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Abstract
Until the twentieth century there was little change in the diet of Iranians. Bread was the major staple, accompanied by vegetables, fruits, yoghurt, and nuts. Meat and rice were a luxury food for most consumers. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries new food items were adopted by Persian consumers. After 1970, the modern Iranian diet—large amounts of white rice, meats, sugar-sweetened beverages and sweet/deserts, with few vegetables, herbs, nuts or fruits—has grown increasingly similar to the US diet, with the same health problems.
Notes
1 Desmet-Grégoire, “Bread,” 493; Back, Die sassanidischen Staatsinschriften, 493; Sundermann, “Ein weiteres,” 497.
2 Salzman, Black Tents, 73. In Larestan, noo dada (i.e. nun dadeh) means “to give food or means of support.” Mahmoodian, Encyclopedia, 310. In Bushehr, people are invited into someone’s house for a meal with the invitation to have “bread and onion” (nan va piyaz).
3 Desmet-Grégoire, “Bread”; Boyce, “Middle Persian,” 55; Tafazzoli, “Drakht-i Asurik.” For the limited information on the cuisine in Achaemenid and Sasanian times, see Schmitt, “Cooking,” and Amuzgar, “Cooking.”
4 Nizam al-Mulk, The Book, 18.
5 In his Jam-e Jam (concerning the Zirq and Talbis people).
6 The fact that we have two Safavid cookbooks, which provide recipes for a large variety of rice dishes, does not mean that rice was much consumed by the majority of the population. Rice remained a luxury food until the mid-twentieth century. Fragner, “From the Caucasus,” 58–60; Javadi, “The Life.” For the Safavid cookbooks, see Fragner, “From the Caucasus,” and Ghanoonparvar, Dining.
7 Ibn Batuttah, The Travels, vol. 2, 295; Atʿameh, Divan, 79, 152.
8 Le Strange, The Lands, 156.
9 Tavernier, Voyages, 280, 282; de Thevenot, The Travels, vol. 2, 96; Chardin, Travels, 223, 228, 233–4.
10 Hanway, An Historical, vol. 1, 124.
11 Gmelin, Travels, 310.
12 Smith, “Report,” 402.
13 Floor, History, 104.
14 Rice, Persian Women, 178.
15 Binning, A Journal, vol. 2, 47.
16 Sykes, The History, vol. 2, 391.
17 Vaziri, Joghrafiya, 163; Hanway, An Historical, vol. 1, 124.
18 Knanishu, About Persia, 109; Polak, Persien, vol. 1, 111; Adams, Persia, 202.
19 Aitchison, “Notes,” 35–6, 76, 134–5. The plant family of Cucurbitaceae further includes squashes, melons, gourds, pumpkins, and cucumbers.
20 Polak, “Beitrag,” 130; Forbes-Leith, Checkmate, 39–40; Sykes, Persia, 210, 212–13; Perkins, A Residence, 170; Fraser, Travels in Koordistan, vol. 1, 128, 131; Sykes, The History, vol. 2, 391; Binder, Au Kurdistan, 352; Merritt-Hawkes, Persia, 17; Rice, Persian Women, 60, 89; Al-e Ahmad, Owrazan, 27; Tahbaz, Yush, 44; Planck, Die sozialen, 53.
21 Bellew, From the Indus, 159.
22 Sykes, Persia, 210, 212.
23 Adams, Persia, 129.
24 Jaubert, Voyage, 425.
25 Jaubert, Voyage, 337, 425; Fraser, Travels and Adventures, 216 (bread in Resht).
26 Harrison, “Coastal Makran,” 3; Ouseley, Travels, vol. 1, 228; Kempthorne, “Notes,” 282.
27 Faramarzi, “Banader,” 646.
28 Mortensen, Nomads, 245. A quantity of 700 g of bread is 2,300 kcal.
29 Binder, Au Kurdistan, 352.
30 Stocqueler, Fifteen Months’, vol. 1. 119; Najm ol-Molk, Safarnameh, 158.
31 O’Donovan, The Merv, vol. 1, 149, 212.
32 Zavosh, Tehran, 244 (he allegedly also developed beryani and khoresht, which is unlikely); see also Rowghani, Nan-e Sangak, 80, who also doubts the “discovery” by Sheikh Baha’i. Sangak is not mentioned at all by the fifteenth century poet Atmaʿeh 1360, who devoted his entire divan to food items, including breads and pastries.
