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Modern Persian Food

Modern Persian Food

February 17, 2021 · 2 Comments

Episode 20: The Role of Food in Persian Weddings with Special Guest Nilou Nouri

Episodes 1-100· Uncategorized

In Episode #20, co-hosts Bita and Beata welcome their first special guest, Nilou Nouri, an award-winning wedding officiant and more recently, cookbook author.  Together the trio uncover some of the unique aspects of Persian weddings, including how food plays into them.

Defining Factors of Persian weddings

  • Elegant, formal, full of energy, super fun celebration of union and life
  • “Sofreh aghd” – a meaningful spread of symbolic items representing the celebration of love and best wishes for the couple’s future
    • Eggs, symbolizing fertility
    • Fresh fruits representing abundance and growth
    • Honey to bring sweetness (honey ceremony – feeding honey to each other, again to bring more sweetness; in some regions/Shiraz, feeding yogurt to each other, bringing a light and bright destiny
  • Poetry, celebration of love, nature, beauty, abundance, hope and best wishes

Beata and Bita share about their own weddings

  • Blending of Persian culture and western wedding norms such as having bridesmaids (both Bita and Beata had bridesmaids and both had sofreh aghds)
  • The sugar ceremony – grinding large, hard sugar cones and sprinkling sugar granules over the heads of the bride and groom, sprinkling sweetness on them to carry through the future.  Meaning: each sugar cone represents bride and groom;  hoping every contact between them results in sweetness
  • Dancing
  • The knife dance – women close to the bridal party take turns dancing with the knife or server before cutting the wedding cake

Wedding food

  • Javaher rice / Shirin polo / Jeweled rice
  • Buffets filled with a big variety of Persian foods – more traditional
  • Plated dinner, fixed menu, served

Reception norms

  • Dancing, dancing, and more dancing!
  • Late dinner and late night

Resource links and recipes from this episode:

Nilou’s resources:

Website:  www.nilouweddings.com

IG:  @nilouweddings and @nilourecipes

Cookbook:  Amazon or www.21recipes.com 

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

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Previous Post: « Episode 19: Dates!
Next Post: Episode 21: Food to Bridge Cultural Differences with Special Guest Mahsa Darabi »

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Episode 43: Sofreh says:
    July 28, 2021 at 2:48 pm

    […] table cloth spread for kids to sit and eat around, or as ornate as those set for weddings (refer to episode #20 Sofreh Aghd) or the Persian new year (refer to episode #23, part 2 Sofreh […]

    Reply
  2. Episode 50: The Golden Episode says:
    September 22, 2021 at 2:31 pm

    […] Episode 20: The Role of Food in Persian Weddings with Special Guest Nilou Nouri […]

    Reply

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