I’ve enjoyed the process of immersing myself in the culture, history, and geography of Iran, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus. Below is a list of books and articles I have found interesting and illuminating. Some are online resources, including articles and various websites. I also consulted several of the books that I coauthored with Jeffrey Alford: Flatbreads & Flavors: A Baker’s Atlas (Morrow, 1995), Seductions of Rice (Artisan, 1998), and Home Baking (Artisan, 2003).
I’ve picked out a few of the many Persian food blogs I especially like. I used Lonely Planet guidebooks and a number of different maps and phrase books on my travels in the region. And I’ve listed a few recent films from Iran. Each of them gives a sense of daily life and of the way people interact with one another these days, both at home and out in public.
Abercromby, John. A Trip Through the Eastern Caucasus. London: Edward Stanford, 1889.
Travels of a Finno-Ugrian scholar from Tbilisi, Georgia, to Sheki, Azerbaijan; available online at Google Books.
Amiraslanov, Tahir, and Leyla Rahmanova. The Azerbaijani Kitchen: A Cookbook. London: SAQI, 2014.
Recipes with photos; classic Azeri dishes.
Batmanglij, Najmieh. Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Food and Ceremonies. Washington, DC: Mage Publishers, 2011.
Many classic Persian recipes; photos and clear instructions.
Bijan, Donna. Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2011.
A memoir with recipes, by an American chef whose home culture is Persian; a nice blend.
Brailashvili, Nino. Georgia as I Saw It: Ethnographic Sketches. Tbilisi: Khelnovneba, 1990.
Sketches and watercolors of houses and people all over Georgia, by an artist-ethnographer who lived and worked in Georgia from about 1920 onward; with notes in English, Russian, and Georgian.
Buchan, James. The Persian Bride. New York: Mariner, 2002.
A novel that is part romance, part thriller, and a lovely appreciation of Persian culture.
Bullough, Oliver. Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus. New York: Basic, 2010.
More than a travel book, this is an exploration through the writings of early travelers of the peoples and history of the Caucasus; very rewarding.
Crowther, Yasmin. The Saffron Kitchen. New York: Viking, 2006.
A novel set in England and Iran about memory and tradition; very moving.
Dalrymple, William. From the Holy Mountain. London: Flamingo, 1998.
A beautifully written travel book that weaves in much history, as the author visits and meditates on the long history of the Orthodox/Eastern churches and monasteries, starting in Mount Athos and ending at Mount Sinai.
Elkana. Forgotten Crops. Tbilisi: Elkana, 2008.
An illustrated guide to lesser-known traditional crops with recipes; Elkana is an NGO dedicated to preserving landrace and traditional crops of Georgia.
———. Making Wine in Kvevri: A Unique Georgian Tradition. Tbilisi: Elkana, 2011.
Feiring, Alice. For the Love of Wine: My Odyssey Through the World’s Most Ancient Wine Culture. Lincoln, NE: Potomac, 2016.
A thorough look at winemaking in Georgia.
Floor, Willem. History of Bread in Iran. Washington, DC: Mage, 2015.
Anthropology, history, and bread making in Iran, with photographs, by an economist and a scholar of the region who is also a baker; a valuable book.
Ghanoonparvar, M. R. Persian Cuisine, Book 1: Traditional Foods. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 1982.
One of the earliest Persian cookbooks published in the United States, with practical and clear recipes.
———. Persian Cuisine, Book 2: Regional and Modern Foods. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda, 1984.
This follow-up offers recipes adapted by Iranian-Americans to the ingredients and style of life they found in the United States.
Goldstein, Darra. The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia. rev. ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.
A breakthrough book that introduced Georgian food to the West; first published in 1993.
Grigson, Jane. Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book. New York: Atheneum, 1982.
A wonderful reference, indispensable whenever fruit is in the kitchen.
Holland, Tom. Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West. London: Little Brown, 2005.
Sets Persian history in perspective and relates it to European history.
Housden, Roger. Saved by Beauty. New York: Broadway, 2011.
A travel memoir of Iran by an American poet and romantic; a fine read.
Kacharava, Darejan, and Guram Kvirkvelia. Wine, Worship, and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Varni. New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at NYU, 2008.
Archaeologists’ view of a dig in Georgia and its significance; fascinating.
Kaplan, Robert D. The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate. New York: Random House, 2012.
Kaplan is a longtime staff writer at The Atlantic. He has an interesting take on the connections between geography and power, very relevant when thinking about Iran and the Caucasus region.
