Food Culture and Tradition

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  • Irish Food

    FOOD FROM IRELAND

    Conservative Irish cookery in the home has not moved far from the traditional staples known and enjoyed for centuries. The earliest staples were oatmeal, dairy products, and leeks. Oatmeal is still used; dairy products are still favored, although tea and stout are more popular as beverages; leeks still appear in traditional dishes, although they have been widely replaced by onions. The biggest change over the centuries was the replacement of oatmeal with potatoes. Fish was and continues to be the principal source of protein (next to milk) because it is readily available and generally less expensive than meat. To most Irish, “meat” most often means variety meats, sausages or pork products, not by preference, but for economic reasons. So adept are the Irish at putting together a satisfying meal economically, that at least this Irish saying is based more on fact than legend: “When it comes to knocking up a light savory meal you can’t beat the Irish.” But increasingly the spice shelf and supply of herbs and vegetables are expanding.

    DAIRY PRODUCTS

    Milk is used in cooking oatmeal and making soups. Buttermilk is a beverage often taken with a light vegetable meal. Cottage cheese, called “curds,” is eaten occasionally and used in Irish curdcake, a type of cheesecake made with curds, eggs and flavored with butter and lemon, all baked in a pastry shell. Local Irish cheeses are gaining heightened appreciation.

    FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

    Apples are the most popular fruit and are used in applecakes, fruit fools, flummery, and the toffee apples prepared especially for Halloween. Oranges are a special treat, not daily fare. Blends of fruits, such as plums and apples, and berries are made into preserves.

    Potatoes are the number one vegetable; although many others are available, they are not used in quantity. Cabbage, carrots, and onions are used year round because of their keeping qualities, but purple broccoli, asparagus, chicory (Belgian endive), endive (curly green leaves), leeks, kohlrabi, marrows, mushrooms, peas, and parsnips also are used. Stoke is a sea “spinach” which must be cooked four to five hours, and dulse (also called dillisk or dillesk) is a type of reddish brown seaweed often added to soups, fish or vegetable dishes or mashed potatoes (dulse champ).

    The variety of delicious and satisfying dishes produced from and with potatoes makes their popularity understandable. People near the sea enjoy potatoes freshly boiled in seawater, and boiled potatoes often form at least a part, if not the main part, of a meal. Whether boiled in seawater or saltwater, their appeal is national. Champ is a mound of hot mashed potatoes served in a soup plate with a pool of melting fresh butter; each spoonful of potato is dipped in the butter. Colcannon is a dish of Scottish origin, using mashed potatoes and other vegetables (usually cabbage or turnip) well cooked and blended with the potato. Leftover cooked potatoes may thicken a soup or stew, or be blended with flour to form a potato dough or bread, or formed into patties to be fried as pancakes called boxty bread or boxty pancakes. Cumberland pie is a hearty dish of two layers of the potato pastry filled with rolled slices of bacon and beaten eggs, all well baked. Haggerty is another main dish made with thinly sliced potatoes and onions fried in bacon fat to form a large crisply browned cake. Dublin coddle, a traditional Saturday night dish guaranteed to prevent hangovers, is a piping hot casserole (like a thick soup) of bacon and sausages topped with sliced potatoes and onions.

    Casseroles, vegetable dishes, pancakes, and soups do not complete the lengthy list of uses for potatoes. Ingenious Irish cooks have developed delicious recipes using potatoes – usually leftover cooked ones – in pastries, cakes, biscuits and breads. A mouth watering baked pudding is called potato-apple cake, layers of sliced apples between a potato “pastry” sweetened with sugar and spiced with ginger, are baked till golden brown and the apples meltingly tender. This is almost a meal, served hot with sweet cream. It wouldn’t be unusual to have a three-course meal with potato in some form in each dish!

    MEATS AND ALTERNATES

    Pork is the country mainstay and a favorite throughout Ireland. But budgets seldom permit roasts, chops, and other expensive cuts. The ingenuity of the Irish cook, however, produces a proliferation of delicious dishes based on trotters (pig’s feet), Bath chaps (cured cheeks and tongues eaten breaded and fried), brawn (pig’s head cooked in spicy broth then chopped and gelled), griskins (odds and ends of pork trimmings pounded flat then breaded and fried), and the wide use of bacon fat to flavor dishes based on cereal or vegetables.

    Beef is enjoyed but expensive for frequent use. Mince is the name given to ground beef, brisket is used for simmered corned beef and cabbage, while spiced beef is a traditional Christmas treat. Chickens are used occasionally, mostly in soups or stewed dishes, and goose is a holiday specialty. Game finds its way to the table less often: quail, grouse, hare, pheasant, snipe, partridge, woodcock, duck, and venison. Local lamb is increasingly enjoyed.

