Pomegranate Soup (Babylon Café, #1) in Around the World

Jan 10, 2013 Lilisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015, favorites, fiction, around-the-world-2015, you-ll-love-this-one, ireland

Set in the fictitious village of Ballinacroagh of County Mayo in western Ireland, the book opens with three sisters working feverishly as they count down the minutes to the opening of their new café – the Babylon Café. It’s here that Marjan, Berhar and Layla are planting their roots after having fled Iran during the Iranian revolution of 1979 via Pakistan to the safe shores of London. Having toiled in the U.K. for a while, they have found solace in the beautiful country of Ireland, where they fe Set in the fictitious village of Ballinacroagh of County Mayo in western Ireland, the book opens with three sisters working feverishly as they count down the minutes to the opening of their new café – the Babylon Café. It’s here that Marjan, Berhar and Layla are planting their roots after having fled Iran during the Iranian revolution of 1979 via Pakistan to the safe shores of London. Having toiled in the U.K. for a while, they have found solace in the beautiful country of Ireland, where they feel they can put the past behind them and start afresh by recreating the wonderful foods they grew up with - dolmeh, red lentil soup, baklava, dugh yogurt drink, abgusht, elephant ears, lavash bread, torshi, chelow, fesenjoon, pomegranate soup, etc. Each chapter begins with a recipe and through the wonderful and exotic aromas and flavors of Marjan’s cooking we experience the cathartic play of food and its significance in the lives of the three sisters. But Iranians settling in the village of Ballinacroagh is not an everyday occurrence; people are curious – the aromas emanating from the Babylon Café are different, tantalizing, strange. There’s excitement – let’s check out the new people, the café, the foods. Others are not too thrilled – who are these strange foreigners bringing their odd foods and ways into a peaceful village, where people have known each other for years. We come to experience the everyday goings on in Ballinacroagh – the inquisitive neighbor, the parish priest, the mischievous boys, the village bully. As the three sisters strive to attract customers and make their café a success, they painfully experience flashbacks of their time in Iran and what they had to endure before fleeing a revolution that continues to haunt them. A beautiful piece of work, wherein the storyline of the present is flavored with the past through the rich and fragrant ingredients of the foods prepared. I really enjoyed this book, much more than I thought I would – a highly recommended read. ...more

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Apr 24, 2007 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: foodie, read2006

This amazing story is about three Iranian girls who escaped during the Revolution and ended up opening a cafe in Ireland. The book is full of Persian recipes which I wrote down and will be trying (in vegetarian versions). I want to read more books about pre-Revolution culture in Iran but wasn't able to find anything at my local library. ...more

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May 04, 2018 Suzanne rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, geocaching-challenge-2016, foodie-cooking

Seven years after the Aminpour sisters flee Iran, they choose to settle in a cozy village in Ireland - Ballinacroagh. Marjan, with the help of her younger sisters, sets up a cafe featuring Iranian cooking, hoping her culinary talents will be welcomed in a community with few foreigners.

What follows is part foodie fiction, with a little history of the Iranian revolution thrown in. I enjoyed the foodie part. Each chapter was filled with enticing recipes and even more tempting descriptions of eac ...more

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