The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber
The Language of Baklava is a memoir with recipes–a delightful testament to the deep connections between food, identity, and memory. In a series of narrative vignettes, Abu-Jaber chronicles a childhood shaped by both Arab (Iranian and Jordanian) cultures and American culture as she traces her history as a young woman trying to find her place within the pull of various traditions. The book contains a large, colorful cast of characters–eccentric aunts and uncles and other relatives, sisters, a compassionate, level-headed American mother–but it is the narrator’s father, a jovial, impractical man impassioned about reminding his children of their roots, who dominates this book. Some of the stories chronicle warm family episodes (shish kabob cookouts in upstate New York); others portray the anxieties of being between cultures; some are set during temporary relocations back to the Middle East, where the narrator is strongly attracted to the life of city streets and Bedouin tents. Though the narrator rebels at times, the story ultimately glows with love and the celebration of family, and the recipes are delicious.
National Public Radio Features and Commentaries
*Book cover reprinted with permission from Anchor Books
Author Information
Diana Abu-Jaber was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1960, to a Jordanian father and an American (Irish-German) mother. Her family moved to Jordan 
when she was seven, spending two years there, and she has often returned. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She has taught literature and creative writing at the University of Michigan, the University of Oregon, and UCLA, and is at this writing Writer-in-Residence at Portland State University. Her first novel (with autobiographical elements), Arabian Jazz (1993) won the Oregon Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award. She won a National Endowment for the Arts award to support a second novel, Memories of Birth, and she has received a Fulbright Research Award for travel to Jordan to interview Palestinian and Jordanian women for her third novel. She calls The Language of Baklava, published in 2005, a “food memoir.” Information about Abu-Jaber can be found on-line at www.voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/abujaber Diana. She also has a website (which was not working as these materials were being compiled but may be back on-line by the time that this LTAI theme is available): www.dianaabujaber.com.
*Photo copyright Scott Eason, reprinted with permission
Discussion Questions
1. In the memoir, Abu-Jaber’s father Bud constantly uses food to reassure himself that his connection to his origins and family are not lost, and to attempt to connect his children to that heritage. Why, do you believe, does food hold power to forge such connections? What foods remind you of such connections?
2. Some immigrant children reject their ethnic foodways (at least temporarily) in an effort to become Americanized. Despite Diana Abu-Jaber’s temporary rebellions, she never does. Why might that be so, given her larger feelings about her father and her family?
3. One important theme in this book is finding one’s place as a person between cultures. Do you believe that such accommodation happens for Diana? If so, how does she accomplish it? Or does she end up identifying herself more one way than another?
4. Do you like the fact that recipes are included in this book? Why or why not?
5. Although the themes of The Language of Baklava are serious, the book is full of humor. What does the humor add? Do humor and food go together, in some ways, for you?
6. More than ten years before she wrote this memoir, Abu-Jaber explored her childhood (or childhoods like hers) in novels. Why might she have written about those experiences as “fiction” before she turned to memoir? Do you think that there is a difference in writer’s mind-set between the two genres?