    Herring is a regular part of the diet and Irish fish soups are a specialty. Lough negh pollan (a fresh-water herring) and potted or soused herring make good companions to potatoes. Fish that is baked slowly in a pickling mixture keeps well and may he eaten hot or cold: this is called potted or soused. Many other fish are readily available: mackerel, trout, cod, haddock, whiting, flatfish, and smoked or fresh eels. Willicks or willocks are winkles or periwinkles that have been boiled in seawater then eaten out of their shells with a pin, sometimes accompanied with vinegar and salt or lightly dipped in fine oatmeal. Blocking and lythe are two fish commonly sold dried and filleted. Crab and lobster are available but the large Dublin prawns, whose fat tails are sometimes exported as scampi, are special favorites, as are freshly shucked oysters.

    Eggs are enjoyed with ham, bacon, or sausages, often as a breakfast dish, but more often as a dinner. Eggs are also a frequent ingredient in other dishes. Peas and dried beans are used less frequently. Nuts cannot be considered a protein source as they are infrequently used in baking, and only on special occasions (Halloween) as a treat.

    BREADS AND GRAINS

    A hot cereal for breakfast in Ireland means oatmeal. Oats and wheat flour (often wholegrain wheat) are used widely in preparing the many breads and biscuits that are a part of most meals and always accompany tea. Frequently, fine oatmeal or coarse wheat flour kneaded into leftover mashed potatoes will form the dough for a stomach filling bread or even a main dish piecrust.

    FATS

    Bacon fat is the most widely used fat for cooking and baking and even as a spread. Butter is used when it can be afforded, most often to lend taste. Increasingly, oil is finding its way to Irish kitchens.

    SWEETS AND SNACKS

    Traditionally, simple cooked fruit desserts, custards and milk puddings made with carageen (a fresh moss used as a thickening agent), and bread puddings are the usual desserts. Cakes are for special occasions only (Christmas and weddings) and most baked goods are not heavily sweetened if they are indeed sweet at all. Honey, treacle (molasses), and white sugar are the usual sweeteners. Yellowman is the traditional Irish sweet: a hard candy similar to the brittle in peanut brittle. Sugar is also consumed in tea. The Irish also enjoy homemade jams and jellies eaten with breads and biscuits. Newer Irish cuisine is borrowing gourmet recipes and using fresh Irish fruits and cream to create spectacular delights.

    SEASONINGS

    The Irish spice shelf is a small one but growing! Salt and pepper together with onions and leeks are the daily seasonings. Caraway seeds are used in breads, cakes, and pancakes, cinnamon and nutmeg and mace enhance rich festive fruitcakes together with nuts, dried fruits, and currants. Butter and bacon fat also add flavor to vegetables and fish. More recently, fresh herbs, more spices and even garlic and butter simmered vegetables are being enjoyed and not just by tourists.

    BEVERAGES

    Tea is the beverage accompanying every meal and most snacks. The Irish have a reputation for their love of alcoholic beverages, stout being the usual, but occasionally whiskey or mixed drinks too. The Irish don’t linger over their drinks, the reason perhaps found in one of their many sayings: “Don’t sip a cocktail, drink it quickly while it’s still smilin’ at you!”
    Of the milk drinks, buttermilk is enjoyed over whole or skim milk as a drink for refreshment or with meals.

  • Irish Food and Culture

    FOOD AND CULTURE IN IRELAND

    The Irish are one with their land. Warm, sprightly, and whimsical on the outside, the Irish character occasionally surfaces to reveal mercurial ups and downs of temperament firmly rooted in steadfast stubbornness. The land is the same. A moderately moist climate gently washes over the idyllically green land, which is dotted with lakes and encircled with mountains, and which only occasionally breaks to reveal the limestone of the plains or the granite and basalt of the Highlands. Even the softness of the peat bogs belies their vital importance for fuel and power. The Irish people and their island homeland exhibit both tenderness and strength and bear witness also to the contrasts inherent in their history.

    After the arrival of St. Patrick in 432 C.E., Christianity spread over the many separate kingdoms of the Emerald Isle and for the next 400 years Catholicism, monasteries, oatmeal, milk, and leeks occupied the souls and filled the stomachs and the working days of the Irish. Aside from those in the religious life most of the population were farmers and shepherds. Then this somewhat peaceful existence was shattered with Viking raids and even the brief establishment of Viking rule. Although seldom openly attributed to the Viking conquest of 832 C.E., could it be possible that the Vikings left an inheritance of mischievous trolls and bottomless imbibing that remains to this day so much a part of the legends and customs of the Irish?

