Cuisine is in a very close relation with history of each country and culture of each nation. Following is said by an anthropologist: “The history of a nation can be seen in their food plate”.
In this regard, Iran stands in an outstanding place. The geographical location of Iran, being placed on the pathway of east to west and existence of Silk Road, the wars, invasions, commercial and cultural relations and also the climatic condition of Iran which comprises most of known climatic types and the desert, mountain, sea, plain and etc. have resulted in accessibility of different varieties of foodstuffs, along with ethnical varieties such as nomads, Lor, Kord, Turk, Fars, Turkman, Arab, Balouchi, Sistani and etc… they have all caused the food diversity of Iran to reach its highest level.
Iranian, Roman and Chinese are the three main styles in the world cuisine. The Iranian cuisine is the foundation of Middle East cuisine, Arabic cuisine, Turkish cuisine and Indian cuisine and the Chinese cuisine has been influential upon the entirety of the Fareast. The ancient roman cuisine (being indebted to the ancient Greek cuisine) is the foundation of cuisine in the entire Europe, particularly in France.
In Iran, each region, upon its geographical location and the influences that it receives from the environment, religion, agricultural location, lifestyle and living, has a different type of cuisine. For example in north and south of Ina, there exist two vast seas which have created the most important food resource in both of the regions; however, the type of food is different in north and south of Iran. The south of Iran, being influenced by the commerce with India and Arabic countries, has a large amount of Indian spices and the foods flavor is usually spicy; however, the north of Iran being influenced by the proximity with European countries, Russia, the forests usually with sour-flavor fruits, full of garlic fresh vegetables, the foods flavors usually tend to sourness.
Cuisine in east of Iran tend to use saffron in the foods; however, in west of Iran where most of people live on nomad form, the main food is meat.
Though, nowadays, the technology, easy access to information, and collective medias have provided the conditions where the cuisine, like other aspects of the life, same as transportation, clothing, religions and etc. is moving toward similarity and uniformity and you can easily find spaghetti, hamburger and pizza everywhere in Iran; however, the local cuisines are loyal to their roots and you can easily see a distinct cooking style by travelling to each region.
We have tried to show you all the major cooking places of Iran through different tours that are design, and to introduce you to Iranian cuisine specifications.
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