Category Archives: authentic cuisine

My take on Iran

Because of my job I had the opportunity to go to Tehran. The first time from Saturday to Tuesday and the second time from Monday til Wednesday.

Of course I had the usual impression that you get when you grew up or lived in a western country for a longer time:

  • Iran is not called Islamic republic of Iran for no reason: there is a religious leader who influences politics and regulations for daily live and law
  • Due to the relation to the US and the aggressive foreign policy especially under Ahmadinejad you get a very dark and frightful picture of the country: they want to erase Israel from the map and all American citizens are evil enemies.

Similar like on my trip to Pakistan, I had the chance to get a first hand impression.

First of all: there is a huge – extraordinary huge – discrepancy between the government + the religious leaders and the daily life of the people. Two examples:

  1. Alcohol is forbidden in Iran and recently students have been sentenced to 79 whips because they had some booze when celebrating their graduation. And of course there is a delivery service for alcohol. They come to your home, open the trunk and then you chose. Whaaaat?!
  1. Facebook is blocked (funnily only on wired internet connections, – some? – mobile internet connections don’t block it.). Same applies for the heavily censored tv channels – ever watched or only listened to a football game on an Iranian tv channel? There is barely any sound from the crowd in the stadium. So everyone gets western tv from satellites. Smells a little like the former GDR, right?

Now what I experienced during my visits: all (!) people that I have met are extremely friendly, open and have a very liberal mindset. Strangers on the street approach you and ask where you are from what you are doing in Tehran etc (and no, they are not from the Stasi).

I even participated at a “party”. The conversation went like this:

Hey you wanna join a party tomorrow? Drinks and shisha.

Drinks?

Yep.

Next day.

Well it’s not a real party, only a gathering of friends.

Ok

Well and the location is a little strange. It’s at a nursery.

???????!!

Yeah, a friend of us is the owner and she invited some friends, we totally understand if you don’t want to join.

Sounds strange but I’d still love to join 🙂

… And yes, the nursery was full of children 😀

Some more quick facts:

  • Tehran has around 20 million people
  • It spans from 900m above sea level up to around 1,700m – and the mountains next to it go even up to 3,500m – skiing hooray!
  • It is a very green city, i.e. there are many trees, some parks etc. Still the smog can be quite bad, I guess mainly due to the extremely old cars.
  • Motorbike taxis are cool, cheap, roller coaster-like adrenalin levels are complementary.
  • Food is very good, fresh, mostly local and cheap!

Last but not least: don’t go to Iran. Honestly. Watch this video to see what you are not missing.

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New category: thoughts for food / inspirations rather than recipes

In case you wanna go pro or prefer a scientific method: read this on wikipedia or sign up directly at https://www.foodpairing.com/ In case you don’t mind relying on friends, recommendations and experience: go on reading.

Lamb chop marinade:

  • Ginger garlic paste (like a lot; standard ingredient in – south? – Indian cuisine – ready made pastes are acceptable according to my Indian friends)
  • Teriyaki sauce
  • Dried chilli flakes
  • a dash of whiskey
  • salt & pepper

Awesome green apples

  • raw green apples
  • chilli powder or cayenne pepper powder

Lebanese standard snack:

  • raw green plums
  • salt
  • good snack while sipping some arak with ice & some water

Oriental breakfast – authentic food

One thing that I love about living / travelling abroad: you get to know soooo many different flavors and things to eat in general. Regardless whether it’s haggis or black pudding in Scotland, fish head in China, lingus from Sri Lanka, balacao from (or rather: in) Portugal or upma from India – it’s amazing how many different tastes & eating habits exist.

Recently I had the honor to get to know what is called ‘oriental breakfast’ – a variety of omlette, feta & halloumi, some veggies and… ehh… fries. For breakfast. Really? Oriental? Ok great.

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