    For the next 700 years after the Viking occupation, the Irish had to stave off raids, invasions, and pressures from first, the Normans (who had already established themselves in England) and then the English. Both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in the 1500s and early 1600s gradually supplanted Irish landowners with Scottish and English owners. The Irish (Catholics and Protestants alike) now became tenant farmers on what was their own land. This non-resident ownership of land together with strong grievances in many other areas of Irish life came to a head and erupted in the conflicts of the 1700s.

    But a specter more ominous than religion or politics was looming. The wheat, oats, and barley that the Irish grew for their landlords, and the pigs, mutton, and beef pastured on their lands never saw an Irish hearth. Adopted by the Irish peasants as their staple food, potatoes in every possible form became the basis of every meal. The usually gentle climate became endless days and nights of alternately drizzling and torrential rains and in 1821, the uneducated, misgoverned pauper peasants suffered famine, fever and death from the first failure of the potato crops. Increasingly, the majority of the Irish population lived on misery and little else. Some, at this point, assured that there would be priests and a goodly supply of potatoes in the New World, set out for life in North America.

    Those Irish who decided not to emigrate managed to survive and the next year enjoyed, if nothing else, a profusion of potatoes so plentiful that it is said they were even used as fertilizer. The respite in the form of food for all, however, hardly made up for the almost slave-labor conditions in the cities and the general oppression in the countryside. England and Scotland were glutted with unskilled labor; poverty, disease, and death were commonplace. And the blighted potato crops of 1845 were only the fore-shadowing of the disastrous total crop destruction in 1846. The beleaguered government chose a policy of eviction and forced emigration, a far less costly strategy, they decided, than attempting to support the starving disease-ridden thousands in workhouses.

    So it was that almost two million Irish – almost 40 percent of the population – prematurely aged, haggard, sick with cholera, typhus, and dysentery, allowed themselves to be herded onto filthy ships to the New World. Many died on hoard, others soon after landing. Those who managed, by miracle or inner fortitude, to survive were given three-quarters of a pound of bread and the same amount of meat for six days and then they were on their own.

    While the Irish back home fought for survival as well as independence from the English, those in the New World applied their inner stubbornness to building roads, homes, and sawmills and clearing land for their own farms. Others became soldiers or political and religious leaders. But always the lilt of Gaelic (Irish language) and laughter could be heard over the clink of glasses wherever the Irish gathered. And as memories of the misery of their lives in Ireland softened with time (although it is said that the Irish have a long memory) they kept alive too the memories of leprechauns, hearth-baked soda bread, St. Patrick’s Day and the Blarney stone (whoever kisses it will have a “golden tongue”).

    What other holiday is celebrated with such a mixture of wistful sadness and uninhibited joy? Who but the Irish could turn their St. Patrick’s Day Parade (wherever in the world it is held) into an event felt and celebrated by all ethnic groups? Perhaps it is that March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, is more than “the wearin ‘o’ the green,” more than parades and drinking and sad lamenting songs; perhaps St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by so many because most of all it portrays a yearning memory of a dear homeland, beloved in spite of suffering. Most peoples of the world can share that.

    The struggle for independence from the English culminated in the Foundation of the State in January 21, 1919. Disagreements, treaties, and violence were not to end. The Irish flag, a tricolor of green, white, and orange, was adopted in 1848. It was not until 1948 that the Republic of Ireland finally gained British recognition, but Northern Ireland has remained under British control. The green represented the Gaelic and Norman-Irish while the orange symbolized the William of Orange supporters, mostly English and Scottish. The field of white on the flag, then as now, was meant to symbolize peace between the Irish factions. Sadly, violence still disrupts the Emerald Isle, but hopes for lasting peace have never burned as brightly as in the closing years of the twentieth century.

    More than political miracles have been happening. It has been said that the Irish care more about what comes out of their mouths than what goes in. This too is changing. A food revolution of a happy sort is erupting everywhere, and not just in restaurants. The Irish are awakening to the luscious possibilities of their homegrown succulent lamb, creamy Irish cheeses, the freshness of rain-washed vegetables, and the rich bounty of the waters around them. Homegrown Irish ingredients touched more boldly with fresh herbs and seasonings and prepared with loving perfection can now take their place in any cuisine of the world.

