IRAN – In a Spin

It was quite a shocker and I did not quite know just what was going on. A loud procession of people was pushing through a Tehran street – beating themselves with whips and chains chanting something I did not undersand. It did dawn on me that they were in a kind of religious frenzy. Flagelantes, I was later told and this was Ashura, the holiest day of the shiite muslim religion. The sight of their naked bloodied backs is still haunting me. Whoever does this, even in a religious ceremony, is in some kind of a trouble.

And so they were – and this was nothing compared to what the Iranians had to live through a little later. Revolution, regime change, mass arrests and executions, a vicious war, oppression. Beautiful and potentially rich Iran has become a pariah state, embargoed, excluded and isolated.
As I arrived in Tehran, way then, at my first glance I realized that I had not seen so many expensive cars in my lifetime. That was a long time ago and particularly Tehran was full of very rich people. Actually, like so often throughout the history of mankind, that probably was the undoing of the whole society.

Obviously, the population just could not absorb the pace of modernization that the shah introduced – unevenly and unsensitively, mainly financed through the oil revenues. Accompanied by progressive oppression in order to control the country. His rule became more and more detached from the reality and more despotic. The system was falling apart and I came in just at the cusp of a historical moment – how many of them ancient Persia has gone through ? During my brief stay, I visited several campuses and as students were talking to me, I felt the underground social tremors in our discussions. And then, soon after I left, the shah was ousted and the Ayatollah (Ruhollah Khomeini) came to power and sheer madness took over.
Followed an exodus from the country that went into its historical spasms to last for decades. I met many Iranians since – in Canada and in the USA. One of Iranian students in my own lab decided to return – despite our warnings as I happen to know something about “revolutions”. Her brother was killed then and she was persecuted when she returned home. She had to work in a factory for “re-education”. Eventually, she was lucky and a decade later ended up in Australia where her family has been living happily ever after.

As I was staying in Tehran for only perhaps a week, I truly only had some quick “impressions” during my stay. Tehran was extremely modern and throbbing with life – nestled in a huge sloping flat-bottom valley surrounded by high mountains.



We made a trip to a ski resort (Shemshak), one of the best kept secrets of Iran, perfect alpine skiing – so I also briefly checked it out there, look :

I was fascinated by the way bread was made, practically on the streets in fired owens filled with pebbles. One can have Sangak bread plain or with sesame on top. Absolutely delightful.
Look here, but don’t try to do this at home :

And Iranian food ?
From an  internet  discussion:
● Why is Iranian food so bland ?
● I like Iranian food, their kebabs, however, most of the dishes have no spice in it, and you can't really taste much flavor. Arab food in comparison has more flavor, Afghan food is more spicy and obviously Pakistani/indian food is really spicy and flavorful
● Lol. Arab food better than Iranian food, are you kidding me ? Arab food is literally boiled meat. Iranian food is not overdone with spices, which can hide the quality of meat and ingredients. Spicy food, despite being tasty, can be a real copout for any chef as you can literally load anything with spices and they will all taste good if one likes spicy food. But what about the subtle hint of herbs, the freshness of the ingredients, the taste of actual meat, the interplay between pulses and vegetables. If you can't appreciate non spicy quality food, it's not the food, you just have an undeveloped palate.
● I agree Iranian food is very classy, it is almost looks like French food. Iranians as a people are also very classy. However we are talking about flavors here. I didn't find the food too flavorful, despite being very elegant/classy.
● It's like asking why is Indian/Pakistani food so spicy ?  (Now, go figure !)