Pomegranate Soup

By: Marsha Mehran
Location: FIC MEH
Genre: Food Fiction


I love Middle Eastern Food and I love a good story told. When you combine those two things- you have a recipe for book lovers heaven.
This book is a bit like, Chocolade or The Hundred-Foot Journey by, Richard Morais- a story of  exile, food and identity, yet this book goes one better- it includes recipes as the entry to each chapter.
Elephant ears- yum- I last had those in Silver Creek, Oregon USA at the Homer Davenport Festival, then there is Baklava and Torshi- which is made from EggPlant and so therefore must be very delicious.
This is a story of three Iranian sisters who end up in Ireland to escape the Iranian revolution and they end up in a nice quite reserved Irish village. To make a living they open the Babylon Cafe.
As the smell of traditional Persian cooking wafts through the Mall, it works its own magic on many of the townsfolk: business is growing as is acceptance. But the past is not yet finished with the sisters, and their future is threatened. 
In part this novel is about the clash of cultures and inherent suspicion about what is different. It is equally about the power of hope and the unifying role of food and the role of senses in life. In many ways, both the characters and the setting are irrelevant to these unifying points. The setting could be small town anywhere, the sisters could have any different cultural heritage. At the same time as each sister confronts her demons, many of the townspeople find the courage to question their own assumptions and values.
And as you read it...you get really hungry!!!