  • Glossary of Foods and Food Terms in Iran

    IRANIAN FOOD GLOSSARY AND FOOD TERMS

    Aarak: a strong colorless liquor (possibly Chinese in origin) made from fermented rice and molasses, taken as an aperitif and sometimes diluted with water. Because it is not made from grape fermentation, for some Muslims it somehow circumvents the prohibition against alcohol, more specifically wine. In Iraq, Aarak may be made from dates and flavored with mastik; Iran’s Aarak may be flavored with the addition of anise or fennel.

    Abdug or Dugh: a refreshing tangy drink of yogurt diluted with plain or mineral water and lightly salted. Often served with meals or as a refreshment by itself.

    Abgusht: a thick soup of chickpeas and onions, flavored with lamb or mutton. Accompanied with bread and pounded to a smooth puree, this dish is the staple of workmen.

    Abgusht Miveh: a thick soup made with lamb, beets, red beans, and lentils. In the last hour of cooking, a cup of assorted dried fruits is added.

    Adviel: spice mixture of fragrant cinnamon, angelica, nutmeg, crushed dried rose petals, and cumin.

    Ajeel: a mixture of nuts and seeds simmered in water and lime juice then salted and toasted and eaten as an appetizer or snack.

    Ash or Aash: general name given to thick soups prepared from several beans and lentils plus vegetables and sometimes meat. Lemon or lime juice is added at the end and the thick soup is served topped with yogurt as a meal. Frequently, many thick Iranian soup-stews are served as a strained clear broth to be followed by the soup ingredients neatly chopped or pounded into a smooth mound, this second course to be eaten with bread and crisp fresh vegetables.

    Bademjan: eggplant.

    Basmati or Patna: unpolished long-grain white rice, the basis of traditional Iranian dishes.

    Borani: salad of freshly steamed and drained spinach dressed with a sauce of yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and crushed walnuts. Toasted sesame seeds and sprigs of fresh mint are the final garnish.

    Chai: tea. In Iran, tea is taken clear, strong, and sweet, usually in small cups.

    Chelo or Chilau or Chello: classic Iranian dish of rice (long-grain and unpolished) cooked lightly for eight to ten minutes, then allowed to fluff over low heat. The addition of melted butter and sometimes egg yolks to the last step results in a crispy-brown crust on the bottom of the pot. Chelo is served in a mound, topped with the broken crisp crusts and poured over a Khoresh (sauce) is poured over to make a main dish. Sometimes a raw egg yolk in its shell and a sprinkling of Sumac is added by the diner.

    D’Abdugh: popular summer dish of diluted Mast (yogurt) mixed with chopped cucumbers and seasoned with powdered rose petals and dried raisins. Served as a chilled soup.

    Fesenjan: a whole duck or cut-up duck pieces are lightly browned in butter then set aside while the sauce is made of crushed walnuts, pomegranate juice, or syrup all lightly flavored with onions and cardamom. Served over Chelo, this may be considered a Khoresh. Chopped walnuts and sections of fresh tangerines are the garnish.

    Firni: powdered rice starch used for thickening soups and desserts.

    Fustuck: pine nuts.

    Geisi Polo: a pilaf of cooked lamb, rice, raisins, and dried apricots.

    Gushe Barreh: similar to Italian ravioli. Small noodle dough envelopes filled with finely chopped meat and vegetable mixtures, usually served in soups.

    Halva: popular sweet made throughout the Middle East, but varying from place to place. Iranian Halva is a pasty mixture of browned butter and flour blended with syrup and takes its color and taste from saffron. It is served as a dessert or eaten on bread.

    Harisa: a thick puree resembling a porridge and made of burgul (coarse wheat), mutton, and chick-peas with butter and cinnamon, served hot.

    Joojeh: a dish of stuffed roasted chicken. The mildly flavored stuffing is made of cooked rice or burgul (coarse wheat), cooked chickpeas, slivered almonds, and salt and pepper.

    Kebab: marinated meat, broiled. Marinade is most often lemon juice with finely grated onion.

    Kabuli Polo: a mixture of cooked rice and lamb scented with saffron, allspice, and cardamom, strewn with cooked slivers of almonds, carrots, and white raisins.

    Keysava: a rich conserve of dried apricots and nuts. Served as a dessert garnished with yogurt or whipped cream.

    Khoresh or Koresh: general name given to any one of dozens of exotic combinations of seasoned fruits, meats, nuts, vegetables. Prepared as a thick sauce served over Chelo. Ingredients depend on season.

