Persian at Penn

Last week my friend and I hosted a dinner where we cooked Biryani and Persian salad. We followed the usual recipe of first marinating our meat in yogurt, ginger, garlic and salt. We then proceeded to caramelize our onions and cook our meat with whole spices. We then moved onto partially cook the rice and layer it with meat, saffron, walnuts and the caramelized onions. For the Shirazi salad, we finely shopped cucumbers, tomatoes (remembering to remove the seeds!), onions, mint, parsley, and dressed it with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. The fresh salad, along with the fragrant biryani made a wonderful dinner that we could share with our friends. 

This also provided an opportunity to interrogate the shared histories of biryani between Iran and India. According to the food historian, Salma Hussain, biryani was bororwed from Iran and brought to South Asia with the Mughals. Apparently, the etymology of ‘biryani’ can be traced to the Persian words ‘birinj biryani’ or fried rice. In both Iran and South Asia, a similar method of slow cooking marinated meat and rice is followed while the street food version of biryani in Iran has replaced rice with thin breads. Other historians argue that it could have pre-dated the Mughals and arrived with Arab traders in eighth century. Regardless of the ‘true’ origins, these shared ways of making and enjoying foods helps us look beyond national borders to appreciate our commonalities! 

References:

This weekend, I watched Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road, a comedy-drama about an Iranian family driving towards the Azerbaijani border in order to smuggle their young adult son out of the country. Panahi began writing the film after his sister left Iran to escape persecution. He wanted to capture how his family felt in the moment just before she left: on her last day, no one cried; they played music instead. The movie is a mixture of humor and heartbreak; it plays like a family road trip where you never quite know where it’s heading, resulting in a drama offering a raw and sincere observation of an Iranian family preparing to part with one of their own. 

What I enjoyed most about this movie was how it wasn’t defined by a single emotion. Rather than being full of grief or tension, Panahi layers humor, silences, and a sense of quiet dread so you naturally feel the full weight of it later on. The family at the center, bickering and loving, reminded me that cinema doesn’t need to explain itself to move you. It was much more intimate than I thought, rather than being austere and politically charged. My assumption that the political subtext might be a dominating feature of the movie was definitely challenged. The movie's concerns were much more universal: the humor of siblings, the protectiveness of parents, and the way families communicate around the things they can’t say. Overall, while the specific circumstances of the family’s journeys are unique to their context, the underlying dynamics within felt instantly familiar, reflecting experiences I’ve seen within my own family. 

Last week, I took a trip to a Philadelphia Moroccan restaurant, Marrakesh, with the Penn Persian Society. Most of the members grew up in Iran and speak fluent Persian, so this event was a great way to practice my Persian-speaking skills. While we were eating our food, I took the time to have a goftogu with one of the other members who grew up in Iran, Sana. Attempting to use as much Persian as possible, I talked to Sana about why she chose to come to the US for college. There were times I did not know specific words in Persian, and Sana helped me by teaching me new words. Through the conversation, I learned a lot about the Iranian education system; specifically, I found out that students that place highly in a national science olympiad competition do not have to take the national concours exam to receive a spot to go to an Iranian university. I really enjoyed the experience because I could see how happy these Persians were to share their language with me. As Sana and I spoke, many other people at the table would chime in and teach me new words as well. This experience did not challenge any preconceptions or stereotypes for me, but reinforced the welcoming attitude of Persian people when sharing their culture. This was very different from other language experiences I have had; for example, when I try to practice my French in France, the people always switch to English and do not want to speak to me in French.

Yesterday, I was able to try kashk bademjan and baghali polo through a potluck dinner. I was excited to see them because the only Persian food I tried were the kebabs and roasted tomatoes, so I really wanted to try other types of authentic, home-cooked Persian food. Kashk bademjan, the Persian eggplant dip, had a mild flavor and paired really well with the flatbread (I think it was lavash). The baghali polo also had a mild taste and the texture of the fava beans went well with the fluffiness and softness of the rice. I never had rice with dill, so the overall color and fragrance was interesting. There were also some crunchy rice bits which were pleasant to crunch on; it also reminded me of ‘nurungji’, a Korean word that refers to the thin layer of crunchy rice left after cooking rice in a pot. Since the only Persian food I had were the kebabs that had strong seasoning, I learned that Persian food can also be mild but at the same time flavorful. Upon reflection, I realized that Persian cuisine has elements of both South and Western Asian cuisines. For instance, it has a diverse range of rice dishes like most South Asian countries, but at the same time has dips that are more prevalent in Western Asia countries. Also, ingredients such as eggplants and dill are not commonly used as the main ingredients for Korean dishes, so those ingredients working as the main character was interesting. I hope to try more Persian food in the future.

