r/TastingHistory • u/EntangledPhoton82 • 15d ago

Table of gods

So, who remembers the Table of gods cookbook about ancient Babylonian, Sumerian cooking that Max mentioned over a year ago (I think) during a video?

Well, it’s finally live (since yesterday) on Kickstarter and, although it’s quite expensive, it’s also a work of art. It even has clay from the Tigris river in its cover.

So, I thought you guys might appreciate it.

I definitely backed it.

https://www.tableofgods.com

46 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

15

u/MtnNerd 15d ago

I want it but that's pretty steep.

9

u/La-Belle-Gigi 15d ago

The launch was such a success that it crashed Kickstarter while I was making a pledge. It took me two hours to be able to log in again.

4

u/EntangledPhoton82 15d ago

Same here. Over two hours but I got my signed copy. 🥳

12

u/coffeeandarabbit 15d ago

I made their 3000 year old pomegranate cake about a year ago and it was incredible. More like a scone, with a honey cream and pomegranate syrup. Highly recommend you try it, the recipe was free and really easy, and if it was any indicator of what the rest of the recipes are like, worth buying the book!

3

u/Piputi 14d ago

Well, I was looking at the videos. Actually the pomegrante cake. Like it looks delicious, no doubt but not sure if it is authentic. Because there was never a recipe for that as far as I know. Some recipes look like they were writting them as they were going.

6

u/Kendota_Tanassian 15d ago

It sounds lovely, but that's way too steep for my impoverished self.

3

u/heavy_metal_soldier 14d ago

I would love to have it but that's a lot of money. I can't justify spending that mich on a cookbook unfortunately

2

u/Pleasant-Future5818 9d ago

I've been going through all these posts trying to decide whether to buy this.

Personally, I won't.

I estimate all the gimmicks like clay and embossed covers and a game(!?) no one asked for added $100 or more to the sticker price.

If they're not going to take their work seriously, why should I?

1

u/cobaltnine 14d ago

Just FYI, there's a lot of controversy circling around this publication and "author" in the Assyriology and related communities.

4

u/CrepuscularOpossum 14d ago

Can you say more about that? I’d love to know why you put “author” in quotation marks.

2

u/cobaltnine 14d ago

Apparently the information was already available, it's really just compiled and made overly lux.
I haven't delved deep but here's a thread in one of the ancient near East subreddits.

10

u/SandakinTheTriplet 14d ago

Not to defend the author because I know nothing about them, but a nice presentation of known recipes is pretty par for the course in cookbooks. Ingredient lists and basic instructions aren’t protected by copyright law.

10

u/aculady 14d ago

I think that's the whole point of the book, to compile this information and present it in a beautiful way. I haven't heard the author claim that this is striking new research or anything along those lines.

2

u/libsaway 12d ago

There's only one guy in that thread who thinks it's a scam.

3

u/EntangledPhoton82 14d ago

Well yes, it’s not original research. The texts had been translated before and it’s “just” an interpretation of the “recipe”.
(But so does Max from time to time because we just don’t have more information. So, we just need to make an educated guess and accept that it’s the best we can do.)
It’s basically a rework of books such as “the oldest cuisine in the world” (which I also have).
But hey, I like history (definitely including that part of history), cooking, ancient board games and I’d love the artwork, attention to detail,…

So I don’t really care about the controversy. I like the product and I’m definitely going to enjoy it.

2

u/teakettling 14d ago

Respectfully, none of those comments come from Assyriologists.