus alternately depressing (because of the seemingly endless, senseless sectarian deaths in Iraq and Lebanon) and laugh-out-loud funny (because of the self-deprecation, not to mention the vivid portraits of unique characters such as her mother-in-law).... It would be an easy path, and maybe a wise one, to fill out the remainder of this review with direct quotations from the memoir. Ciezadloand#8217;s writing is that good.... Ciezadlo's voice is marvelous."andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;The Christian Science Monitorandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;Bandgt;andnbsp;andlt;/Bandgt; andnbsp;
Review
and#8220;Her fast-paced, graceful writing weaves politics into discussions of literature and cuisine to bring insight into the long history of cultural mix and transition in the Middle East, reminding us that even as war persists, our humanity helps to preserve our civilization, and our food binds our communities and our families.... A highly recommended personal perspective on political and cultural aspects of the war-riven Middle East..."andlt;Bandgt; and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;Library Journalandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Review
and#8220;Ciezadloand#8217;s lovely, natural language succeeds where news reports often fail: She leads us to care.and#8221;andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;The Oregonianandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;Bandgt;andlt;Iandgt; andlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Review
and#8220;A vividly written memoir of her adventures in travel and taste in the Middle East.andnbsp; The capstone to all her thoughtful ruminations is a mouthwatering final chapter collecting many of the dishes she describes earlier in the book.andnbsp; She does this all in writing that is forthright and evocative, and she reminds us that the best memoirs are kaleidoscopes that blend an authorand#8217;s life and larger truths to make a sparkling whole.and#8221;andlt;Bandgt;andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;andlt;/Bandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Booklistandlt;/Iandgt; andlt;/Bandgt;(starred review)
Review
and#8220;Ciezadlo paints memorable portraits of shopkeepers, journalists, poets, women's rights activists, restaurant owners, and the ways they cope... When Ciezadlo describes meals, I am both hungry and drunk on her words... The best books transport us to worlds outside our experience, making them both real and comprehensible. Unequivocally, this is one of those books.and#8221;andlt;Bandgt; and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;The Austin Chronicleandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Review
and#8220;Annia Ciezadloand#8217;s andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honeyandlt;/Iandgt; isandnbsp;a gorgeous, mouthwateringly written book that convincingly demonstrates why, even with bombs going off all over the place, you gotta eat.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;Suketu Mehta, author of andlt;Iandgt;Maximum Cityandlt;/Iandgt;
Review
and#8220;A riveting, insightful and moving story of a spirited people in wartime horror told with affection and humour. Food plays a part in the tellingand#8212;unraveling layers of culture, history and civilization, revealing codes of behaviour and feelings of identity andandnbsp;making the book a banquet to be savored."andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;Claudia Roden, author of andlt;Iandgt;The New Book of Middle Eastern Foodandlt;/Iandgt;
Review
and#8220;A warm, hilarious, terrifying, thrilling, insanely smart debut book that gets deep inside of you and lets you see the Middle Eastand#8212;and the worldand#8212;through profoundly humanitarian eyes. And if that werenand#8217;t enough, thereand#8217;s also a phenomenal chapterand#8217;s worth of recipes. Buy this important book. Now.and#8221;andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;James Oseland, editor-in-chief, andlt;Iandgt;Saveurandlt;/Iandgt;
Review
"Annia Ciezadlo combines 'mouthwatering' and the Middle East in this beautifully crafted memoir. She adds a new perspective to the region and leavens the stories of lives caught up in the tragedies of war, including her own, with recipes for understanding. She is a gifted writer and a perceptive analyst. Ciezadloand#8217;s portraits are unforgettable." andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;Deborah Amos, author of andlt;Iandgt;Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle Eastandlt;/Iandgt; and correspondent for National Public Radio
Review
andlt;divandgt;Its been a long time since I have enjoyed any nonfiction as much as I did Annia Ciezadlos andlt;Iandgt;andlt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416583939/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8andamp;tag=slatmaga-20andamp;linkCode=as2andamp;camp=1789andamp;creative=390957andamp;creativeASIN=1416583939"andgt;Day of Honeyandlt;/aandgt;andlt;/Iandgt; Ciezadlos determination to know intimately the cuisine of wherever shes staying lends the book both its organization and richness Ciezadlo is a splendid narrator, warm and funny Cooking and eating are everyday comforts, and with any luck, a source of fellowship; andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honeyandlt;/Iandgt; was a beautiful reminder that this doesnt change even in the midst of war. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Slateandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/divandgt;
Review
and#8220;Her book is full of more insight and joy than anything else I have read on Iraq. Some tidbits are fascinatingand#8230; Ciezadlo is a wonderful traveling companion. Her observations are delightful and#8212; witty, intelligent and nonjudgmental. Skirting the politics, hotel food and headline-grabbing violence, she spills the secrets of this region so rich in history as if they were spices from a burlap sack. Her writing is at times so moving that you want to cry for countries destroyed, but she writes with such wisdom that you donand#8217;t fret over the future of these 4,000-year-old civilizations. Itand#8217;s a shame that the hundreds of journalists, aid workers and pundits who dominate the discussion of Iraq and Lebanon rarely stop to delight in the countriesand#8217; beauty.and#8221; andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;The Washington Postandlt;/Iandgt;
Review
"Annia Ciezadlo's
Day of Honey is a gorgeous, mouthwateringly written book that convincingly demonstrates why, even with bombs going off all over the place, you gotta eat."