This week I watched the 1962 Iranian documentary called The House is Black ( خانه سیاه است) by the poet Forough Farookhzad. The documentary follows the lives of people in a leper colony in Tabriz, Iran. It follows the daily rhythms of their lives–showcasing people listing out the things they are grateful for, praying, undertaking household chores, beautifying themselves, children playing and studying in the classroom. I was surprised since the documentary does not follow the usual standard of asking people questions and centering them to narrativise their experiences. Instead, the filmmaker chooses to quietly observe the people in their surroundings without burdening them by asking about their lives and sense of isolation from the world. The background voiceover consists of Farrokhzad’s poetry that states:

‘on this screen will appear an image of ugliness,

a vision of pain that no caring human being should ignore.’

The aim of the documentary, therefore, seems to make the viewer confront the plain reality of those living in the leper colony and empathise with their difficulties. It refuses to provide factual information about the colony, the number of patients, their location, forms of treatments available etc. Instead by weaving poetry with visuals of people’s everyday lives, it asks us to imagine and empathise with the inner narrative and emotions of its subjects. The documentary introduced me to the forms of social messaging produced in Iran, its diverse themes and the work of women poets like Farookhzad.

-UZ

Today, I read one of Rumi's famous poems, The Guest House. Jalaluddin Muhammed Rumi being the full name, Rumi is one of the most influential scholar and poets from the 13th century. His poems were mostly about love for God, spirituality, and human emotions. The poem goes like this:

هذا الإنسان هو بيت ضيوف كل صباح يستقبل زائر جديد. بهجة، حزن، احباط ولحظة وعي تأتي كضيف غير متوقّع. استقبلهم واعتني بهم جميعاً! حتى وإن كانوا حشداً من الأسى، يجرفون بعنف كل أثاث منزلك، عامل كل ضيف باحترام. ربّما هو ينظّف لك المكان لاستقبال فرح الجديد. الفكرة السوداء، الخزي، الرذيلة، استقبلهم على الباب بضحكة، وادعوهم للدخول. كن ممتناً لكل من يأتي لأن كلّ منهم يتم إرساله كمرشد من بعيد. – جلال الدين الرومي، بيت الضيوف

In this particular poem, Rumi talks about how we should embrace every emotion - even the negative ones - we experience in our daily lives. He likens human beings to guest houses where we encounter different 'guests' every morning. The guests are emotions that we feel everyday, and Rumi encourages the audience to be grateful for them.

The poem was a great reminder for me to realize that experiencing negative emotions are okay. Just like how a guest house accommodates both easy-going and difficult guests, it is natural for be to experience both positive and negative emotions. Also, I realized that the emotion I will feel tomorrow morning is uncertain - a sudden wave of lethargy can overwhelm after a period of joy, or a moment of delight may come out of nowhere after a period of sadness. Such unpredictabilities make it important for us to live in the present.

I find it interesting that a poem from the 13th century is quite philosophical, because those from my country during the same period is predominantly about the consequences of war and invasion. All in all, reading this poem was a good experienced and I hope to read more of Rumi's works.

-Dany P.

Portrait of the 13th-century Persian poet and mystic Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi.Credit...DeAgostini/Getty Images

I recently learned how to cook one of my favorite Persian foods, kotlet, with 2 of my Persian friends. Kotlet is a fried patty made from mashed potato, beef, onion, egg, and turmeric mixed together. Looking at the recipe, I thought kotlet would be very easy to make. However, we quickly realized it was much more difficult than we thought. Many of our kotlets fell apart because we added too much onion and not enough egg. However, despite being broken into pieces, the kotlet was delicious and tasted almost like my grandma’s. This experience taught me that Persian food is much more difficult to make than the recipes make it seem, and it also takes a long time to make. Despite the difficulties, I enjoyed the process because it gave me a glimpse into the work my grandma does every day, and the skill it must take for Persian women to perfectly execute all of these recipes. The experience did not really challenge any stereotypes, but rather confirmed my preconception that making Persian cuisine is a time-consuming and difficult process. I’m excited to attempt making kotlet again soon now that I know to add more egg and less onion!

