Damascus

Book excerpt: Damascus was Rafik Schami’s home for 25 years before he went into exile, and he neverforgot it. This ‘Pearl of the Orient’ is still the city he loves more than any other. Thirtyyears later, and now a prize-winning novelist, Schami leapt at the chance to write a culinary-cultural book on his former home town. There were, however, two seemingly insurmountablebarriers - time and geography. So Schami’s sister Marie wandered throughDamascus for a year on his behalf, relaying curiosities, sounds, personalities, tastes andthe smells of the Old City, while Schami wrote them down, relishing the diverse mark lefton Damascene cuisine by its multifarious history. Rafik Schami is the acclaimed authorof The Dark Side of Love.