In Iran, people use foods to honor their guests and to celebrate special events such as NoRuz. Food is served based on the ideas of ancient physicians who carefully combined food and drinks to maintain a strong body and mind. Long before Weight Watchers, these wise Persians believed that a good diet does nswet involve loads of fats, red meats, starch or alcohol-these transformed men into wicked, selfish brutes. Instead, fruit, vegetables, chicken and fish were encouraged as the food of gentler, more respectable people. 

Despite this, outside Tehran kebabs and fast food dominate most restaurant menus. To enjoy the best cooking you really need to be invited into an Iranian home. Fortunately, there’s a good chance that will happen. When it happens, just say ‘yes’. As a guest you will be a ‘gift of God’ and the fabulous food and humbling hospitality should make for a meal you’ll remember for a lifetime. (Make sure you have a read up on etiquette).

Staples & Specialities

Almost every meal in Iran is accompanied by none (bread) and/or berenj (rice). Non is dirt cheap and usually fresh. There are four main varieties: Lavash is common for breakfast and is flat and thin (it’s mouthwatering when fresh but soon turns cardboard-like), Barbari is crisp and salty and more like Turkish bread (and is often covered with sesame seeds), Sangak is the most superior of Iranian breads, long and thick and baked on a bed of stones to give it its characteristic dimpled appearance (check carefully for rogue chunks of gravel) and Taftun is crisp with a ribbed surface.

Chelo (boiled or steamed rice) forms the base of many Iranian meals, and is served in vast helpings at lunch. Rice cooked with other ingredients, such as nuts, spices or Barberry (small, red berries), is called polo and is worth asking for specifically. Saffron (Za’feran) is frequently used to add flavor and color. If rice is served with a knob of butter on top, blend this in as the Iranians do. A favorite Iranian food is Tahdig, which is the crunchy, savory crust at the bottom of the pan. It is sometimes served with potatoes.

Iranian Meals

Starters

A standard Iranian meal starts with a basic, prefabricated green salad, radioactive – pink Dressing and ash-e- jo (soup of pearl barley). Some places include these in the total meal price, but usually they are charged separately.

Mains

Even in a restaurant with a long menu, 90% of the main-dish options are likely to be kebabs. These are served either on bread (preferably hot from the tandir clay oven) or as Chelo kebab (on a mound of rice) with a pair of grilled tomatoes. Unlike the the greasy kebabs eaten during long nights in the West, Iranian kebabs are tasty, healthy and cooked shish-style over hot charcoals.

The cheapest, standard Version is kubide (literally,ground) kebab, made out of pressed, minced meat mixed with a variable proportion of breadcrumbs. Kebab-e Barg (literally translating as ‘leaf kebab’) is thinner and more variable in quality, and Fille Kebab uses lamb fillet. Juje Kebab is made of chunks of marinated chicken. Kebabs are usually sprinkled with spicy Somaq (sumac; dried extract from fruits of the rhus genus) and accompanied by raw onion. For a small extra fee you can order a bowl of mast (yogurt) and grilled tomato.

Dessert & Sweets

After the meal, dessert is usually a bowl of delicious fruit. However, Iran produces a heagaz-spinning array of freshly made shirini (sweets) with many famous places for a particular sweet: Esfahan is famed for its nougat-like gaz; Qom for sohan (a brittle concoction of pistachio and ginger); Orumiyeh for noghl (sugar-coated nuts); and Kerman for (our favorite) colompe (a soft, date-filled biscuit). Other sweets worth trying include refreshing palude or falude (a sorbet made of rice flour, grated fresh fruit and rose water) and bastani, Iranian ice cream.

Quick Eats

There are many fast-food joints selling a range of bread-roll ‘sandwiches’ topped off with Tomatoes and pickles. The most common fillings are Frankfurter – style sausage (sausis), liver (jegar), hamburger meat (hamburger), Falafel, Tongue (zaban) or brain (Maghz).

Simple Kebabis selling Kebabs and cold drinks are popular, particularly around major Meydans (squares); just follow your nose. These places are usually fairly clean. Eat where the locals eat to avoid eating at an unpopular place whose food is known to make people sick.

Some no-frills places serve Ash-e Sabzi (thick, green vegetable soup) all day. It makes a delicious, cheap breakfast or lunch; just look for the huge metal dish and mountains of bread. The Iranian infatuation with ‘pizza’ seems to be out of control. In many cities it will be easier to find pizzas and burgers than Kebab. Beware that Iranian pizza is very different than Western pizza. It has a flabby base, tasteless cheese and a thick layer of anaemic (porkless) sausage. Tomato paste isn’t part of the recipe, though locals squirt ketchup onto their pizza to create a taste. 

