“I wrote for a modern audience, and yet! I had the feeling that I was simultaneously writing for an audience that will live fifty years from now, and almost also for an audience that lived fifty years ago.” – Vladimir Bartol about his novel Alamut Alamut is a novel by Vladimir Bartol, first published in…
Tag: Iran
Ashura in Iran
I had the rare opportunity to attend Ashura in the city of Ashkezar near Yazd, Iran. In 2014, for the first time, foreigners, non-believers, were allowed to attend. According to their data, around 450 foreigners attended Ashura in Ashkezar in 2017. It was Sunday, October 1st. In the morning we took a minibus to the…
Buying Pistachios at the Market in Yazd
The pistachio (Pistacia vera), a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from an area that includes Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Iran. The tree produces seeds that are widely consumed as food.The name pistachio is from late Middle English pistace, from Old French, superseded in the 16th century by forms from Italian…
Kebab in Iran
Kebab, kebob, kabob…According to tradition, the dish was invented by medieval soldiers who used their swords to grill meat over open-field fires. Kebab, also spelled kebob or kabob, dish of Middle Eastern or Central Asian origin that typically combines small pieces of meat such as lamb or beef with vegetables on a skewer and is…