Karny, Yo’av. Highlanders: A Journey to the Caucasus. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
A remarkable book of travel and ethnography that explores the patchwork of peoples of the Caucasus Mountains, neighbors of Georgia and Azerbaijan, with loving care.
Klinec, Jennifer. The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran. London: Virago, 2014.
A gracefully written memoir with recipes about a young woman’s travel in Iran, which brought her love and a husband.
Kordy, Gohar. An Iranian Odyssey. London: Serpent’s Tail, 1991.
A memoir of growing up in Iran in the 1950s and ’60s by a woman who lost her sight as a child.
Laudan, Rachel. Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
Food history from the beginning, tracing the cross-connections and the central importance of food supply in wars, revolutions, and the growth of empires.
Layard, Austen Henry. Nineveh and Its Remains: With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil-Worshippers Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge Library Collection, 2013 (originally published in 1849).
A fascinating account by one of the earliest English travelers to the region.
Margvelashvili, Julianne. The Classic Cuisine of Soviet Georgia: History, Traditions, and Recipes. New York: Prentice Hall, 1991.
The first book I found published in English about Georgian cooking.
McLagan, Jennifer. Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal. New York: Ten Speed, 2011.
Useful book for getting comfortable with cooking the less usual “bits.”
Ministry of Agriculture, Georgia. Georgian Cheese. Tbilisi: Anakila, 2010.
Describes cheese-making techniques and regional cheeses of Georgia, with photos; in English and Georgian.
Molavi, Ashvin. The Soul of Iran: A Nation’s Journey to Freedom. New York: Norton, 2002.
Memoir and history, presented in the form of travels and stories from people the Iranian-born author met on his travels. Rich.
Nabhan, Gary. Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014.
The spice trade and the cross-influences it initiated, told in stories of the author’s travels.
Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. New York: Random House, 2008.
First published in 2003, a big best seller that gives a sense of the oppressiveness of life in Iran in the years immediately after the 1979 revolution.
———. Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories of a Prodigal Daughter. New York: Random House, 2010.
A memoir of growing up in Tehran with a domineering and difficult mother; nuanced and full of life and insight.
Ohanesian, Aline. Orhan’s Inheritance. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2015.
A novel about the Armenian genocide, describing Armenian village life before the genocide and a survivor’s memories afterward.
Pezeshkzad, Iraj. My Uncle Napoleon. Trans. by Dick Davis. New York: Modern Library, 2006.
A translation, first published in 1996, of a well-known Persian comic novel published in Persian in Iran in 1973 and still in print. The story is set in the 1940s in a family compound in Tehran.
Polk, William R. Understanding Iran. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
A good basic introduction to the history, geography, and practical aspects of life in Iran.
Roden, Claudia. The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York. New York: Knopf, 1996.
Recipes and stories from the Jewish kitchens of Iran and Georgia, among many other places; a masterpiece.
Russell, Gerard. Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East. London: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
The author of this book is as fascinated as I am by the survival of a variety of peoples and cultures in the region. The book looks at a number of “smaller” religions in the area, including the Yezidis and Chaldeans.
Said, Kurban. Ali and Nino. London: Vintage, 2000.
A classic novel first published in German in 1937, this is a cross-cultural romance (between a Georgian Christian and an Azeri Muslim) set in Baku. The identity of the pseudonymous author is still a question.
Sarshar, Houman, ed. Esther’s Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews. Beverly Hills, CA: Center for Iranian-Jewish History, 2002.
With many archival photos, this gives a sense of the history of the Jewish community in Iran, especially in the last two hundred years.
Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2007.
A memoir in graphic form by an Iranian artist, this is probably the easiest way to understand the outlines of the twentieth-century history of Iran, from the British and American interference that assisted the Shah by deposing the elected government of Mossadegh in 1952 to the background of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Iran-Iraq War, and beyond.
Scott, James C. The Art of Not Being Governed. Singapore: NUS, 2010.
An interesting analysis of people on the margins; Southeast Asia is the main area he talks about, but it applies to the peoples of the Caucasus too, caught between empires.
Shaida, Margaret. The Legendary Cuisine of Persia. London: Penguin, 1992.
A reliable, award-winning book of recipes by an Englishwoman who married a Persian and lived in Iran for a long time.
Skinner, Peter F. Georgia: The Land Below the Caucasus. New York: Narikala, 2014.
Sets out the history of Georgia over the centuries, making clear the complexities.
