March 23, 2011
Najmieh Batmanglij made a guest appearance on the Martha Stewart Show to share a recipe for a homemade meal of lamb shanks made with rice and fava beans (baghali polo). Batmanglij has been the most influential voice for Persian cooking (or as the Washington Post put it “the guru of Persian Cuisine”) for the past 30 years. A copy of her book, “New Food of Life,” a comprehensive tome that not only lists recipes for most Persian dishes, but manages to also celebrate and integrate Persian art, tapestry, poetry and storytelling, can be found in the homes of many second generation Iranians living outside of Iran.
March 18, 2011
It’s almost time for Norooz, the most important holiday in the Iranian culture. This holiday marks the beginning of the Persian calendar and occurs every year at the exact moment that spring starts. This year, it will occur on March 20, 2011 at exactly 6:21 central time in the United States, and the corresponding times around the world. It occurs at the same moment everywhere on earth, at the exact moment the earth enters the vernal equinox. However, we won’t be celebrating 2011 in Iran, we will be celebrating 1390, signifying the number of years after the birth date of Mohammad.
January 13, 2011
So many people have written us asking about our wonderful theme music. It’s a great little piece, an original composition by Fared Shafinury, one of the most talented musicians in the Iranian community. You can check out his music on his webpage. He will be providing more music for the podcast in the future, and is releasing his first full length album sometime this year. We will keep you posted!
December 26, 2010
There is an ongoing debate in the Iranian and academic communities as to whether you should use ‘Persian’ or ‘Farsi’ to refer to the language in English. It’s not a simple issue of To-may-to vs. To-mah-to: the reasons for using the term ‘Persian’ when speaking in English are based on history and precedent. Here’s an excerpt from the Persian Language wikipedia entry on the topic (emphasis ours):
December 19, 2010
Welcome to Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation, the podcast for anyone trying to learn conversational Persian.
