> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.assyriapost.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Assyrian cookbook with ancient recipes launches to huge response - URL: https://www.assyriapost.com/ancient-assyrian-recipes-return-in-a-cookbook-released-to-global-fanfare-2/ - Published: 2026-08-24T21:36:13.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-24T21:52:28.000Z - Description: Arim Hawsho’s ambitious Table of Gods has launched on Kickstarter to an extraordinary global response, raising more than $1.28 million and surpassing its initial $1 million target shortly after going live on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. - Author: The Assyria Post - Tags: Culture The campaign launched on August 22, following Hawsho’s presentation in Stockholm, where hundreds of fans attended in person while tens of thousands more followed the event online from around the world. The overwhelming demand reportedly caused the [Kickstarter campaign page](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arimhawsho/table-of-gods?ref=1gtyzs) to temporarily crash shortly after launch before being restored. The campaign has already exceeded $1.3 million against its $1 million goal. The response is the latest milestone in a seven-year project that seeks to bring the food, history and culture of ancient Mesopotamia, and particularly ancient Assyria, to a modern global audience. Before the launch, Hawsho had built an enormous following around the project, with more than 1.1 million followers across social media and a waitlist that had reached more than 200,000 people. His website reported more than 204,000 people on the waitlist shortly before the campaign launched. [Table of Gods Book Launch (Live)Bekijk je favoriete video’s, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/icon/favicon_144x144-b46164c3-20e3-4a50-9297-d64ae0cd5709.png)YouTubeTable of Gods![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/thumbnail/hqdefault-873d0c96-f808-409f-b4ff-76e3c73410ff.jpg)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCyklpg--7E&ref=assyriapost.com) ### Seven years in the making In 2019, Hawsho left his full-time job to dedicate himself to researching and recreating the culinary traditions of ancient Mesopotamia. At the heart of [*Table of Gods*](https://www.tableofgods.com/?ref=assyriapost.com) is Hawsho’s personal connection to his heritage. His parents originate from the historic Assyrian region of Tur Abdin, specifically the ancient city of Midyat. The project began when he discovered the pioneering work of French Assyriologist Jean Bottéro, who translated a collection of Babylonian culinary recipes recorded on clay tablets dating to around 1700 BC. But translating the ancient texts was only the beginning. The scribes who recorded the recipes were writing for experienced cooks in royal kitchens. Ingredients were often listed without the precise quantities, measurements or cooking times expected by a modern cookbook. Hawsho therefore spent years combining Assyriology, archaeology, food history and modern culinary practice to turn the ancient instructions into recipes that can actually be prepared today. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-23.50.24.png) A photo of the pomegranate cake, one of the recipes in the book. According to the project, Hawsho studied hundreds of academic sources on Mesopotamian agriculture and diet and worked with Assyriologists and culinary experts, including Dr. Eckart Frahm of Yale University and Dr. Simo Parpola, Professor Emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki. He also collaborated with professional chefs, including Fredrik Eriksson, gastronomic advisor to the Nobel Banquet at Stockholm City Hall, and tested the recipes with hundreds of beta testers. His research also took him across the historic Assyrian homeland, including Tur Abdin, the ancient city of Ashur and Assyrian villages in northern Iraq, in an effort to trace culinary traditions and techniques that have survived into the modern era. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/2026/08/782326037_18621041845035051_6757079949060197267_n.jpg) Arim Hawsho on stage during the release event held on 22 August 2026 in Stockholm. Photo: Table of Gods. ### From ancient tablets to 70 recipes The finished book contains 70 recipes, including 42 vegetarian dishes and 13 vegan recipes, as well as eight recipes for ancient beers and wines. It includes approximately 100 pages of food photography and is designed as much as a historical journey as it is a cookbook. Readers are taken on a culinary journey through 11 ancient Mesopotamian cities, moving from the early settlements of Sumer to the great centers of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The dishes range from humble porridges and date-based pastries to elaborate meat broths and roasted dishes associated with elite and royal dining. The book places these foods within the broader historical world in which they were consumed, connecting recipes to ancient cities, rulers, myths and everyday life. Among the historical settings explored are Ashur, Nineveh, Nimrud (Kalhu), Babylon, Ur, Uruk, Eridu and Lagash. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-23.30.45.png) Mockup of the book. ### Designed like an ancient artifact Hawsho has extended the Mesopotamian theme beyond the recipes and into the physical design of the book itself. The approximately 550-page premium hardcover is designed to evoke the tactile quality of an ancient clay tablet. Its cover features deeply debossed cuneiform, while the back cover incorporates a playable version of the ancient Royal Game of Ur, one of the world's oldest known board games. Kickstarter orders include the game's pieces so that the book itself can be transformed into a game board. The project also includes extensive photography intended to recreate the atmosphere of ancient Mesopotamia. The official project website explains that the book was developed with photographers, food stylists and other creative collaborators, with 93 photographs forming part of the final work. Each recipe is accompanied by historical context, allowing readers to move between food, mythology, archaeology and the political history of Mesopotamia. In this sense, *Table of Gods* occupies an unusual space: part cookbook, part historical chronicle and part art object. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-24-at-23.33.07.png) Photo shoot of the making of the ancient Assyrian dish Gubibate, still made today by Assyrians. Photo: Table of Gods ### An Assyrian story with a global audience By tracing food traditions across ancient texts and the modern Assyrian homeland, *Table of Gods* presents ancient cuisine not simply as something belonging to a distant civilization, but as part of a cultural continuum that can still be explored through food, language, geography and tradition. That connection has resonated strongly with audiences far beyond the Assyrian community. The project has received endorsements from scholars and historians including Frahm, Parpola, University of Padua Assyriologist Dr. Salvatore Gaspa, culinary historian and James Beard Award-winning author Michael W. Twitty, and Near Eastern archaeologist Dr. William (Brad) Hafford. The campaign's extraordinary first days suggest that Hawsho's attempt to connect the modern world with the kitchens of ancient Mesopotamia has found an audience well beyond the traditional readership of Assyrian history and Assyriology. *Table of Gods* is currently [available through Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arimhawsho/table-of-gods?ref=1gtyzs). The standard First Edition is priced at $199, while a signed edition by Arim Hawsho is available for $249\. The signed edition is planned for delivery before Christmas 2026, while the standard edition is estimated for delivery in February 2027. [Table of Gods brings ancient Assyrian flavours to lifeArim Hawsho’s obsession with ancient Assyrian cooking has taken him across different corners of Assyria – and soon, it will make him the author of a truly unique book.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/icon/Icon-AP-1-275b4018-c356-416f-88ca-76af0a1b5e27.png)The Assyria PostBarseen Oshana![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5d/f5/5df5a6c1-1f57-4975-951e-ddd33d31dec7/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2025-11-14-at-19.38.47-661fa6a5-df7e-4706-b642-7c5c5bc15b2d.png)](https://www.assyriapost.com/table-of-gods-brings-ancient-assyrian-flavours-to-life/)