Turmeric, Onions, and Love: A Journey Through Iranian Cuisine and Culture
In this issue of Gohar Nameh, we touch on the most common ingredients of Iranian cooking: turmeric and onions, and what they have to do with love and culture. We will then update you on what is new with Silenced Whispers, and end the newsletter with Afarin’s in-person and online appearance schedule.
As always, we welcome your comments and invite you and your friends to join us by subscribing to this free Substack.
Turmeric, Onions, and Love
An unexpected aroma greeted me in the dingy hallway of my student apartment in Cambridge, MA. Suddenly, on a blistery fall day, I found myself at 5, watching my grandmother stir a pot as she sat on a low stool in their house's cellar kitchen in the summer's heat. Then, I was 14, arriving home for lunch in the cold of the winter. The aroma was fried onions and turmeric, the scent of many Iranian kitchens.
Onions and turmeric are the most common ingredients in Iranian cooking. Both are cheap, nutritious, and plentiful in Iran. Turmeric enhances the flavor of vegetables—the main ingredient of Iranian food—and adds taste to stews, while onions add volume and fill tummies.
Food is Memory. Smells trigger memories. Our recollections of food are most often associated with gatherings with friends and family or being in a particular place. The connection brings us a sense of well-being.
Food is culture. What we eat daily or serve on specific occasions is part of our background, whether Iranian, Turkish, Vietnamese, or Italian. Anthony Bourdain shows got that right. In Iran, raw onions accompany most meals, and sauteed onion—sometimes along with cinnamon and, yes turmeric--is used to dress up plain rice dishes. Both appear in egg dishes such as omelets and kookoos—egg and vegetable dishes akin to frittata. Since meat is a luxury in Iran, these egg dishes are staples.
My favorite way of using sauteed onions and turmeric is over a cheese—preferably provolone—sandwich.
Eating “bread and onion”, meanwhile connotates poverty. Even the weddings' main dish, “Sweet Rice.” Features both onions and turmeric. Although Halva—a concoction of flour, oil, rose water, and saffron—and a staple at funerals and memorial services, doesn’t contain either.
But most importantly, food is love.
The meal that my aunt made me was delicious. But what made it memorable was the toiling of my aunt—known for her well-equipped kitchen—in my bare and tiny one. That was love.
For most of us, feeding others is an act of caring. Even a culinarily challenged person like me knows how to make the dishes that her children like—in my case, rice, pasta, chili, and hamburgers. And how many of us have visited an elderly relative who constantly asks us if we are hungry?
In Silenced Whispers, when Gohar, distraught over a rift with the love of her life, Aslan, seeks the advice of his companion, Ilych, for a way to win back Aslan, Ilyich—who knows she is no cook—makes her a Khaguineh, simple dish of eggs, flour, and water—akin to an omelet. Is this his way of teaching her that cooking—even a simple, inexpensive dish—can exhibit love?
Food is love. That is one reason why even those who have never cooked, buy cookbooks.
Before she left, my aunt made me a large jar of sauteed onions. For the rest of that winter, I ate the onions with toast, rice, and eggs and thought of her love and that of my family. Since then, I have never considered onions a cheap, wannabe vegetable.
News and Updates
Silenced Whispers is now available for purchase on our website, silencedwhispers.com. We will also be updating the website with a brand-new design in the upcoming weeks!
I was recently featured in an article from MIT Sloan on the importance of having an entrepreneurial mindset for literary success - read the full article here.
I had the honor of being a part of two wonderful podcasts - A Joy Found Here with Stephanie Martinez Rivera (episode link here), and Real Things Living with Brigitte Cutshall (episode link here).
Upcoming Events and Appearances
Belmont Book Store: September 19 | Event Details
Association of MIT Alumni: September 25 | Event Details
Barnes & Noble in Natick MA: October 5
We’d love your feedback and suggestions! Send us your reviews, comments, and venue ideas for upcoming events for Silenced Whispers.
-Afarin
Thank you.