Noosh: Food With Spirit Newsletter

Thank you so much for your interest in my musings. I send updates sparingly, and with purpose. You’ll find short missives about Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian cuisine and culture, as well as updates about our business in Bend, Oregon.

If you’re itching to get reading, you can find all previous posts on my Substack.

Below you’ll find a personal favorite copied for your reading pleasure.

As we say in Farsi before a meal, Noosh-e-jan [may it feed your spirit]!

Nowruz and Herbs

Yesterday morning was the Spring Equinox - known as Nowruz, or the Persian New Year. I’ve spent the last few weeks sprouting lentils into a tall grass, representing rebirth, and the last few days setting up my altar (Haft-Sin) and cooking heavily herbed Persian classics. This is my favorite Persian holiday; something about the painstaking cleaning, chopping, and cooking of 30+ bunches of herbs reminds me that countless Persian families are doing the exact same thing around the world, and that cuisine is conduit for cultural memory.

It also makes me wonder how my grandmothers lived without a food processor.

Nowruz translates to new day from Farsi - unsurprising given our personal and collective associations with this time: new life, shaking off the cobwebs of winter, the increased warmth of the sun. Persian traditions, many of which stem from Zoroastrianism, place significant importance on the natural world, specifically the Equinoxes and Solstices. I interpret and feel these times as portals or liminal spaces, where the physical world around us and the energetic world within us are recalibrating to a new season. It’s easy to forget that we, too, are a part of the natural world: we may not be visibly molting or sprouting out of a seed, but it’s possible that over the last few weeks you’ve felt the discomfort that comes before new growth, a desire to break free and reground in a new story. Or maybe I’m projecting 💁🏽‍♀️.

There are touch points before and after the Equinox itself, but I want to speak to my two favorite elements of Nowruz: the menu (of course) and the Haft-Sin Altar.

Herb-ladden food is must-have for Nowruz - our cuisine trends herbaceous as it is, but at this time of year herbs are a representation of new life, rebirth, renewal, and vitality. Typical dishes include kooko sabzi, an herby-frittata, sabzi polo, an herbed rice, and mahi - meaning fish. Other herb-forward dishes may make an appearance, but for my family, these are the musts.

While the video below isn’t a recipe, you’ll get a rundown on the importance of herbs for this holiday, as I experience it.

To my second favorite part - the Haft-Sin. This means “Seven - S’s” - there are seven must-have items on the altar beginning with the letter “s”, all of which represent an energy we wish to anchor for this season. That is the work of altars: they are physical representations of what we are calling forth. At the very least, when you witness an altar, you are reminded of what these items symbolize. But if you’re open to it, you may experience these items as imbued with magic.

Our Haft-Sin includes:

Sabzi - sprouted lentils or wheat, symbolizing the rebirth and renewal of nature. Similarly to Tahdig, your ability to nail your sprouts is highly favored.

Senjed - the Oleaster Berry - for love.

Samanoo - wheat pudding - for fertility and the sweetness of life.

Serkeh - vinegar - for patience!

Seeb - apple - healthy and beauty.

Seer - garlic - for health and medicine.

Sumac - for the bright red of the sunrise.

To supplement these items, it is common to have painted eggs for fertility and new life (sound familiar?), Hyacinth flowers, candles for illumination, a mirror for self-reflection, a goldfish (or in my case - a representation of a fishy) for movement and new life, some coins for prosperity, and a revered book. For my family this would be a book of poetry by Rumi or Hafez. If folks trend religious, they may use a religious text instead. If you’re into bibliomancy, you may open to a random page in a book of poetry to try and divine your fortune!

I hope this season allows you to experience some renewal, illumination, and play. More Persian cooking techniques in the weeks to come.