Vegetarians & Vegans

There are a lot of good vegetarian dishes in Iranian cuisine, but most restaurants don’t make them. Even if there is an ostensibly meat-free dish on the menu, such as ash-e reshte (noodle soup with beans and vegetables), it will often come with ‘bonus’ pieces of mutton. Tehran was the only place we found dedicated vegetarian restaurants, but more should open in coming years, with the help of the Iranian Society of Vegetarians.

Solace can be found, however, in the falafels, samosas and potatoes sold in street stalls, and in the Persian mastery of all things bademjan. In our opinion one of the highlights of Iranian cuisine is the meatless Caspian dish mirza ghasemi. Meanwhile, the various kuku (thick omelet dishes) make great snacks, served hot or cold. Varieties include Kuku-ye Sabzi with mixed herbs, Kuku-e-ye Bademjan with eggplant, and Kuku-e-ye gol-e Kalam with cauliflower.

Vegans will have a hard time finding anything completely free from animal products; even rice is often served with butter. Fortunately, fresh and dried fruit and varieties of nut and vegetables are widely available and are very good.

Drinks

Nonalcoholic Drinks

Tea

Socializing in Iran almost inevitably involves chay (tea). Wherever you go there will likely be a boiling kettle of tea nearby. According to the rules of Iranian hospitality, a host is must offer a guest at least one cup of tea before any business takes place. In return, the guest is obligated to drink it. Tea is always drunk black. The tea tray is usually set with a bowl of ghand (chunk of sugar) that is often hacked from huge rocks of sugar. It is customary to dip the sugar into the glass of tea, and then place it between the front teeth (or on the tongue) before sucking the brew through it.

Coffee

Traditional Iranian ghahve (coffee) is like Turkish coffee, served strong, sweet, and black. There are now coffeehouses that also serve as ice cream parlors in urban areas. These places serve a variety of brews made from espresso machines. Still, the coffee tends to be bland and bitter. In rural areas tourists just drink instant coffee.

Juices & Soft Drinks

You’ll never be too far away from a delicious fresh fruit Ab (juice) and fruit Shir (milkshake). Both cost between 2$ and 4$. Depending on the season, you’ll find pomegranate (the dark-red Ab Anar), honey dew melon (Ab Talebi), watermelon (Ab Hendune), orange (Ab Porteghal), apple (Ab Sib) and carrot (ab havij). Popular shakes include banana (Shir Moz), pistachio (Shir Peste) and strawberry (Shir Tut farangi). Shakes are often loaded with sugar. Also widely available, Dugh (churned sour milk or yogurt mixed with water) is a sour but highly refreshing drink. The best Dugh is usually found in restaurants where it is not carbonated and served with chopped herbs. The Dugh sold in stores is carbonated.

Tap water is drinkable almost everywhere, except for Rasht and Zahedan. Bottled water is widely available in cities. Despite the US embargo, Coca-Cola is still bottled under license at a Mashhad plant. It’s worth asking for Zam Zam (cola), Parsi Cola or some other black or orange soft drink. Canned drinks can cost around five times more than the same drinks sold in reusable bottles.

Habits & Customs

In most Iranian homes and many hotels, breakfast is a simple affair, consisting of endless tea served with leftover (irather crisp) Lavash, feta-style cheese and jam – often carrot-flavored, which is better than it sounds. Most hotels usually throw in an egg. Lunch is the main meal of the day for Iranians and is generally eaten with mountains of rice between noon and 2pm. Dinner is from about 7pm onwards. Most restaurants, except those in hotels, close earlier on Friday.

On religious holidays, almost everywhere selling food, including markets and bazaars will be closed for at least the morning. During Ramadan (Muslim’s dawn-to-dusk fast that means no food and no drink for a month), the majority of eateries will be closed from dawn until dusk. Some won’t open at all during the month and many of those that open after dusk are full with pre-booked parties and then close early. However, because travelers don’t have to fast, most hotel and bus terminal restaurants stay open throughout Ramazan, albeit hidden discreetly behind heavy blinds (and thus might look closed). Eating, drinking or smoking in public during Ramazan is considered rude.

Remember to always remove your shoes before sitting around the plastic sheet that acts as the ‘Iranian table’. Cutlery normally consists of a fork and spoon. If you need to eat with your hands, avoid putting your left hand into a communal dish because the left hand is used for something else altogether. Once the meal has arrived, conversation often dies as diners eat in silence. Tea and conversation start again after dinner.

Useful Phrases

I’m a vegetarian.                              man sabzi khar am      من سبزی خوارم                

Does this dish have meat ?                in ghaza gusht dare?   این غذا گوشت داره؟                  

I can’t eat dairy products.                 man nemintunam labaniyyat bekhoram              من نمیتونم لبنیات بخورم

What do you recommend?                shoma chi pishnahad mikonin?     شما چی پیشنهاد می کنین؟                  

I’ll try what s/he’s having.                man az ghazayi ke un mikhore mikham     من از غذایی که اون میخوره می خوام