Podcast
Real Dictators
The hosts highlighted the book as a deep dive into the personal lives of dictators through the eyes of their cooks, noting the author's extensive interviews with Saddam Hussein's former chef and the revealing stories of how these chefs impacted the leaders' moods and decisions. They presented it as a compelling way to understand the intimate, often overlooked side of authoritarian rule.
Episode: Saddam Hussein Part 3: Oil and the Ayatollah
The author, Fitts Old Shablovsky, had spent many hours talking with Saddam Hussein's former chef, a man called Abu Ali, about his experiences cooking for Saddam, including the time Abu Ali was arrested and the time Saddam made him eat his own spicy cooking.
Fitts Old Shablovsky is the author of How to Feed a Dictator
Fitts Old spent many hours talking as well as cooking with Saddam's former chef, a man called Abu Ali.
And he told me about his first meeting with Saddam. Saddam asked him personally, Abu Ali I heard you're such a great chef.
Would you give me this honor and cook for me? And actually I didn't want to do that like I knew it's going to be a horrible job but he didn't know if this kind of offer from a president is an offer he could refuse.