33 There was less variety in rice recipes in the nineteenth century compared with the seventeenth century, and consolidation, i.e. no innovation in twentieth century pelow recipes. Fragner, “From the Caucasus,” 60–61.
34 Matthee, “From Coffee,” 199–230. For the growing importance of tea, see Floor, “Tea Consumption,” 47–111.
35 Sykes, The History, vol. 2, p. 391; on tea in general, see Floor, “Tea Consumption.”
36 Mostowfi, Sharh, vol. 1, 400.
37 Brydges-Jones, An Account, viii (appendix) Mirza Bozorg said: “in short, why eat potatoes if you have divine rice”; Binning, A Journal, vol. 2, 87–8; Hamilton, A New Account, vol. 1, 59.
38 Wills, In the Land, 170, 300; see also Zarrabi, Tarikh, 225; and Eʿtemad al-Saltaneh, Ketab al-Ma’ather, 113, who remarked that both rich and poor ate potatoes.
39 DCR No. 3189 (Kermanshah 1903–04), p. 34. According to Schindler, Eastern Persian, 25 (the fruit initially was also known as badenjan-e ferengi or European egg-plant), 160; likewise Höltzer, Persien, 26.
40 Schlimmer, Terminologie, 290; Binning, A Journal, vol. 2, 317; Eʿtemad al-Saltaneh, Ketab al-Ma’ather, 113; Adamec, Historical Gazetteer, vol. 1, 197; Schindler, Eastern Persian, 25.
41 Mostowfi, Sharh, vol. 1, 258.
42 Polak, “Beitrag,” 132; Schlimmer, Terminologie, 7; Wills, In the Land, 170; Benn, An Overland, 70 (lady’s fingers).
43 Eʿtemad al-Saltaneh, Ketab, 113.
44 Wills, In the Land, 170; Aitchison, “Notes,” 52–3, 176; Schindler, Eastern Persian, 25; Polak, “Beitrag,” 132; Sepehr, “Mokhtasar,” 434; Najm ol-Molk, Safarnameh, 158; Eyn al-Saltaneh, Ruznameh, vol. 1, 68; Afzal al-Molk, Safarnameh, 61, 63.
45 Alberts, “Social Structure,” 176.
46 Desmet-Grégoire, “Bread.”
47 Mahmudi, Joghrafiya, 75–7.
48 Bazin, Le Talech, vol. 1, 57; De Morgan, Mission, vol. 1, 251 (rice is a luxury in the mountains); Bromberger, “Eating Habits,” 186.
49 Khosrokhavar, “La pratique,” 146–54; Chehabi, “The Westernization,” 43–62.
50 Aʿlam, “Caviar.”
51 Khosrokhavar, “La pratique”; Chehabi, “The Westernization.”
52 ILO, “Récentes enquêtes,” 881–4.
53 US Department of Agriculture, Foreign, 2; US Department of Agriculture, Economic, 6; US Army, Area Handbook, 142–3; CENTO, Conference, 107; Mehrbani “Hazinehha,” 360.
54 Planck, Die sozialen, 54; de Morgan, Mission, vol. 1, 251.
55 Safinezhad, Talebabad, 456–7.
56 Borhanian, “Die Gemeinde,” 93.
57 Al-e Ahmad, Owrazan, 27; Tahbaz, Yush, 44.
58 Desmet-Grégoire, “Bread.”
59 US Government, Area Handbook, 152.
60 US Department of Agriculture, Economic, 6.
61 Dowlat, Saʿedi, and Hazarkhani, Hashiyeh-neshinan, 8–14.
62 Loeb, Outcaste, 80.
63 Nirumand and Ahsan, Hashiyeh-neshinan, 49.
64 Katouzian, The Political, 270–72 quoting from Hossein Azimi, “Aspects of Poverty and Income Distribution in Iran.” Unpublished thesis, Oxford 1979.
65 Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Iran,” 355.
66 Preedy, Watson, and Patel, Flour, 266.
68 Dzajazery and Siyasi, “Food Behavior,” 105–17; Montazerifar, Karajibani, and Dashipour, “Evaluation,” 62–71; Abdi et al, “Surveying,” 159–67; Kimiagar et al., “Food Consumption,” 539–47; Abdollahi et al., “Socio-economic,” 19-26.