-Julia K

This is the recipe I used:

1.25 pound ground beef

3 baking potatoes boiled for 15 min, cooled, and quartered

Salt

Pepper

Turmeric

2 eggs

1 onion

breadcrumbs

Knead above ingredients. Coat in breadcrumbs. Fry. Drain

This week, I was home for spring break, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to cook my favorite polo, Zereshk Polo. Zereshk Polo is a rice dish made with barberries, and we usually serve it with chicken and tomatoes on the side. 

First, I washed the rice while bringing a pot of water to a boil on the side. Then, I sautéed onions in preparation for cooking the chicken and tomatoes in the same pot. Once the chicken and tomatoes are added, I seasoned them, added water to prevent the mixture from drying out, and let it simmer. In another pan, I prepared the barberries by adding some sugar, butter, some of the chicken broth, and saffron water. When that and the rice were done, I started layering the barberries with the rice, leaving only the tahdig at the bottom. I flipped the pot over on the plate to get the tahdig out, and then I was done!

The thing I most enjoyed about this process was spending time with my mom while learning about the food I miss most at school. I really enjoy doing things like this with my family, especially during these very hard times. The biggest thing I learned during this experience was actually how simple Zereshk Polo is to make and how few ingredients it really requires, which challenged my preconception that it would be a complicated process. Hopefully next year, when I have a kitchen, I’ll be able to share this food with my friends.

EN

20th century Urdu women’s magazine provide a glimpse into the north Indian view of Iranian customs and traditions. An Urdu women’s magazine called Khatun (woman) was founded to aid the educational projects of the two reformers–Shaikh Abdullah and Wahid Jahan Begum in 1904. The main concern of the journal was to further the cause of women’s education and raise funds to establish the school in Lahore. Apart from discussions on the importance of women’s education, the magazine also carried articles detailing the wedding customs of different countries. 

One such example is an article from 1910 titled Iraniyon ki Shaadi (Iranian weddings). In this article, the writer called Afsar Dulhan (Bride of the officer) informs north Indian readers about how Iranian weddings are performed. Writing in context of the 1905-1909 constitutional revolution in Iran, she discusses how early marriages are uncommon in Iran even if engagements are fixed at an early age. She talks about how the phrase–

مل دارم فلا پسر را در غلامی فرمایند

Which means ‘it is our wish that you accept so and so boy in your service’ is used by the prospective groom’s family to the girls’ family. She also discusses pertinent Iranian rituals such as presenting a monetary sum to the mother of the bride called sheer baha by the groom’s family, the custom of sheerni khurand or the groom presenting the birde’s family with fruits, sweets, dry fruits etc and distinct rituals of singing and dancing in the men’s and women’s quarters. An example of a broader trend of writing about different cultures, this article teaches us about the exchanges between Iran and Indian in the 20th century and how Indian women readers and writers were actively engaging with Iranian customs and society. 

Cover Image of October 1910 Issue of Khatun.

Source: Rekhta.

References:

Afsar Dulhan "Iraniyon ki shadiyan Iranian Weddings." Khatun, 1910. In Kalam-e-Niswan (Women's Writings), edited and compiled by Huma Khanand and Poorva Bhardawaj, 69-71. Delhi: Nirantar, 2013.

This past week, Penn Persian Society hosted a rally to raise awareness about the recent protests that have been going on in Iran. I had the opportunity to both attend and help plan this event to honor those who have lost their lives. Through this experience, I learned how much the students who have come from Iran have been struggling during the recent protests, and how events like these allow them to still feel connected with their culture and community. I enjoyed being with a group of other Iranians and feeling like I could share in honoring this movement, although I have never lived in Iran myself. I don’t think this experience really challenged any preconceptions or stereotypes for me, nor did it remind me of any similar experiences in my own culture. However, I think this event was a nice way for Iranians to raise awareness for the events happening in their country, especially with the internet outage that makes it difficult for people within Iran to share about current events. Additionally, Penn professors and students shared their thoughts about what is happening in Iran, some of whom spoke in Persian. I enjoyed trying to understand some of the words they were saying and practice my Persian in a real-world context. Additionally, I enjoyed deciphering what certain Persian chants meant using the basic Persian vocabulary that I have learned in class.

