A very thoughtful Syrian American living in Jacksonville, but who is no relation to me, sent me, via e-mail, a most precious collection of recipes in pdf format. The forty-page cookbook was prepared by the grandchildren of Syrian immigrant women who settled in Jacksonville in the 1920s.
This cookbook is very valuable to me, for while it is safe to assume that classic Syrian food varied from region to region in Syria depending on local tradition and the availabilty of ingredients, the recipes had to likewise be adapted once more in Jacksonville for the ingredient factor. Granted, the cookbook inspired by these Jacksonville Syrian women reflects the regions from which they were born, and they may not have been Beiruti or Damascene or Tripolitan, as were my ancestors, but they all became Jacksonvillians. In that sense, they were all family--my family.
Syrian Cooking with Sitto has become a treasured family history item.
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