First Drafts - The Prospect magazine blog

A new front in the War on Terror has opened up—cookbook publishing. A couple of years ago, we were treated to The Bush Family Cookbook, by the Bush family’s “personal chef and house manager” Ariel de Guzman. Its recipes, heavily reliant on canned vegetables and cream, include chicken curry with bacon bits and, alarmingly, “Grandmother Pierce’s Creamy Salad Ring.” Now, Saqi books has brought out The Axis of Evil Cookbook, a selection of recipes from Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Libya and Syria. There isn’t much doubt which side emerges best from this particular battle. Whereas Ariel de Gauzman has admitted in interviews that he isn’t a “serious cook” and claimed that “canned vegetables have more nutrition than fresh ones,” the Axis of Evil book contains many tasty-sounding dishes, including “Pomegranate Soup” from Iraq and “Aubergine and Pepper Salad” from Libya (although perhaps not everyone will be tempted by North Korean “Dog Stew”). I suspect that, whatever Kim Jong-il’s other failings, the food served at his palace may be better than that at the Bush family’s ranch.