Iran

Allan was twelve or thirteen years old when his family took a vacation in Iran. They were at the Caspian Sea, close to the then Soviet border of Azerbaijan when two plain clothes young men questioned Allan’s father extensively to determine whether he was a spy. One of the questions they asked was the name of the crispy rice from the bottom of the pot, an important part of Iranian cuisine. The answer is tahdig, as you might learn from Iran – Food and Travel with Mark Wiens on either AmazonPrime or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhkQelZX2c8&list=PLeoy0zUu6bqlrTC5xcux2jJWXz81oon5a&index=2

From the Caspian Sea, the Darnells drove south to see the crown jewels in Tehran (just a few are pictured here): http://www.palagems.com/iran-crown-jewels. They then traveled the 2500 anniversary road, going to Isfahan, Shiraz, and the Persian Gulf. Rick Steves shows some of the things they saw on that trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ynXdo15k04

If you want to travel to ancient Persia, the forerunner of Iran, while staying at home, you can check this series of videos and articles from the Khan Academy. It includes information on Cyrus the Great and Zoroastrianism: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/ancient-persia/v/overview-of-ancient-persia. I supplemented my knowledge of Zoroastrianism by reading In Search of Zarathustra by Paul Kriwaczek from the library.

To move into the middle ages, there is nothing better than The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night to hear stories from the entire length of the Silk Roads including Iran. The version available through Project Gutenberg is translated by Richard F. Burton: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3435. UNESCO has put up an interactive map of the Silk Roads which can be found here: https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silkroad-interactive-map

To move into the contemporary world, I read The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali. I appreciated not only the story woven into recent Iranian history, but also images of Iranians as people with concerns similar to ours. We might have missed that in Argo (although Argo is an excellent movie and worth picking up at the library or paying to watch it online). We might also miss the humanity of Iranians in Shahs of Sunset on Hulu (a reality show in the spirit of Keeping Up with the Kardashians). The movie House of Sand and Fog on Kanopy gives us a darker side of the Iranian immigrants’ experience.

My favorite experience with an Iranian immigrant is from comedian Maz Jobrani. I spent a large portion of Sunday watching:

· A four minute clip of his jokes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzfy7HmmEKE

· His TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmXiItk49Gw

· A talk he gave at Google on the life of an immigrant comedian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW_lQJUGOpI

· His part of the Axis of Evil comedy tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=718bxd8ojBY

· His full show, Maz Jobrani, Immigrant, on Netflix. Just a warning, the show on Netflix won't be for everyone as it has lots of Trump jokes, fart jokes and other similar material, but it included enough Iranian material to keep me happy.

Maz Jobrani is scheduled to perform live in Burbank in November and I’m going to keep an eye out for tickets. Other ways to experience Iranian culture in California is to:

· Watch a polo game at Will Rogers State Historic Park. Polo games are played every weekend from May to mid-October except the holiday weekends. Polo is from Iran originally, and traveled through India to Britain, where it is well known today.

· Attend the Persian New Year Festival in Berkeley and participate in the Zoroastrian fire jumping festival called Chahar-Shanbeh Souri to welcome spring on the last Tuesday of winter. Persians are the largest subset of Iranians.

· Chat with a docent in the House of Iran in the Pacific Relations International Cottages, Balboa Park, San Diego or attend their lawn program or other events: https://www.sdhpr.org/Countries/Iran.html

· Eat Persian ice cream at Saffron & Rose on Westwood Boulevard. This area is known as Persian Square and is part of Tehrangeles, the Iranian community of Los Angeles. Those flavors look amazing! https://www.saffronroseicecream.com/

I’m not going to even try to list all the Persian restaurants I’ve enjoyed in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. My favorite is Arya Steakhouse in Redwood City. I’m attaching the menu because I know my mom will like to see it. I ate their specials when I was there, a unique salad, soup, rice, and fish that I can’t even describe now except to say how much I love cherries or pomegranate seeds in my savory food: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5893a32ed2b857c51ea9c8c3/t/605bbbb92fb9e35f13844459/1616624569506/menu_March_2021.pdf. To explore Iranian food for yourself, here are basic recipes by Najmieh Batmanglij https://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/persian-recipes-for-weeknight-cooking-najmieh-batmanglij-article. Iranian American Samin Nosrat’s series Salt Fat Acid Heat on Netflix is excellent, but not specifically focused on Iranian food.

Assal Bakery in Irvine provides a wide variety of Persian cookies, lots of cream filled cakes, a delicious cone filled with cream, pie sized slices of baklava, and a saffron rice pudding with almonds. This link to recipes for classic Persian desserts includes some of the delicacies I found at Assal Bakery including melt in your mouth garbanzo cookies (who would have thought!): https://insanelygoodrecipes.com/persian-desserts/

Here are some great places to visit in Iran: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-iran/. Believe it or not, Iran lets Americans in! There are limitations, so check in with your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive. May we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Iran and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Alireza Estilaf https://unsplash.com/photos/jyuTM7v--2w