-Julia K

Today, I watched “The Salesman” by Asghar Farhadi through Prime Video. It was nice to see a few other Persian movies on the platform, although there were some that I had to rent or buy. The movie is about a married couple, and how the husband tries to find justice for his wife who was physically hurt by an intruder at their house. The actors were extremely good at acting so I was immersed in the movie throughout. Upon reading blog posts about the movie and some movie reviews, I realized that “revenge vs forgiveness” was the main theme of the movie. When the husband finds the perpetrator, an old man who is married for 35 years, he wants to publicly humiliate the man. The husband even wants the man to tell his deed to his family, an act the man is extremely reluctant and even terrified to do. His reluctance made me think about how important it is for Iranians to keep their reputation highly, especially when it comes to their reputation towards their family members. Unlike the husband, the wife is willing to forgive the man and even tells her husband that she will end her marriage if he constantly insists the man to confess to his family. Such a difference in how they responded was interesting because it made sense to me for the wife, being the victim, to seek revenge. It was also interesting to observe some Persian culture such as the kindness of neighbours and strangers. When the wife gets hurt, the neighbours were the first ones to help her, and throughout the movie I heard a lot of “merci”, “kheili mamnun”, and “bebakhsheed”. All in all, I enjoyed watching the movie and look forward to seeing other films by Farhadi.

-Dany P.

Last semester I read Persepolis, so this week I decided to read Persepolis 2, which continues Marjane Satrapi’s story by following her return to Iran and her struggle to make sense of her identity, beliefs, and experiences after living abroad. I first decided to read Persepolis after my mom’s recommendation, as she told me it felt like reading about her own life. My mom has not been able to return to Iran since her and her family left, although her sister and mother have. 

One aspect of the book that I enjoyed was how honest and reflective Marjane is about her emotions; she experiences confusion, anger, and guilt, all which make her story feel real and relatable rather than idealized. Reading this book once again showed me how strictly Iran is run, with harsh laws, rigid social expectations and ongoing political repression, but it also challenged preconceptions I had by showing moments of humor and resistance within Iranian society. 

The story inevitably made me think about my family still living in Iran, whom we have barely heard from, and the struggles they face in their daily lives. Compared to my own life, where I have the freedom to make choices without fear of punishment, Marjane’s experiences highlighted how cultural and political systems will shape everyday life. Although the story is saddening, I also feel enlightened by hearing others’ experiences with returning to the country, and it made me wonder if or when that might ever be possible for my mom. 

Throughout the book, Marjane grapples with guilt over her privilege, a feeling that I know many people in my family can relate to. By the end of the book, Marjane makes the difficult decision to leave Iran again, accepting that she can’t leave honestly or fully as herself there.

Persepolis

This week I read Persepolis, an autobiographical graphic novel about growing up during and after the Islamic Revolution, told from the perspective of its author, Marjane Satrapi. My mom suggested this book to me because she said it felt like reading about her own life.

Through reading this book, I learned a lot about what everyday life was like for people living in Iran after the revolution, whether that be how drastically people’s freedoms changed, how dangerous it was to speak out against the government, and how deeply war affected normal families. I also gained a new perspective on how confusing and difficult it can be to grow up between two different cultures. I enjoyed many things about reading this book; the sad history of the country as well as gaining a better understanding of what my mom’s childhood may have been like. I also really enjoyed the graphic novel format and being able to look at the matching illustrations throughout the story.

Persepolis was very eye-opening because it showed the Iranian population in a much more human and personal way, rather than only through the lens of politics and conflict. Despite the difficult circumstances, people still tried to live normal lives and hold on joy and hope. Compared to my own culture, there are very few similar experiences to what Marjane goes through, and I am very fortunate that I never had to face the dangers and limitations she experienced throughout her childhood.

Today, I decided to eat Iranian/Afghan food for dinner. Fortunately, “Sansom Kabob House” located near Center City was available for delivery. Though I wanted to dine in the restaurant for the full Iranian experience, I had to choose to stay on-campus due to my finals preparations. Browsing through the menu, I ordered the “Sansom Kabob”, which had lamb, beef, and chicken marinated in spices and garlic served with Afghan rice, salad, and bread. The only thing that made me hesitant to order was the price - the delivery fee, along with the price of the meal was quite pricey, but thinking back I think the meal was worth the price. 