    Kufta: of the whole “meatball family” this one is probably the largest. Finely ground meat (lamb or mutton) is blended with ground chickpeas, rice, and seasonings and shaped to form a large ball. Chopped prunes and hard-cooked eggs are tucked into the center and the Kufta is gently simmered in broth. Broth may be served as a soup, while the Kufta is sliced and served separately.

    Kuku, Kukune, or Coucou: classic Iranian picnic dish, delicious whether hot or cold. It is actually a large omelet full of chopped vegetables; potatoes, leeks, onions are the usual ingredients (plus eggs of course).

    Mahi Dudi: smoked fish.

    Mast: yogurt.

    Mastva Khair: a salad of chopped cucumbers with white raisins, mint, onion, salt and pepper and dressed with yogurt.

    Miveh: a mix of fruits, usually fresh, sometimes dried.

    Nane Lavash: thin crisp wheat bread with good keeping qualities.

    Nane Sangak or Sangak: fresh yeast bread, baked on hot stones and eaten while still warm.

    Paludeh: any crushed or coarsely grated fresh fruit, sprinkled with lemon juice and heaped in a serving dish. Garnished with mint or cinnamon, it makes a quick and refreshing dessert.

    Panir: a firm white goat’s cheese similar to the Greek Feta.

    Polo: general name for a layered mixture of fruits, vegetables, meats, and rice. Similar to Pilaf.

    Rogan: clarified butter.

    Sabzi Panir: appetizer platter of dark bread, slices of goat’s cheese, walnut halves, and sprigs of coriander served separately and to be assembled according to taste by the diner. May be accompanied with Aarak.

    Seranjabin: a sweet and sour syrup prepared from sugar, water, vinegar, and mint. Used as a basis for cool summer drinks (as are other fruit syrups) combined with water and sparkling mineral water. Also may be used for dipping Romaine lettuce as a light dessert.

    Shekar Polo or Polou: classic Iranian sweet rice dish prepared as the highlight of all special occasions. Cooked rice is sweetened with heavy syrup and flavored with saffron. Finely chopped almonds and pistachios complete the dish.

    Shirini: cubed pumpkin is cooked in a heavy syrup and served with walnuts, cinnamon, and topped with clotted cream. Traditional Kurdish dessert. (Kurds are Muslims scattered over Iran, Iraq, and southeast Turkey, mainly farmers or herders.)

    Shish Kebab: Iranian dish well known in the western world. Cubes of meat marinated in lemon juice. onion, and salt. The meat, usually lamb, is arranged on skewers and broiled.

    Sofren: elegantly embroidered cloth spread over rich floor carpets upon which is placed the platters of foods for meals and special occasions. Often a mirror is placed to reflect the beauty of the foods.

    Tah Chin: classic Iranian dish of lamb marinated in yogurt both for flavor and tenderizing, then layered and cooked with rice (Chelo).

  • Foods Commonly Used in Iran

    IRANIAN FOODS THAT ARE COMMONLY USED

    The classic Middle Eastern staples of lamb, wheat bread, eggplant, and yogurt are also the staples of Iran. But Iranian cuisine sets itself apart by the cultivation and use of rice for almost every meal. “A loaf of bread, a jug of wine” may have satisfied Omar Khayyam, but the fact that the Iranians themselves pay highest tribute to their poet Firdausi, who wrote the Shah-nama – an epic poem to the ruler said to have invented cooking – clearly marks their valued appreciation of gastronomy.

    Thus the Iranian diet, along with a base of expertly cooked long-grain white rice, includes seasonal fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, all subtly touched with fragrant spices and herbs and accompanied with liberal servings of some form of yogurt as well as flat wheaten bread. Very little seafood is used and pork is forbidden since Iran is a Muslim land. It should be emphasized that Iranian foods are mildly seasoned, often using saffron or turmeric and the aromatic cinnamon, clove, and cardamom, while orange flower water and rosewater perfume many confections. Sweet hot tea in tiny cups is the anytime beverage, while succulent sweetness keynotes not only the tea but also snacks and treats and even some of the fruit sauces that are part of meat dishes.

    As in most Middle Eastern countries, there is great disparity between the diet of the wealthy classes and that of low-income groups both in rural and urban areas. The fine intricacies of the Iranian cuisine and the selection of many dishes for a meal are the privilege of the upper classes alone. Zoroastrian duality is still very much a part of food selection into “hot” and “cold” and eaten in accordance often with body temperaments, such as illness, fatigue, stress, and so on.

    For others, cereals supplemented with dairy products, and small amounts of fruits and vegetables in season washed down with huge quantities of sweet tea, form the basic diet. Meats are used rarely. In the wheat-producing areas, rice, the staple of most Iranians, is considered a luxury for the poor, while in the rice-producing areas, the poor enjoy wheat bread as if it were cake.

