Persian influence on Italian cuisine

Persian influence on Italian cuisine
an essay by Edward Henderson

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What makes me believe Persia influenced Italian cuisine? Music. In preparing to compose the score for the 2008 Stratford Festival production of Lope de Vega’s play, Fuente Ovejuna, I studied scores and listened to recordings of music from the period the play was set in: late 15th century Spain/Andalusia. Excellent advice from professor Jack Sage and Ray Nurse, plus a borrowed UBC library card, found me in the UBC music library for long stretches of time. In a few of the scores I heard an Arabic melodic influence and in many more scores a rhythmic influence. This Arabic influence I now recognize as Persian, delivered by Muslim Arabs.

During seven centuries of Arabic political dominance in al-Andalus, Andalusia (710-1492), there was a thriving cultural collaboration, known as convivencia, between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. In addition to their culture, the Arabs brought to Spain a huge number of books and treatises written in Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Farsi, and other languages where they were translated into Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, and local languages like Oc, Catalan, and Castilian. These works were the beginning of the Andalusian libraries and grew to over four hundred thousand volumes in Toledo. These works introduced scholarly writing in philosophy, mathematics, architecture, algebra, astronomy, and medicine and influenced the birth of a new culture in Andalusia.

Arab speaking Andalusia became the centre of learning in Europe. Following the Christian reconquest, and in their attempt to wipe out what was Arabic, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella destroyed hundreds of thousands of Arabic texts in the libraries of Cordoba and Toledo. Despite their efforts, this period of convivencia had already ignited the Golden Age of Spain. This European cultural revolution had begun.

Cultural traces remain after political upheavals and warmongering. Cooks still make food, musicians still create music, mothers still sing lullabies to their children, poets still write in verse, thinkers still think, and culture continues.

Another answer to my opening question is: food. I began cooking when I was eight years old and have loved to cook and improvise in the kitchen ever since. Italian-influenced foods were prominent in my mother’s cooking. I have vivid memories of my mom’s delicious chicken cacciatore made with chicken necks and backs – we could rarely afford the whole bird.

The realization that Persian/Arabic cookery influenced Italian cookery became clear last fall in the study material for SFU’s Graduate Liberal Studies course (LS819). In particular, Delizia,by John Dickie, in which he states: “The history of Italian food begins with the arrival of spaghetti, which was brought to Sicily by Muslim invaders.” Further reading of cookery books such as Medieval Arab Cookery (Rodinson, Arberry, Perry, and Roden), Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens (Nawal Nasrallah) and Charles Perry’s recommendation that I read Anna Martellotti’s La cucina normannoaraba, all point to the undeniable influence of Persia. Written in Italian, Martellotti’s book is full of culinary surprises and reveals Persian influence throughout all of European cookery. For now, I’ll focus on one particular set of recipes that illustrate a continuity from Persian to Italian cookery. 

My original proposed thesis was ‘Italian culinary culture stands on the shoulders of Persian culinary culture.’ To prove this one should know what Italians ate before the Persian influence was felt in Italy, and which Persian dynasty are we speaking of: The Achaemenid that fell to the Greek Alexander the Great, in 3rd century BC or, the Sassanian that fell to the Islamic Arab Muhammad, eleven centuries later? The Greeks adopted many cultural treasures of Achaemenid Persia: architecture, mathematics, astronomy, irrigation etc.… and culinary. Evidence of the culinary influence is seen in the first cookbook written in Rome, Italy, by Apicius in the 1st centuryAD¹, with its frequent mentions of Persian foods and culinary practice.

The Islamic Arabs also adopted the cultural treasures of Sassanian Persia and brought these to North Africa, Sicily, Spain, and Portugal. The culinary evidence is in ten important cookbooks written in Baghdad in the 10th to 13th centuries.

The earliest records of culinary culture are found in Mesopotamian pottery shards and in comments of Greek dignitaries from 4th century BC about Persian dining – Herodotus: [they] “eat only a few main dishes, but they frequently consume an assortment of nibbles” and Xenophon: “fancy side dishes, and all sorts of sauces and meats.”

A friend from Sicily tells me “all Sicilian street food is Arabic” and there are many other Italian foods that have roots in Persia.

My revised thesis: ‘Persian influence in Italian cuisine.’ With a nudge from Charles Perry, I have chosen to focus on recipes for preserving fish in a solution of saffron-infused white wine vinegar — the recipes are nearly identical one thousand years later.

The migration of saffron from Persia can be stated without reservation. The Oxford Companion to Food states: “Originally from W. Asia and particularly from Persia… the Arabs were cultivating saffron in Spain by AD 960, though it was not until the 13th century, when the Crusaders returned with corms from Asia Minor, the cultivation spread to Italy, France, and Germany.”

Saffron used as a colourant and flavour is documented in the Apicius, in the 10th-13th century Arabic cookbooks and in the modern recipes presented here.

