Iranian Cuisine

Food is very important part of Iranian culture and a notable part of  Iranian hospitality.

Since Iran is a multi-cultural country, The cuisine of Iran is very diverse, with each province featuring dishes, as well as cooking traditions and styles, distinct to their regions.

There are two big groups for Iranian cuisines. One is national cuisines which are rice, bread,  dessert and drinks, fruits and vegatables, essential accompaniments.

The other group is Regional cuisines which is specified to different provinces and regions in Iran, such as Northern Iran, Khuzestan, Esfahan, Azerbaian, Kurdistan, Southern Iran and Central Iran.

It includes a wide variety of foods from:

• chelow kabab (barg, koobideh, joojeh, shishleek, soltani, chenjeh),

• khoresht (stew that is served with white Iranian rice: ghormeh sabzi, gheimeh, and others),

• aash (a thick soup:as an example Ash-e anar),
• kookoo (vegetable omeletes),

• polo (white rice alone or with addition of meat and/or vegetables and herbs, including loobia pollo, albaloo pollo, Sabzi pollo , zereshk pollo, and others),
• and a diverse variety of salads, pastries, and drinks specific to different parts of Iran. The list of Persian recipes, appetizers and desserts is extensive.

We have our traditional fast food in Iran too, along with western kind of fast foods. Chinese and Japanese cuisine has also become popular in recent years, primarily in Tehran, and Italian and Mediterranean restaurants are also featured.

One of the main reasons that Iranian cuisine is not widely recognized is that it is often confused with Middle Eastern cuisine, a much broader and more general term, and this confusion is further perpetuated by restaurants and markets providing authentic Persian cuisine that label themselves as such.

It should be mentioned that Persian cuisine has lots of similarity to Turkish and Greek cuisines in its Kebabs. Although not widely recognised, Persian cuisine is gaining popularity in multicultural cities, especially in London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Washington, and Toronto, which have a significant Persian population.

Los Angeles and its environs, in particular, are well known for the number and quality of Persian/Iranian restaurants which are usually centered around Kebab, but almost always also serve various stews as well. This is unfortunate since Americans who are not of Persian persuasion will consume large amounts of red meat and rice, foods that are not as complex, challenging, unique, etc. as the Persian stews, i.e. Ghormeh Sabzi

Another reason for the relative obscurity of Persian cuisine is the lack of professional restaurant management.

It was my first post on Iranian foods and i wanted to give you a background of it basically. Now you almost learnt about Iranian cuisine.

I’ve decided to have some posts (every week, one entry) on various type of Iranian recipes, National and regional for different tastes. I also share my personal experience about it, some unique tricks to make your food more delicious.

What Kind of Iranian cuisine you’ve ever tasted?