  • Meals and Customs in Iran

    IRANIAN MEALS AND CUSTOMS

    Consideration of others and refinement of manners are as much a part of the Iranian character as appreciation of and dedication to artistry. Shoes are traditionally removed before entering a room and the main meal of the day is always preceded by ceremonious hand-washing and the serving of tea.

    The traditional Iranian dinner is set out in serving dishes set on a large white cloth spread over many beautiful carpets. The diners sit around the cloth on soft cushions. It is customary for the diners to eat all foods with the fingers of their right hand. Special short-handled spoons are used for soups and soft desserts, and sometimes visitors are given forks. However, all food is prepared and served in such a way that knives are never needed or used at the table. A simple meal would traditionally observe all of these customs, a more elaborate meal or banquet would differ only in the number and variety of dishes presented.

    Where coffee still takes precedence over tea, there is a special ritual to its preparation and serving, and special implements are used. For the purist, the coffee beans are roasted and crushed immediately before brewing. Mihma is the special spoon for roasting the beans, qashuga is the name of the long rod to stir the roasting beans, while hawan is the special brass mortar used to crush the hot, freshly roasted coffee beans. In fact, in some homes, the early morning pounding of the coffee beans and the baking of crisp breads for breakfast is a pleasant awakening for the family.

    The rounded Iranian coffeepots, with their long spouts and narrow necks, seem always ready with a fresh brew, whether the woman of the house is being hospitable or the merchant is doing business. In fact, to refuse the offer of coffee is considered an insult. Traditionally, coffee is offered three times after the guests’ arrival and always it must be drunk. This is not a difficult matter as the handle-less cups are very tiny and when one excludes the sediment, there is really not too much to drink. As with food, the cup of coffee is always received and drunk with the right hand. The use of the left hand is considered impolite, but the noisy sipping of the beverage, or rather the thick brew, is indicative of pleasure.

    Three meals a day are usual and they begin with a light and early breakfast of sweetened tea or coffee and breads. Sometimes the breads are served with local cheeses. Lunch and dinner are usually similar meals based on hearty portions of rice either made as chelo or as a polo and frequently accompanied with fresh seasonal vegetables, bread and cheese. Iran has a small but fine repertoire of soups but these are not as popular as dishes prepared with rice as a base. In fact, ash, the word for soup, is really part of the Persian word ash-paz or “cook.” This means “the maker of the soup.” For most meals, fresh ripe fruits are the usual dessert.

    Throughout the day nibbles of crunchy toasted nuts of all kinds, crisp dried seeds, and roasted beans, all lightly salted, are enjoyed everywhere. Juicy snacks of fresh fruits and the frequent social sipping of tea or coffee allow little opportunity for real hunger. Ajeel is a traditional mix of nuts and seeds that have been simmered in lime juice then salted and toasted. The familiar arrangement of selected fresh fruits that graces tables and is sold by vendors is called miveh.

  • Special Occasions in Iran

    IRANIAN SPECIAL OCCASIONS

    The largest religious group in the ancient land of Iran is Muslim, with much smaller groups of Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

    Friday is the Muslim day of rest and Iranian women relax by enjoying a form of a country picnic, chaperoned by the men of the family: The traditional dish is kuku or kukune, which is like a large omelet or pancake cooked on top of the stove and prepared from cooked and lightly browned vegetables bound with beaten eggs. It can be enjoyed hot or cold accompanied by breads, cheese, and fruits.

    The Iranian New Year (Norouz) is joyously celebrated on March 21, the spring solstice. Like so much in Iranian life, the end of the year is seen as symbolic of death and darkness, while the beginning of the new year is seen as rebirth and light.

    Several weeks before, houses are cleaned, new clothes are sewn, and sweet baked goods are prepared. A special ceremonial sofreh (embroidered white cloth for the new year) is set up ready for the feasting. The eve of the last Wednesday before the new year is called Red Wednesday, a night for bonfires, costumes, even the wearing of painted faces and shrouds, to symbolically chase away bad spirits.

    In addition, to help chase away the spirits of darkness, a special sofreh is placed on the carpets or table to be laid out with seven symbols of good angels, to symbolize “life, rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy and beauty” Close to the sofreh, a mirror is placed to reflect the beautiful symbols, and candles to represent the number of children in the home are lit. With the singing of songs and readings from the Koran, the family ushers in the new year.