My favorite kabob was the chicken, and I really enjoyed the roasted tomato with rice. When I was living in Iran, my dad used to take me to kabob restaurants and introduce me to the culture of mixing roasted tomatoes with rice. Eating this made me think about him, because I knew that he would enjoy the meal as well. But the more I ate the tomato, I realized it tasted quite different from what I ate in Iran, perhaps because the variety of the tomato sourced in Philly was different from that in Iran. I liked the green sauce as well - I don’t exactly know the name of it but it had a spicy and vinegary taste and went well with the kabobs. I also enjoyed the rice - it was unique in that it had a nuttier taste than the sticky rice that I usually eat. Overall, it was a hearty and delicious meal that made me want to try other Iranian cuisines.

This Thanksgiving break, I had the pleasure of spending time with my cousin and uncle who were visiting from Iran. My uncle does not know English, so I have never really had the chance to talk to him. Using my new Persian skills (with help from my cousin who helped me with new vocabulary), I was able to tell him what things I was planning on baking for Thanksgiving, and ask him which desserts he would like. I had a lot of fun because I have spent a lot of time around my uncle throughout the years, but we have never had a way to communicate until now. Something that surprised me was that a lot of words are the same in both English and Persian. For example, the words “tart,” and “pie” were the same in both languages. 

I don’t think this experience challenged any stereotypes, but I did find it very interesting that the two languages have so much similar vocabulary. I also noticed that even when I made mistakes, my uncle was able to understand exactly what I was trying to say. Also, when I would pronounce an English word in a Persian accent, a lot of times my uncle knew exactly what I was talking about, even though he does not know English. This experience showed me that English and Persian have a lot of similar words, and that Persian-speaking people have a very flexible understanding of their language and can adapt it to understand people speaking other languages. 

-Julia K

For my goftogu I spoke with my grandmother over break about my Persian class and her memories of Iran. We started very simply: I told her the words I already know, and she decided to teach me a “more Persian” way to say thank you. Instead of merci or mamnoon, she taught me sepas-gozaram (سپاسگزارم). She explained that merci is from French and mamnoon comes from Arabic, but sepas-gozaram comes from an old Iranian root, sepas, a truly Persian word for gratitude. She connected it to older Zoroastrian ideas about giving thanks for good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, and said that when you say sepas-gozaram, you are not just being polite, you are remembering those blessings too. She pointed out that you can hear se (“three”) at the beginning of sepas and linked it symbolically to that Zoroastrian trio (good thoughts, good words, and good deeds), so for her, saying sepas-gozaram is like thanking someone with your mind, your speech, and your actions all at once.

She also told me stories about Iran before she left after the Revolution. I already knew the word mohandes (مهندس), so she laughed and told me how, when my grandfather would visit her family, everyone called him aaghaa mohandes, kind of like “Mr. Engineer,” as a mix of respect and affection. Hearing that made the word feel alive rather than just something from the textbook.

From this conversation I learned more than just vocabulary. I felt how many layers a single word like sepas-gozaram can have: history, religion, and national identity. I also liked switching back and forth between English and Farsi with her and noticing that by the end I could follow more of what she was saying and answer her questions more naturally.

- Andre

Visiting Los Angeles this Thanksgiving weekend, I knew I had to try Iranian food. LA has the largest Iranian diaspora community in the world, and presents the best opportunity to taste authentic Iranian food. My friends and I settled on a restaurant called Raffi's Place, which was filled to the brim with customers. Before going, I already knew I wanted to try the stews (khoresht), since they are a cornerstone of Iranian cuisine and seemed pretty unique to me.

We ordered ghormeh sabzi, fesenjan, lamb rack and albaloo polo (rice cooked with cherries). When it arrived, I was surprised by how large the portions were, especially the rice. It also came with lavash, a wafer-thin nan, and a side dish with raw radish, onions and herbs, which I learnt was called sabzi khordan. It was my first time trying these dishes, and the flavours they presented were new to me. Ghormeh sabzi had a herbal taste reminiscent of a Malay dish with cassava leaves; Fesenjan tasted fruity and sweet, while the polo had an aromatic profile with a sweet and tangy flavour.

The large portions and side dishes (lavash and sabzi khordan) reminded me of my dining experiences in Tajikistan. I enjoyed the ability to savour different flavours in one sitting, as compared to Singaporean food, which is usually restricted to individual dishes. Also, as someone adventurous with new food, I was surprised how I found it difficult to be accustomed to these dishes. I was unaccustomed to sweet dishes in meals, so I found fesenjan too sweet, while ghormeh sabzi too filling with the beans.