Tasty Iranian Food

Trip Start Jan 08, 2005

Trip End Feb 12, 2005

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Flag of Iran Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, February 8, 2005

So what is your favorite Iranian food? Or when was the last time you ate at an Iranian restaurant? Before my travels, I would have had negative answers to both those questions. But now that I have been to Iran, I must say there food is simple but very good. And of course they eat a lot of rice which was a pleasant and unexpected surprise for me.

So my first meal was of course the staple of the Iranian diet, that consisting of meat kebabs and bread. This was my first taste of food in Tehran and other than the fact that the local restaurant was quite intimate and the owner very friendly, it was quite good. Of course, how you identify kebab restaurants from the sign is another story.
On the way to this kebab place we also passed a shop selling one of my favorite fruits....pomegranates. These are obviously popular in Iran such that you can purchase them and associated products from special stores

1 - My First Iranian Food

. I didn't see a lot of these shops, but this one definitely caught my eye.

My next introduction to Iranian food came about when I ate at another local restaurant near Tehran University known for its ash (osh). This restaurant below street level was not only unique because single males had to sit in a separate section of the restaurant but also because the food was very good and obviously quite popular and inexpensive. So what is ash? Well as you can see from the photo, it does not look particularly appetizing but when eaten with bread is quite tasty and filling...it is like a thick barley stew with yoghurt on top. This also brings me to one of the most popular drinks in Iran.....yoghurt. It is served in glasses or in plastic bottles and is just plain yoghurt. I tried to drink this but it was much too sour for my liking....just couldn't get used to yoghurt without fruit and sugar!

I was also fortunate enough to be invited to a spectacular meal at an Iranian family home. Not only was there the obvious salad but also ash and qormeh sabsi which is a dish consisting of spinach, beans, meat and lemon. And another typical Iranian dish was the rice cooked with an egg or yoghurt to make a crunchy brown crust that is broken up and served on top of the dish.

2 - Pomegranate Shop

Of course, one cannot visit Tehran without spending some time in a tea house sipping tea and/or puffing on a water pipe. And if you happen to try out a local's teahouse, you can even taste the dizi or abgusht, a soup-stew combination which you can also partially prepare yourself at the table (if you know what you're doing!). And like most places, this is served with delicious Iranian bread for which there are bread shops all over the place. Most of these use stone ovens and may even cook the bread on rocks that you have to pick out when you get the fresh bread slabs/sheets.

If you wander around the markets, you will also see many meat shops with sheep heads displayed that comprise the main ingredient of another famous Iranian dish that I have yet to try. As well, you will find beautiful shops which specialize in dried nuts and fruit. These are amazing places to wander around and many allow you to freely sample the goods (yummy!).

And of course if you go to the Persian Gulf area seafood is in abundance and nothing beats fresh crab and fish which you may well be able to get a local to prepare for you and to eat at his home (we ate in a beautiful prayer room of a fellow we met....the accompanying dates were awesome).

And in the warmer southern areas, oranges are everywhere and can be bought on the street from pickup trucks loaded to the brim. And if you are inclined to suck on a real sour orange, they are everywhere you walk around downtown Shiraz. I declined trying this out remembering how much I enjoyed the sour yoghurt.

Ice cream is also popular in warmer places so shops selling this sweet and coffee such as the one shown from Shiraz can be found. And of course there is also a wonderful Iranian sweet made from sesame and honey which is just to die for! Finally, if one does hanker for so more "familiar type" food, you can always enjoy pizza in Iran which I thought was pretty good.

So Iran may not be famous for its culinary treats, but it definitely has its unique dishes and I'm sure you won't starve if you travel here.

More Pictures

3 - Iranian Ash (Osh)	4 - The Popular Yoghurt Drink	5 - A Family Meal	6 - Ingredients for am Iranan dish
7 - Tagrish street shop	8 - Tea House	9 - Orange trees in Shiraz