n Tunisia, traditional pastries are an essential part of everyday life. Intimately connected to each twist and turn that life takes, they mark both major events and great moments: births, marriages and deaths are accompanied by their own specific delicacies, made to exalt or to appease. Pastries making has its roots in a preserved heritage, and is part of the long and beautiful history of a country where gastronomy has been made into a way of life.

unisia inherited delicacies that came from the royal court of Baghdad. "The Book of Baghdad", written in 1226, it is said, by a prince from the court of the Sultan Ayubbide, is the first known pastries reference book. Tunisians welcomed the book, adapted it and passed the knowledge on through the generations. To this common heritage with the Orient Tunisia added the imprint of its Berber origins, mixed with Egyptian influence, sprinkled them with the occasional recipe from Andalucia and crowned all this with Ottoman specialities. All these influences means that Tunisian pastries have an incomparable variety, richness and refinement; and are an essential part of a gastronomic civilization, continually present for rites and celebrations.