Maideh Mazda

Maideh Mazda (1922-2012) was a Persian food expert, linguist, and author, born and raised in Baku, Azerbaijan in an Iranian family.

With her husband Charles T. Magee, a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Mazda traveled to Bulgaria, Canada, France, Latvia, the Soviet Union, Switzerland and Ukraine, where she hosted a number of diplomatic functions.

[3] Her family moved to Tehran when Mazda was young, where she attended an English-medium high school run by American Presbyterian missionaries.

It offers suggestions for combining these dishes into menus for specific events, such as summer luncheons and winter dinners, with ingredients reflecting what was available according to the season.

Craig Claiborne, The New York Times food editor, reviewed In a Persian Kitchen in 1971[7] and praised it for its “fascinating collection of recipes,” calling it “a pleasure to read.”[5] As the first to write a cookbook of Persian or Iranian cuisine for an American readership, Maideh Mazda was a precursor to prominent food writers like Najmieh Batmanglij.

Mast va Khiar (Yogurt with Cucumbers) from Maideh Mazda, In a Persian Kitchen , page 28.
Compote Koshkbar (Dried Fruit Compote), from Maideh Mazda, In a Persian Kitchen (1960), page 151. She wrote that this dish of dried fruit (prunes, apricots and apples poached in a rose water syrup) "is a very popular winter dessert" made "when fresh fruit is very scarce in Persia...."