Anny Gaul
@annygaul.bsky.social
Author of Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato (2025) 🍅 Ceasefire + arms embargo now 🍉 Views my own 🍅 https://bio.site/annygaul
Many thanks to all those who helped make it happen (and to @jadaliyya.bsky.social for giving it a home online!); we’ll be updating it periodically so please reach out if you have sources, suggestions, or ideas to add.
November 9, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Many thanks to all those who helped make it happen (and to @jadaliyya.bsky.social for giving it a home online!); we’ll be updating it periodically so please reach out if you have sources, suggestions, or ideas to add.
I hope the bibliography will serve as a resource to students, journalists, educators, scholars, and anyone else with an interest in understanding and advocating for Palestine through food.
November 9, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I hope the bibliography will serve as a resource to students, journalists, educators, scholars, and anyone else with an interest in understanding and advocating for Palestine through food.
The list includes scholarship alongside cookbooks and works of art, film, and memoir. Assembled in the face of genocide, famine, attacks on olive trees and seed banks, the works on the list attest to Palestinian steadfastness & rootedness in the land.
November 9, 2025 at 10:28 PM
The list includes scholarship alongside cookbooks and works of art, film, and memoir. Assembled in the face of genocide, famine, attacks on olive trees and seed banks, the works on the list attest to Palestinian steadfastness & rootedness in the land.
For every preorder reported in the form linked here between now and the publication date (10/28), I’ll donate $2 each to the Sudan Solidarity Fund and the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
forms.gle/4RAyA4ez5dLC...
forms.gle/4RAyA4ez5dLC...
October 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
For every preorder reported in the form linked here between now and the publication date (10/28), I’ll donate $2 each to the Sudan Solidarity Fund and the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
forms.gle/4RAyA4ez5dLC...
forms.gle/4RAyA4ez5dLC...
And one more time, find info about the Nile Nightshade preorder campaign here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Nile Nightshade Preorder Campaign
Thank you so much for preordering Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato by Anny Gaul.
Note: submitting a patron request to your public or institutional library counts as a preo...
docs.google.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
And one more time, find info about the Nile Nightshade preorder campaign here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Ch. 6: I've heard about Italian and Turkish influences on Egyptian cuisine; what is an example of how other African food cultures influenced Egypt?
Bamiya! Okra's history attests to longstanding culinary exchanges between present-day Egypt and Sudan: cookingwithgaul.com/2025/07/27/w... (9/9)
Bamiya! Okra's history attests to longstanding culinary exchanges between present-day Egypt and Sudan: cookingwithgaul.com/2025/07/27/w... (9/9)
Weeka: Nile Valley Okra
Much of the history of the tomato in Egypt — the subject of Nile Nightshade, my forthcoming book — is oriented north and east. The tomato linked Turkey and Egypt through Ottoman cuisine’s embrace o…
cookingwithgaul.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Ch. 6: I've heard about Italian and Turkish influences on Egyptian cuisine; what is an example of how other African food cultures influenced Egypt?
Bamiya! Okra's history attests to longstanding culinary exchanges between present-day Egypt and Sudan: cookingwithgaul.com/2025/07/27/w... (9/9)
Bamiya! Okra's history attests to longstanding culinary exchanges between present-day Egypt and Sudan: cookingwithgaul.com/2025/07/27/w... (9/9)
Ch. 5: How did the practice of cooking vegetables in tomato sauce become so widespread in Egypt?
Intergenerational culinary education, perennial irrigation, a local food processing industry, the tomato's unique flavor compounds, a versatile cooking technique, and more! (8/9)
Intergenerational culinary education, perennial irrigation, a local food processing industry, the tomato's unique flavor compounds, a versatile cooking technique, and more! (8/9)
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Ch. 5: How did the practice of cooking vegetables in tomato sauce become so widespread in Egypt?
Intergenerational culinary education, perennial irrigation, a local food processing industry, the tomato's unique flavor compounds, a versatile cooking technique, and more! (8/9)
Intergenerational culinary education, perennial irrigation, a local food processing industry, the tomato's unique flavor compounds, a versatile cooking technique, and more! (8/9)
Ch. 4: What did Huda Shaʿrawi have to do with Egyptian cookbooks?
So much that it won't fit in a single post; you'll have to read the chapter to find out! Don't worry there are tomatoes involved (Image: Shaʿrawi's portrait on the dedication page of a cookbook by Basima Zaki Ibrahim, ca. 1940) (7/9)
So much that it won't fit in a single post; you'll have to read the chapter to find out! Don't worry there are tomatoes involved (Image: Shaʿrawi's portrait on the dedication page of a cookbook by Basima Zaki Ibrahim, ca. 1940) (7/9)
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Ch. 4: What did Huda Shaʿrawi have to do with Egyptian cookbooks?