--Suketu Mehta, author of Maximum City
Review
andnbsp;and#8220;Ciezadlo is a splendid narrator, warm and funny and more interested in others than herself... Cooking and eating are everyday comforts, and with any luck, a source of fellowship; andlt;Iandgt;Day of Honeyandlt;/Iandgt; is a beautiful reminder that this doesn't change even in the midst of war."andlt;Bandgt;and#8212;andlt;Iandgt;Slateandlt;/Iandgt;andlt;/Bandgt;
Synopsis
Day of Honey is a beautifully written, fiercely intelligent memoir exploring the heightened meaning of cooking during wartime.
Synopsis
A luminous portrait of life in the war-torn Middle East, Day of Honey combines the brilliance of From Beirut to Jerusalem with the pleasures of Eat, Pray, Love.
American Book Award Winner
Winner of Books for a Better Life Award (First Book)
James Beard Foundation Award Nominee
BNN Discover Awards, second place nonfiction
A luminous portrait of life in the Middle East, Day of Honey weaves history, cuisine, and firsthand reporting into a fearless, intimate exploration of everyday survival.
In the fall of 2003, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad and Beirut, she broke bread with Shiites and Sunnis, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. Day of Honey is her memoir of the hunger for food and friendship a communion that feeds the soul as much as the body in times of war.
Reporting from occupied Baghdad, Ciezadlo longs for normal married life. She finds it in Beirut, her husband s hometown, a city slowly recovering from years of civil war. But just as the young couple settles into a new home, the bloodshed they escaped in Iraq spreads to Lebanon and reawakens the terrible specter of sectarian violence. In lucid, fiercely intelligent prose, Ciezadlo uses food and the rituals of eating to illuminate a vibrant Middle East that most Americans never see. We get to know people like Roaa, a determined young Kurdish woman who dreams of exploring the world, only to see her life under occupation become confined to the kitchen; Abu Rifaat, a Baghdad book lover who spends his days eavesdropping in the ancient city s legendary cafes; Salama al-Khafaji, a soft-spoken dentist who eludes assassins to become Iraq s most popular female politician; and Umm Hassane, Ciezadlo s sardonic Lebanese mother-in-law, who teaches her to cook rare family recipes which are included in a mouthwatering appendix of Middle Eastern comfort food. As bombs destroy her new family s ancestral home and militias invade her Beirut neighborhood, Ciezadlo illuminates the human cost of war with an extraordinary ability to anchor the rhythms of daily life in a larger political and historical context. From forbidden Baghdad book clubs to the oldest recipes in the world, Ciezadlo takes us inside the Middle East at a historic moment when hope and fear collide. Day of Honey is a brave and compassionate portrait of civilian life during wartime a moving testament to the power of love and generosity to transcend the misery of war."
Synopsis
Day of Honey is a beautifully written, fiercely intelligent memoir exploring the heightened meaning of cooking during wartime.
Synopsis
American Book Award Winner
Winner of Books for a Better Life Award (First Book)
James Beard Foundation Award Nominee
BNN Discover Awards, second place nonfiction
A luminous portrait of life in the Middle East, Day of Honey weaves history, cuisine, and firsthand reporting into a fearless, intimate exploration of everyday survival.
In the fall of 2003, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad and Beirut, she broke bread with Shiites and Sunnis, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. Day of Honey is her memoir of the hunger for food and friendship—a communion that feeds the soul as much as the body in times of war.
Reporting from occupied Baghdad, Ciezadlo longs for normal married life. She finds it in Beirut, her husband’s hometown, a city slowly recovering from years of civil war. But just as the young couple settles into a new home, the bloodshed they escaped in Iraq spreads to Lebanon and reawakens the terrible specter of sectarian violence. In lucid, fiercely intelligent prose, Ciezadlo uses food and the rituals of eating to illuminate a vibrant Middle East that most Americans never see. We get to know people like Roaa, a determined young Kurdish woman who dreams of exploring the world, only to see her life under occupation become confined to the kitchen; Abu Rifaat, a Baghdad book lover who spends his days eavesdropping in the ancient city’s legendary cafÉs; Salama al-Khafaji, a soft-spoken dentist who eludes assassins to become Iraq’s most popular female politician; and Umm Hassane, Ciezadlo’s sardonic Lebanese mother-in-law, who teaches her to cook rare family recipes—which are included in a mouthwatering appendix of Middle Eastern comfort food. As bombs destroy her new family’s ancestral home and militias invade her Beirut neighborhood, Ciezadlo illuminates the human cost of war with an extraordinary ability to anchor the rhythms of daily life in a larger political and historical context. From forbidden Baghdad book clubs to the oldest recipes in the world, Ciezadlo takes us inside the Middle East at a historic moment when hope and fear collide. Day of Honey is a brave and compassionate portrait of civilian life during wartime—a moving testament to the power of love and generosity to transcend the misery of war.
About the Author
Born in Chicago, Annia Ciezadlo grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. She received her Master's in journalism from New York University in 2000. In late 2003, she left New York for Baghdad, where she worked as a stringer for
The Christian Science Monitor and other publications for the next year. During this time, she wrote groundbreaking stories, about parliamentary quotas for women, Baghdad's graffiti wars, militant Islamist poetry slams, the flight of the country's Christian minority, and Iraq's first reality tv show. Her first-person piece on what it's like to go through checkpoints in Baghdad earned a flood of responses, and is now used by the US military to help prevent civilian casualities. Since then, she has reported on revolutions in Lebanon, crackdowns in Syria, repression in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the 2006 "summer war" between Israel and Hezbollah. Although she has covered several wars, Annia does not describe herself as a war correspondent. She specializes in articles about Arab culture and civil society, stories that explore the intersections between larger political realities and everyday activities like driving, cooking, and going to school.
She has written about culture, politics, and the Middle East for The New Republic, The Nation, The Washington Post, the National Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Observer, and Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper. Annia lives somewhere between New York and Beirut, with her husband, the journalist Mohamad Bazzi.