The Pasha of Cuisine reminds me of another Turkish book I read recently, The Architect’s Apprentice by El if Shafak. Both are set in the Ottoman Empire, are based in a tradition of oral storytelling, and have a dash of magical realism.
When the old sultan dies, his heir kills all his siblings and their children to avoid future coups. An unnamed boy and his mother are smuggled out of the harem, but she is captured and killed. The child is saved by one of the palace cooks and hidden in the kitchen with a note that says “The Pasha of Cuisine.” A pasha of cuisine is rare, born with a gift for gastronomy and who brings a rebirth of cuisine and a new prosperity to the country. This child is trained in all the culinary disciplines, including spices, medicine, and astrology. He learns to control people by using his art to influence their minds, their hearts, even their health. He ends up working at a high-end pleasure house where he falls in love with Kamer, a dancing girl. When she is sold into the palace harem before they can escape to lead their own lives, he hatches a plot to exact revenge on the current pasha and rescue Kamer.
The prose is gorgeous. The plot reveal is gradual and devastating when it finally occurs. The reader doesn’t learn the name of this unnamed boy until the bitter end. A stunning work.
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The Pasha of Cuisine (Arcade, September 4, 2018) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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You can read my review of The Architect’s Apprentice here.
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