The first of the Arabic cookbooks was compiled in Baghdad between 940 and 950AD. Kitāb al-Tabīkh (The Book of Dishes) by ibn Sayyar al-Warrāq. It was written with the purpose of sharing the recipes prepared for the Abbasid Caliphate in the previous 200 years. A second book of the same name was written by Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al-Baghdadi in 1226. There were at least eight more important Arab cookbooks compiled in that era. Copies of all these books were transcribed by hand and circulated widely. The recipes lacked detail and were known for errors as the scribes copying each book were not professional chefs. The most authentic copy of the earliest cookbook, The Cairo Manuscript, has kitchen stains suggesting it was used by a chef.

The recipe samak musakbaj (pickled fish), from the Warrāq compilation and other Medieval Arabic cookbooks I refer to,is nearly identical to scapece (in Arabic al-skepaj) a recipe that residents of the Abruzzo region in Italy make today. Recipe variations of scapece are found in Abruzzo shops, family recipes, and online.

While the consumption of alcohol was forbidden by the Islamic Arabs, their cookery descended from Persian cookery where wine and wine vinegars were used.

Medieval recipes

Here are the Medieval recipes for preserved fish I am referencing.

Apicius, untitled:

“To keep fried fish. Immediately after they are fried pour hot vinegar over them”²

Samak musakbaj (pickled fish), from Warrāq³:

“Cut fresh fish into middling pieces, and fry in sesame oil. Throw in a little dry coriander, whole, then place in wine-vinegar coloured with saffron, adding some celery leaves.”

Two other recipes provide detail on Arabic use of, a) flour, from Tacuini⁴:

“it’s better with fried fish, especially after passing them in flour,” and

b) additions of onion and wine from Liber de Coquina (The book of Cooking)⁵:

“…in which the fish fried in abundant oil is immersed in a flavour based on fried onions, selected spices and saffron, diluted with wine and vinegar.”

The modern recipes are attached at the end of this essay.

While this project is focussed on Persian influence on Italian food, it is worth noting that versions of scapece, entitled escabeche, are found throughout the Spanish and Portuguese speaking world to this day. The word scapece is now adapted for vegetarian dishes, using the same techniques substituting zucchini for fish.

The process

The Arabic recipe instructions are vague. For cooking samak musakbaj, I chose to amalgamate the first two Arabic recipes: dust the fish pieces in salted flour, pan fry in raw sesame oil, cool on towels to reduce the fat, lay the fish in a dish, then add the heated saffron wine-vinegar and store it for several days before consuming.

On November 19, 2025, I was fortunate to find skate wing at the fishmonger on Granville Island. He’d not seen this by-catch fish for a year and it had arrived that morning. His calamari was also fresh. First day of cooking I videoed the making of two of the recipes: samak musakbaj and Pickled skate and calamari. (recipe #1, see below)

On the next day of cooking, I purchased more fresh skate and snapper, added spot prawns my wife and I harvested last summer and prepared the two other scapece recipes.

All dishes marinated in the fridge for 5-6 days. Late on November 25, I tested the flavours and the vinegar in each dish was overpowering. The morning of the 26th I drained the vinegar, filled each container with water and left to soak for 20 minutes. After draining the water, the fish was palatable. Each dish then marinated in a mix of 75% fresh water and 25% of the original marinade. Later that day I served the four dishes accompanied with baguette, black olive tapenade, parsley, and some chilled Trebbiano for my wife Jean and daughter Kate. On the 27th I served my Sicilian friend Riccardo Sammarco the same four dishes.

The results

All the tasters agreed that samak musakbaj was almost identical to the three modern scapece recipes.

At the first tasting, my wife Jean made clear she would happily never eat them again. Kate doesn’t mind astringent flavours so she was fine with small amounts. I found the four dishes to be too sour to enjoy by themselves.

A day later at the second tasting the astringency had mellowed. Riccardo and I enjoyed these antipasti and agree they would be a fine addition to a larger meal.

In both tastings everyone commented that the addition of parsley, baguette, and olive tapenade with the wine helped make this appetizer palatable.

In conclusion, it is clear that the recipe for scapece, served today in the Abruzzo region of Italy, descends from samak musakbaj as found in the cookbooks of 10th – 13th century Baghdad. It is also clear that the Sassanid development of the recipe, in its use of onion, saffron, and wine, differentiates it from the Apicius version. 