So much that it won't fit in a single post; you'll have to read the chapter to find out! Don't worry there are tomatoes involved (Image: Shaʿrawi's portrait on the dedication page of a cookbook by Basima Zaki Ibrahim, ca. 1940) (7/9)
So much that it won't fit in a single post; you'll have to read the chapter to find out! Don't worry there are tomatoes involved (Image: Shaʿrawi's portrait on the dedication page of a cookbook by Basima Zaki Ibrahim, ca. 1940) (7/9)
Ch. 3: Why are Egyptian tomato prices so volatile?
Egyptian tomato production in the 20th century was a perfect storm: delicate fruits, hands-off production & pricing policies, and racketeering merchants. No wonder the street cry vendors use to sell them is MAGNUNA YA QUTA (crazy tomatoes)... (6/9)
Egyptian tomato production in the 20th century was a perfect storm: delicate fruits, hands-off production & pricing policies, and racketeering merchants. No wonder the street cry vendors use to sell them is MAGNUNA YA QUTA (crazy tomatoes)... (6/9)
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Ch. 3: Why are Egyptian tomato prices so volatile?
Egyptian tomato production in the 20th century was a perfect storm: delicate fruits, hands-off production & pricing policies, and racketeering merchants. No wonder the street cry vendors use to sell them is MAGNUNA YA QUTA (crazy tomatoes)... (6/9)
Egyptian tomato production in the 20th century was a perfect storm: delicate fruits, hands-off production & pricing policies, and racketeering merchants. No wonder the street cry vendors use to sell them is MAGNUNA YA QUTA (crazy tomatoes)... (6/9)
Ch. 2: Why do Egyptians call tomatoes “quta”?
It’s an older word that referred to another red nightshade, Solanum aethiopicum, first. Early print cookbooks, agricultural manuals, and everyday speech help explain how & why the word came to mean “tomatoes” instead. (5/9)
It’s an older word that referred to another red nightshade, Solanum aethiopicum, first. Early print cookbooks, agricultural manuals, and everyday speech help explain how & why the word came to mean “tomatoes” instead. (5/9)
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Ch. 2: Why do Egyptians call tomatoes “quta”?
It’s an older word that referred to another red nightshade, Solanum aethiopicum, first. Early print cookbooks, agricultural manuals, and everyday speech help explain how & why the word came to mean “tomatoes” instead. (5/9)
It’s an older word that referred to another red nightshade, Solanum aethiopicum, first. Early print cookbooks, agricultural manuals, and everyday speech help explain how & why the word came to mean “tomatoes” instead. (5/9)
Ch. 1: How did the tomato get to Egypt?
Fragmentary evidence suggests that the tomato might have traveled from Mexico to Egypt via the Mediterranean AND the Red Seas; the trajectories of shakshuka and koshari offer some clues. (4/9)
Fragmentary evidence suggests that the tomato might have traveled from Mexico to Egypt via the Mediterranean AND the Red Seas; the trajectories of shakshuka and koshari offer some clues. (4/9)
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Ch. 1: How did the tomato get to Egypt?
Fragmentary evidence suggests that the tomato might have traveled from Mexico to Egypt via the Mediterranean AND the Red Seas; the trajectories of shakshuka and koshari offer some clues. (4/9)
Fragmentary evidence suggests that the tomato might have traveled from Mexico to Egypt via the Mediterranean AND the Red Seas; the trajectories of shakshuka and koshari offer some clues. (4/9)
Report your preorder or library request here: forms.gle/nfEdvtfuUG2x...
The first 15 folks to fill out the form will also be eligible to receive a zine of tomato recipes & cooking tips 🍅 What exactly is the book about, you ask? Keep reading for a preview...(3/9)
The first 15 folks to fill out the form will also be eligible to receive a zine of tomato recipes & cooking tips 🍅 What exactly is the book about, you ask? Keep reading for a preview...(3/9)
Nile Nightshade Preorder Campaign
Thank you so much for preordering Nile Nightshade: An Egyptian Culinary History of the Tomato by Anny Gaul.
Note: submitting a patron request to your public or institutional library counts as a preo...
forms.gle
August 27, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Report your preorder or library request here: forms.gle/nfEdvtfuUG2x...
The first 15 folks to fill out the form will also be eligible to receive a zine of tomato recipes & cooking tips 🍅 What exactly is the book about, you ask? Keep reading for a preview...(3/9)
The first 15 folks to fill out the form will also be eligible to receive a zine of tomato recipes & cooking tips 🍅 What exactly is the book about, you ask? Keep reading for a preview...(3/9)