May 2025

Nobel chef cooks from Table of Gods.

Fredrik Eriksson is the gastronomic advisor to the Nobel banquet at Stockholm City Hall and one of Sweden’s most celebrated chefs. On May 22, Fredrik served Assyrian Bulgurotto—a dish from Table of Gods—at his restaurant at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Here with Fredrik Eriksson holding a plate of Assyrian Bulgurotto.

I was inspired to create this recipe after reading that archaeologists found a 4000-year-old oven near Nineveh with traces of mixed wheat and fava beans. It was an honor to see the dish served to satisfied guests at Fredrik’s reputable restaurant.

To my surprise, Fredrik and his team didn’t even change the original recipe. Cred to my dad (also a chef), who created the Assyrian Bulgurotto and many other recipes in Table of Gods.

See my short interview with Fredrik about his experience cooking a 4000-year-old Assyrian dish.

Here I’m giving a short talk on ancient Assyrian food at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (with Assyrian Bulgurotto in my belly).

Deciding printer

In April, I sourced the best art book printers in the world. After emailing with all of them, I narrowed my list down to eight printers, all of whom I had digital meetings with in May.

There’s a lot at stake in choosing the printer that will bring Table of Gods to life. I’ve spent six years working on this project and even quit my day job to give it my all. I’ve hired well over 20 consultants over the years and traveled to the Middle East for on-site research on three occasions. After all this hard and inspiring work, I’m approaching the grand finale.

I’m confident my historical manuscript and ancient recipes will delight you (since many of you have read parts of the book and tried the recipes—and loved both!).

The only thing that can go wrong now is the design and printing. The good news is that it can’t go terribly wrong since all the printers I’m in contact with are in a league of their own.

This is about pushing the result from 97% to 100%. I can’t settle for 97% when I know I can reach 100%. Everyone around me keeps saying that good enough is good enough. But good enough is not good enough for me. That’s why I don’t take this decision lightly.

Choosing a printer is similar to recruiting—it’s almost impossible to know if the person you’re interviewing is the right person for the job. You can ask all the questions you want (which I have), but until you’ve worked with the person and seen their results in action, you can’t be certain whether you’ve made the right decision. Especially not when you have several good candidates.

To increase my chances of making the right decision, the next steps in my process will include asking the printers to make real print tests of my book design so I can see their finish and quality.

The next step will be to visit their factories to get a better understanding of their printing process, facilities, and skills (printing art books includes manual work and the result depends to a large extent on the person operating the printing machine).

This meticulous process of choosing the right printing partner might delay the launch of the book. If it happens, I hope you’ll forgive for it. In any case, I’ll keep you posted about the launch of Table of Gods in the upcoming progress updates.

The complexity of paper

Paper to a book is what an engine is to a car. Paper, however, is more delicate than a car engine. And in my humble opinion, more complex :) Let me explain.

I’ve received paper deliveries every other day this month. I’ve spent hours looking at these papers in different lighting, and as much time feeling them with my eyes closed. Anyone who’s entered my house lately has had to touch dozens of papers while being interrogated, haha.

There are mainly two types of book interior papers: coated and uncoated. The biggest difference between them is how they take color.

On coated papers, the color sits “on top” of the paper. With uncoated paper, the colors are “soaked” into the paper and the colors become slightly muddy. If you have a book with over 100 pages of beautiful food photography (like I do), you want to choose a coated paper for the best color results.

BUT, there are downsides to coated papers and valid reasons why not all cookbooks are printed with it.

Coated papers are smooth and can almost feel plastic (think photography papers from the 1990s—if you’re born later, ask your parents for their photobooks). A plastic feel to the paper is obviously a problem for a book that’s supposed to feel like it came from ancient Mesopotamia. Not that paper existed in ancient Mesopotamia, but you get the point.

Another downside to coated papers is that they tend to be heavy, which increases the weight of the book, which is bad when I want you to comfortably be able to read it. One more problem with coated papers is that the coating can “crack” which can become visible on dark pages where you can see traces of small white dots if you look closely.

If you were ever told in your childhood, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” then you understand how I felt learning this. But I always hated when adults threw that cake-saying at me, because I was one of those kids who wanted to have my cake and eat it too. And that’s exactly what I’m having with the paper.

I want to have a coated paper that takes color well, so that you can be stunned by the food photography. But I also want the paper to have a rustic feel, so that you can get the best tactile experience as you flip through the pages.

“Search and you shall find” is a proverb that resonates more with me. Because it turns out, the paper I’m looking for exists! A coated paper that feels just like uncoated papers, that’s low weight, “crack-free,” and environmentally friendly (made from recycled materials or from responsibly managed forests that prevent deforestation—after all, what’s the point of any of this if we don’t have a planet).

So what’s the catch? It’s expensive as he**. And it makes me think about that horrible cake-saying again. Can I have this paper AND have a good price? It turns out I can—if I order tons of paper (literally).

I wrote about this problem in April’s progress update. Table of Gods won’t be your everyday cookbook. It’s at least three books in one—a cookbook, a history book, and a mythology book—printed in coffee table size with a special cover, special paper, and special packaging.

The only way to lower the price from $500—the price point I’d have to charge if I printed only a few thousand copies—is to print tens of thousands of copies. On that note, I have great news to share. My social media following has grown rapidly lately (perhaps the ancient gods are conspiring for me).

There are now 142,000 people following Table of Gods on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, while the waitlist at tableofgods.com has grown to 19,000 people—which is twice as many as it was in April!

Though it’s impossible to know how many of my followers are interested in buying the book (or at what price), the growth of my audience makes me more confident I can print more than a few thousand copies. That’s good news for all of us since it means the book may come down in price without conflicting with my vision of creating an object of art.

I guess I’ll have my cake and eat it too :)

What if…

I’m flying to Turkey to attend my cousin’s wedding in June. Obviously, I’ve been thinking about the worst case scenario. But I wanted to let you know that I’ll send the manuscript and a document with key information to two trusted friends. Why two? Because what if one of my friends miraculously dies at the same time I do?

Haha—this is silly. But who knows. It never hurts to think about the worst case scenario happening in a worst case scenario. What I’m trying to say is, nothing will stop me from delivering Table of Gods to you, and transport you to the cradle of civilization with all your senses.