Date syrup has been central to Iraqi cooking and home life for centuries.
In early 2018, Rakowitz unveiled a winged bull sculpture made from thousands of date syrup cans on the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square; for decades, and until the industry was decimated by war and disease, dates had been Iraq’s second-biggest export after oil. As his winged bull sat upon the Fourth Plinth, Rakowitz invited chefs from around the world to create new and classic recipes using date syrup.
Chefs and food writers such as Alice Waters, Yotam Ottolenghi and Marcus Samuelsson answered Rakowitz’s call, creating dozens of dishes with date syrup, now collected here.
Easy step-by-step instructions and gorgeous photographs enable the reader to make these recipes at home. Ranging from the traditional to the innovative, with everything from simple brunch dishes, salads and sides to mouthwatering mains, desserts, drinks and condiments, the recipes in this volume showcase the richness of a humble ingredient.
About the Artist
Michael Rakowitz is Professor of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. A sculptor, detective and sometimes chef, Rakowitz is keenly attuned to the social dimensions of art practice, producing work characterised by a process of deep research. Working with architecture, artefacts and food, Rakowitz excavates personal, social and material histories and connects seemingly disparate stories across time and space.
He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, including his first solo exhibition in the Middle East and Asia at Jameel Arts Centre from March 11 to November 22, 2020.
About the Publisher
Artbook was founded by the same team that runs Distributed Art Publishers, the world’s foremost distributor of books and exhibition catalogues on the arts, to partner with cultural institutions and businesses that want to enrich their programming with the true content one can only find in a well-conceived, authored and designed book.
