Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq is the author of the 10th century (as in 1000 years old) Kitab al-Tabikh, or the “The Cooking Book” in English – the oldest cookbook in the Arab world that was helpfully translated into English by the scholar Nawal Nasrallah. The 1000 year old cookbook is a massive compilation of more than 600 recipes from the Abbasid period, many of which are totally unrecognizable as Middle Eastern cuisine today. Besides some pretty strange and (I’m assuming) tasty recipes, it also included medicinal advice and preparations for drugs and tonics.