For any immigrant community, preparing traditional foods is an accessible, beloved way to feel a connection with home. But it’s when people outside our communities discover such flavors that a diaspora group starts to feel as though they truly belong in a new land.
That’s what I am seeing now as, across the United States, Iran’s culture and especially cuisine are having a moment, leaving an indelible mark on the American palate.
With stews and braises cooked slow and low, the interplay between sweet and sour, pickling on a grand scale, and the liberal use of herbs and spices, Iranian food is delicious, complex and satisfying. And what we eat is becoming comfort food for non-Iranians, too. For Iranian Americans, it couldn’t happen at a more pivotal moment.
There’s no disputing the Iranian diaspora’s strength in terms of economic wealth and academic achievement in the United States. Yet we’ve struggled to leave our imprint on American society in the ways some other immigrant groups have done.
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As the governments of our adopted homeland and our ancestral one find themselves locked in a strange dance once again, that is now changing.
The trajectory of our presence in this country has been tumultuous. The story began with people like my father, who came to the United States to study. What started as a wave in the late 1950s became a tsunami, and by the mid-1970s, Iranians made up the largest number of foreign students at U.S. colleges. Even more came following the 1979 revolution, as people fled the repression of the newly founded Islamic Republic.
Through it all, wherever we landed and took root in this country, we ate. Today, more and more chefs, food writers and restaurateurs are sharing these flavors with the rest of the nation.
Follow this authorJason Rezaian's opinionsI spent most of my first 35 years in the San Francisco Bay area. On a recent trip there, I visited some of my favorite spots, rejoicing in the ones still around and mourning those that have faded away. It was in the Mission District — one of the United States’s hippest neighborhoods, just a couple of blocks from my first post college apartment — that I discovered Komaaj, a hyper-regional Iranian restaurant serving traditional recipes from the mountainous areas near the Caspian Sea. Strikingly, none of what is often seen as the greatest hits of Iranian cuisine were on the menu. There were no kebabs or tahdig, the now legendary layer found at the bottom of most pots of Iranian rice. Even more conspicuous was the wealth of non-Iranian customers — all of whom were wowed by the experience.
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Back here on the East Coast, a different Iranian culinary phenomenon has been taking place at Sofreh in Brooklyn. While the food is spectacular, it’s the atmosphere that chef/owner Nasim Alikhani so lovingly created and nurtured that stands out. Sofreh was years in the making; even the flatware was sourced, often one spoon at a time, reflecting an era when the interplay between Iran’s traditional and modern identities coexisted more seamlessly. She has reproduced a feeling that might no longer exist anywhere outside of her restaurant.
Komaaj and Sofreh are wonderful embassies for Iran’s culture and cuisine, but you sort of expect that on the coasts. What I’m really excited about is the way Iranian food is taking off in less obvious parts of the country.
Even Guy Fieri is falling for Persian joints. He has profiled at least three on his Food Network show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” At Kababi Cafe in Sunrise, Fla., he discovered the pomegranate paste and walnut-infused stew called fesenjan. In El Paso, at Tasty Kebab, he tried ghormeh sabzi, Iran’s iconic dish (and the name of a Slack channel I belong to for Iranian journalists). And just outside of Oklahoma City, Fieri went to Travel By Taste, an Iranian restaurant and deli owned by the Rezaian family (no relation).
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Food is just one aspect of culture. But for many communities, it is a pillar of social and family interactions, a way to connect with others while preserving history and creating new memories. So the rise of Iranian food in the cultural consciousness gives me hope that we are also bringing down walls through the simple act of breaking bread together.
And this is happening in other cultural spaces as well. Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has won two Oscars for films that portray the complexities of life in modern Iran. Iranian American comedian Maz Jobrani is headlining an event at the Kennedy Center this week — and one of his opening acts is an Iranian African American comedian named Tehran.
This month, the D.C. Council approved a resolution recognizing Nowruz, the traditional Iranian New Year, marking the moment winter turns to spring. As we begin a new century — the new year, beginning on March 20, is 1401 on our calendar — it’s encouraging to see the Iranian diaspora find its voice. Amid bilateral tensions, we can’t afford to let this opportunity to further showcase our roots slip away.
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