Modern recipes found online

#1) Pickled Skate & Calamari – Molise and Vastese Scapece

Ingredients

• 1lb Skate, Dogfish cleaned and cut into 5cm rectangles or 1k of calamari
• Semolina or regular 00 flour to dust the fish/seafood before frying
• Olive oil to fry the fish/seafood
• 1L white wine vinegar
• 1/2L Trebianno d’Abruzzo

Instructions

1. Remove skin, clean, and debone fish and cut into rectangular pieces. If using calamari remove skin and clean
2. Dust in flour, shake off excess and fry in olive oil on both sides. Remove, drain on kitchen paper and add a sprinkle of salt.
3. Warm the vinegar, remove from heat, add the saffron and let it dissolve.
4. In a ceramic dish, add the fish and cover with the vinegar solution.  If you want to make the Vasto version, add a good splash of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo over the fish too for a real agrodolce flavour that those who may like a sweeter version may prefer. Marinate overnight or if you want to be authentic leave covered in the fridge for a week before serving.
5. Serve as an antipasti with salad, a flavoured mayonnaise, or sliced on bruschetta. In Autumn serve the calamari version with a lick of pumpkin cream.
6. Keep in the fridge for up to 30 days. 

#2) Scapece (Pickled fish – Ray with saffron) contributed by Mrs. Rosina Melfi

Ingredients

• about 1 pound of ray – I used skate
• about 1/2t salt
• 1 or 2 packets of imported Italian yellow saffron (about 1 tablespoon)
• about 1c of flour for dusting
• about 2c white vinegar

Directions

1. Cut pieces of fish into small pieces.
2. Add salt to the flour. Mix well.
3. Coat the pieces of fish with flour.
4. Fry the pieces of fish, making sure they are well-cooked
5. Put the fish aside and let cool.
6. Bring the vinegar to a boil.
7. Add the saffron to the vinegar and let boil for a few seconds.
8. Turn off the heat, and let the saffron-flavoured vinegar cool.
9. When both the fish and vinegar have cooled, place the fish in a container. Pour the saffron-flavoured vinegar in it (There should be enough to cover the fish).
10. Place the lid on the container and keep in the fridge until needed (Best after a few days when the flavour of the saffron and vinegar have seeped through).

3) Scapece di Vasto

Ingredients

• 1Kg white fish (possibly thornback ray or smooth hound) – I used snapper and skate
• 500 g mixed mollusks and crustaceans – I used spot prawns
• 1 good pinch of saffron stigmas
• 1c fine quality white wine vinegar
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• 2 fistfuls of all-purpose flour
• Salt
• Olive oil for frying
• A chilled bottle of Trebbiano d’Abruzzo

Instructions

• Clean and gut the fish and then cut it into small chunks. Trim and clean the octopus and other mollusks, and remove the carapace from the shrimp. Cut these into small pieces too and roll it all in the flour, fry in a skillet for about 3 minutes, and then park briefly on a paper towel to absorb excess grease.
• Warm the vinegar over a mild flame, remove the pot from the stove just before it boils and break the saffron filaments into it.
• Sweat the chopped onion in some olive oil, and set aside when translucent
• Make layers of the fried mixed fish chunks in a high rimmed container (preferably glass) dousing them with the warm aromatic vinegar, drench each layer with a splash of Trebbiano and some sautéed onions. Marinade for 8 days, at least, and then serve like the Vasto fishermen would, with crusty bread, a seaside view and good conversation. Don’t forget the leftover Trebbiano. 

[Note: these recipes are transcribed exactly as they appear printed from the online links – without the photos and advertisements.]

Bibliography

• The New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Roden, 2000)
• Medieval Arab Cookery (Rodinson, Arberry, Perry and Roden, 2002)
• La Cucina normannoaraba (Martellotti, 2024)
• Early Arab Cooking and Cookery Manuscripts (Roden, 1980)
• Scents and Flavours, a Syrian Cookbook (Perry, 2017)
• Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome (Apicius, Vehling)
• The Oxford Companion to Food (Davidson, 2006)
• Persians, The age of great Kings (Llewellyn-Jones, 2022)

Notes

1. Apicius’ identity is debated, likely one of three people circa 1st or 5th century ↩︎
2. translation Vehling, Gutenberg ↩︎
3. 1229AD translated by AJ Arberry in 1939, samak musakbaj on p.74 of Medieval Arab Cookery ↩︎
4. Latin translation of 11th-century Arab medical treatise Taqwīm aṣ‑Ṣiḥḥa by Ibn Butlan Askipicium piscium, Martellotti, p.125, Google translation adjusted by author ↩︎
5. Written in Latin around 1440, Liber de coquina is based upon both Baghdad cookbooks titled, Kitāb al-Tabīkh both are referenced throughout its pages. Scapece, Martellotti, p.124, Google translation adjusted by author ↩︎

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Edward Henderson‘s interest in the influence of Persia upon Western culture was piqued while researching music from the Golden Age of Spain. Commissioned to score Laurence Boswell’s Stratford Theatre production of Lope de Vega’s Fuente Ovejuna, Ed was to represent the court and the peasant music of 1476 Andalucía. There are no remnants of the peasant music but church and court scores remain. The achievements of the Golden Age of Spain can be credited to the intellectual and creative collaborations of Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Ed asserts we are standing on the shoulders of the giants of Persian culture as a direct result of the 8th century Arab conquest of Spain.

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