Recipes

As a child, I was confused when someone of Persian descent claimed to be a vegetarian. It just didn’t make sense to me. Growing up, we survived on BBQed kebobs, from grilled bite-sized steak (barg), to ground meat (kobedeh), to saffron-marinated chicken (joojeh). What else would Persian people eat? So when Best Buy approached me to write a piece on Vegan Persian dishes, I immediately said it was impossible. After all, the cuisine is pretty meat focused. But my Mama Pej knocked some sense into me by asking, “This entire time, you never noticed the vegetarian options at our parties?” I had to admit they existed. But could these dishes be veganized? They sure can. Here are some Persian vegan recipes.  

Have you ever wondered what’s in those store bought popsicles? I’ll skip the secrets and just go ahead and tell you that besides water, the only other real ingredient is sugar. Not just one type of sugar either – the last box I picked up had both sugar syrup and corn syrup, not to mention other artificial ingredients to give them colour and flavour. That’s why the Zoku Quick Pop Maker is one small kitchen gadget I don’t want to be without this summer.

It’s no surprise people can’t seem to squeeze in their recommended daily fruit & vegetable intakes – busy lives mean dinner on the go, and dinner on the go doesn’t often include one vegetable let alone three. And no, in most circles, french fries are not considered a serving of vegetables.