Cookery Day روز آشپزی

Michael shares his day of cooking as part of an immersion to the culture:

My class took a day to become more acquainted with Iranian culture by preparing an Iranian meal.  The class was divided up into 7 sections, and each was assigned a different dish.  We made two different types of kebabs, one of beef (Kebab-e Kubideh) and one of chicken (Joojeh Kebab), a chicken and rice dish (Tah-Cheen Chicken), two eggplant dishes (Kashk-e Bademjan, and Gheymeh Bademjan), Shirazi Salad & Mahst-o Khiar, and a dessert, Iranian Baghlava.

On Friday, each team was given a Persian recipe (in Farsi) to study and translate over the weekend.  On Monday we reported to the kitchens.  The instructors brought the food, seasonings, and the kebab skewers.  The students all broke into their teams and began prepping their recipes.  Some, like the Baghlava team, started later, and helped other teams.  Despite the close quarters, the cooking went quite smoothly.  Soon enough the food was laid out on multiple tables.

Just getting a small portion of each item was enough to fill a plate, and it seemed that no matter how much was eaten, there was still more left.  Those students with families were encouraged to fill containers to take home, and the leftovers were taken back to the school house, where they served the teachers (and some students) for lunch over the next couple of days.

I look forward to visiting some of the Persian restaurants in the local area and sharing more of this food with the family.

SIDE NOTE:  Michael brought home the food from the day.  It was all delicious!  They did such a great job.  The food is very different from what we are used to eating but very tasty and we were glad that he brought home enough for a taste and leftovers for the next day!  

We will be thankful for many more of these types of immersion experiences!