acknowledgments

In the writing of any cookbook, it is the people who actually eat all the test preparations that go into perfecting the recipes who deserve the most thanks. They, after all, are the people who daily offer up their palates and provide crucial feedback, even concerning those not-so-great preparations that do not make it into the book. The others who deserve thanks are the people who provide advice on researching, writing, and editing recipes and on making a final ­selection that shows balance and breadth—especially important to a book that would offer the “best” in any category. So, many heart-felt thanks to my agent Angela Miller; my editor Justin Schwartz; my children Ali, Dyala, and Seri Kattan-Wright; to their mother, Najwa al-Qattan; and to my colleagues and friends Martha Rose Shulman, Deborah Madison, Russ Parsons, and Sarah Pillsbury.