Literary and Culinary Adab in Arab Culture

In many languages, the relationship between literature and food is reflected in certain words. Like the English word “taste,” the Arabic word “adab” can mean “manners” or “morals,” in matters both culinary or cultural. This lecture explores the links between food and literature, the culinary obsessions of language, and the ways in which writing about food can help us look at the world—and especially the Middle East—in different ways.