    Iranian families prepare many special sweet dishes for the new year and always among them are the shekar polo, a sweet and syrupy rice dish flecked with almonds and pistachios, and the traditional baklava. Shoots of wheat to symbolize the very roots of life adorn the festive table together with a mirror on which eggs are arranged. The first jiggle of the eggs symbolizes the very moment when the legendary bull tosses the whole earth from one horn to the other. There follows a happy time of family visits and gift-giving and many sweets and treats to nibble and munch for thirteen days of festivities when all schools and businesses enjoy a holiday too. Traditional outdoor picnics end the days of New Years celebrations.

  • Food in Rome-Lazio

    ROME-LAZIO

    While most of Italy balances its cooking between butter and olive oil, Rome prefers matured pork fat called strutto. In other ways Rome is different too: vegetables grown in the surrounding volcanic soil are said to have a distinct taste, and sheep, suckling lamb, and suckling kid (slaughtered often when only weeks old) become specialty dishes. Romans take
    their traditions very seriously. With a common saying, “Bread and water are fit for a dog,” every home and every small restaurant proudly serves the very best, fully confident that their tradition truly is the best. With knowing skills the Romans do indeed select the best from north and south and create from it a distinctively Roman cuisine.

    Pizzas are everywhere, but Rome has an elegantly simple one that defies imitation. Gently warmed from the oven, the pizza alla Roma is stretched to six feet long before being baked and finished with brushings of olive oil, chopped garlic, and rosemary or maybe just a blush of fresh chopped tomatoes graced with olive oil and pepper.

    Crostini (toasted bread and cheese) takes on distinctive Roman flavor because it is made with Roman Provatura, spaghetti all amatriciana is a spaghetti tossed with a delicate sauce of peeled and seeded tomatoes caressed with onion and bacon; suppli are cheese croquettes filled with a mixture of northern rice, meats, and dried mushrooms; and stufatino is a Roman version of Milan’s stufato (beef and tomatoes), but cooked in lard and garnished with cardoons. Tripe is beloved in many dishes throughout Italy but Rome’s version is cooked with either meat gravy or tomato sauce, then served with grated cheese touched with minced fresh mint. Carciofi alla Giudia dates from ancient times and bases its tenderness on the quality of artichokes grown near Rome.

    Roman cuisine also includes batter-fried squash flowers, stuffed zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and squashes; casseroles of simmered vegetables; fava beans and white beans served as thick soups or hearty casseroles with cheese or sausages – and if the fresh tenderness of young vegetables are not enough, there is the haunting flavor of strutto, the matured pork fat used in so many dishes and heightened with sage, rosemary, garlic, and anchovy paste.

    Specialties of Rome include cheesecakes and filled pastries made from Ricotta; fruit tarts prepared with visciole (sour cherry jam); tiny cookies shaped like beans (favi dolce), and crisp fritters. Each of the many villages around Rome produces its own famed wines and most of the Vine Dei Castelli are white.

  • Foods of Piedmont

    PIEDMONT

    White truffles, fonduta, game dishes, risotto, and enticingly sweet desserts are the famous specialties of the region. So insistent are the Piedmontese on the freshness of produce that most families use the fresh-picked seasonal vegetables and herbs from their own backyard gardens. Many varieties of mushrooms are used and the special vegetables include cardi, similar to an artichoke in flavor but resembling celery and delicate asparagus. Grapes, strawberries, and small russet pears are grown throughout the area, while cherries come from Pecetto or Ceresolo, and peaches from Casale. In the rice-growing areas, carp is raised in the water of the paddies, and tench (a fish of the carp family) and frogs abound. Rane dorate is a specialty of skinned frogs, flour-dipped then fried in olive oil. In mountain regions, wild goat, the white hare, wild boar, and chamois await the hunter.

    Pasta is used but rice is preferred, and rich and satisfying dishes are made from polenta. Wild and cultivated herbs are used with a generous hand and, in this area, so is garlic. One of the famed dishes redolent of garlic is bagna cauda. A selection of fresh crisp vegetables like celery, cardoons, green peppers, and grissini are dipped into a hot pot of blended olive oil, butter, anchovies, and garlic. Bagna cauda may be a first course – as rice, pasta, or polenta usually are – or it may be the entire meal.

    The area is also known for its production of fine cheeses: the spicy Robiole d’Alba, crusty Toma Veja, and aged yellow Fontina, whose quick-melting properties are enjoyed in fondata or fonduta, which is served over bread, rice, or polenta. Cream, milk, and butter are found everywhere and used to add rich flavor and light texture whenever possible.

    Sweets and desserts are almost an art form: pastry shops resemble exclusive jewelry shops and the Piedmontese often enjoy leisurely snacks of pastries and tea. In mountain areas sugar is considered important to provide energy and calories, in case anyone needs an excuse to nibble candied chestnuts, macaroons, caramelles, gianduiotti (hazelnut chocolate), and turret, the plain cookies baked in horseshoe shapes. Ladyfingers, anise cookies, and the famed fried cookies known as cenci or bugie delight every taste. Many sweet puddings and egg custards, especially zabaglione, a wine custard of Marsala and whipped eggs, are believed to have originated in this area. The long thin crisp bread sticks called grissini are thought to have been created by a Turinese baker to tempt the flagging appetite of a young prince.

    This region claims also to have invented vermouth. Some of the finest red wines come from this region as well: Barolo del Piemonte, Barbera, Grignolino, Friesa (semi-sparkling with low alcohol content), Gattinara and Dolce della Langhe. Sparkling wines include Asti Spumante (white) and Muscato d’Asti (sweetly sparkling). Cortese is the best of the local white wines served dry and chilled. Commonly a digestivo is offered after a meal: Grappa del Piemonte, Genepy (mountain herb liqueur), or Acqua del Po.

  • Foods of Lombardy

    LOMBARDY

    The city of Milan, bustling and industrialized, dominates the plains of Lombardy. In the 1300s foods were sometimes gilded in the belief that gold was curative; the poor could not imitate this except by the use of saffron and the generous addition of golden butter to as many dishes as possible. This tradition is common in many Milanese dishes such as risotto and costolette alla milanese (butter-fried veal cutlets). Another famed dish is a version of minestrone which includes toasted bread, poached eggs, and a sprinkling of cheese with the soup poured over top. Buseca (tripe with white beans), vitello tonnato (cold roasted veal served with tuna sauce), and osso bucco with risotto (veal shanks braised then served with a gremolata of minced garlic, parsley, and grated lemon rind) are such beloved dishes that they are part of fine international cuisine and are found in countless cookbooks.

    Panettone, the richly sweet yeast cake eaten throughout Italy both for Christmas and Easter festivities, is humorously believed to have been originated in Milan by a baker called Tony whose delighted customers then continued to ask for “panne Tony” (Tony’s bread) but other provinces claim it too. Gorgonzola, the creamy-rich, blue-veined cheese also known worldwide, is the product of Lombardy. Many other cheeses are produced hut are mostly used locally.

    Lombardy wines include: Cortese, Barbera, Montelio, Sasella, and many others.

  • Emilio-Romagna and Liguria

    EMILIO-ROMAGNA AND LIGURIA

    The main city of Liguria on Italy’s north-western coast is Genoa. Often called the richest city in Italy, Genoa is also known for its conservative elegance and fine taste in everything from small cars to discerning food. Basil grown in tiny pots on windowsills represents not only the wild weed that grows in every meadow, but also a beloved flavor. Genoa’s traditional sauce pesto is prepared from generous amounts of fresh green basil, pine nuts or walnuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil. Garlic may or may not be an ingredient in the pureed sauce that is served over pasta. Traditionally, mortar and pestle are used to pound the herb and nuts into a smooth fine paste, but electric blenders are also used.

    The focacce of this region are likely to be dimpled and studded with anything from sea salt to fresh herbs, olives, or Gorgonzola thinned with a little fresh cream and sprinkled with thyme.

    Fish and vegetables are so popular that they blend together to form many of the most famous classic dishes of the area. One is burrida, in which a variety of fish (rospo or frogfish, dogfish, mackerel, octopus, eels, etc.) is sautéed in a flavorful sauce of oil, garlic, parsley, and tomatoes, then thickened with pounded walnuts, blended with white wine and finally served in its cooking pot with toasted bread. Ciuppin is another fish soup but prepared with pureed mixed fish.

    Liguria is also famed as the area where ravioli was invented, where many tempting candies and sweets are prepared daily, and where fine wines complement each meal.

    Salami, mortadella, bologna, and zamponi represent only a few of the famed sausages varying from bland to hot and spicy that prove the popularity and ingenuity of pork in the region of Emilio-Romagna. Parma is believed to be the area that originated Parmesan cheese. Not only Parmesan goes with pasta, but also the famed Bolognese sauce called ragu prepared from a blend of well-cooked vegetables, mushrooms, and meats. The most famed pasta of the region are the many versions of tortellini (ladies’ navels). In general the cookery of the area is considered to be the “fattest” of Italy: rich and well seasoned with spices and garlic.