Slavs and Tatars, eds. Slavs and Tatars Present Molla Nasreddin: The Magazine That Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve. Zurich: JRP/Ringier, Christopher Keller Editions, 2011.
A compendium of many of the best articles and cartoons from a magazine published in the Caucasus between 1920 and 1933, remarkable in its openness and satirical content. (A new edition is forthcoming.)
Uvezian, Sonia. The Cuisine of Armenia. Rev. ed. New York: Hippocrene, 1996.
Recipes that are primarily western Armenian—that is, from the Armenian traditions that flourished in Turkey until the genocide, as well as in Syria and Lebanon. Originally published in 1974.
Vaughan, John, and Catherine Geissler. The New Oxford Book of Food Plants. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
An indispensable illustrated book of fruits and vegetables; beautiful as well as informative.
Von Bremzen, Anya, and John Welchman. Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook. New York: Workman, 1990.
A Russian perspective on the cuisines of the USSR; the book includes Azeri, Armenian, and Georgian recipes.
Ward, Terence. Searching for Hassan: A Journey to the Heart of Iran. New York: Anchor, 2002.
A memoir of childhood in Iran and of a return to Iran after the revolution; tender and appreciative.
Wearing, Alison. Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey. Toronto: Knopf, 2000.
Travels in Iran by a young single Canadian woman who passed as married to the young man she traveled with.
Wynne, Antony. Persia in the Great Game. London: John Murray, 2003.
The story of Sir Percy Sykes, a British soldier who lived in Iran as consul and spy from 1906 to 1918.
Zubaida, Sami, and Richard Tapper, eds. A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East. London: Tauris Parke, 2000.
Many excellent essays relating to the food history and culture of the Persian culinary region, as well as neighboring areas.
Anonymous. “Weeping in Tehran; Scenes from the Uprising.” Harper’s Magazine, vol. 319, no. 1912 (September 2009): 70–76.
August, Oliver, et al. “Special Report on Iran.” The Economist, vol. 14, no. 8911 (November 2014): special insert.
Cockburn, Andrew. “A Very Perfect Instrument: The Ferocity and Failure of America’s Sanctions Apparatus.” Harper’s Magazine, vol. 327, no. 1960 (September 2013): 50–57.
Oborne, Peter, and David Morrison. “Changing Partners: Can Hassan Rouhani End the Iranian Impasse?” Harper’s Magazine, vol. 327, no. 1961 (October 2013): 73–74.
Philliou, Christine: “The Armenian Genocide and the Politics of Knowledge,” http://www.publicbooks.org/nonfiction/the-armenian-genocide-and-the-politics-of-knowledge.
A lengthy discussion of Ronald Grigor Suny’s History of the Armenian Genocide (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015).
http://darragoldstein.com/files/2012/12/Darra_Goldstein_Georgia.pdf
Darra Goldstein’s book on Georgia in a different form.
http://foodperestroika.com/2013/12/05/imeretian-cheese-the-gateway-cheese-from-georgia/
A story about Georgian cheese from Emereti.
http://georgianwine.gov.ge/eng/text/126/
Georgian government wine info: clear and complete.
http://www.ifrj.upm.edu.my/21%20(01)%202014/52%20IFRJ%2021%20(01)%202014%20Aliakbarku%20494.pdf
An interesting paper from Iran on the health benefits of doshab (grape syrup), which has antioxidant properties.
http://www.kvevri.org/the-wine-making-method/
Kvevri and the history of Georgian wine, by Dr. David Chichua, lecturer at Telavi State University, Georgia.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-great-georgian-fruit-hunt-68708316/?all&no-ist
A story about fruit diversity in the Caucasus.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/36357/persianiranian-barbari-bread
Persian breads: Omri at The Fresh Loaf writes in detail about barbari bread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=i3Kq-9CFIuQ
A video of an olive oil grower near Meghri in southern Armenia.
http://www.armeniapedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Loads of history and info about Armenian culture.
http://cookedearthblog.com/2011/05/23/republic-of-azerbaijan/
Various food-related explorations in Azerbaijan.
http://www.georgianjournal.ge/
Updated news on Georgia.
http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Trig_cae.html and general opener page: http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/
An indispensable online spice resource, with information on blue fenugreek and Georgian spice blends.
http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=az&commodity=apples&graph=production
For agricultural statistics and information.
Encyclopedia Iranica, a wonderful resource on many aspects of Persian history and culture, including food plants.
http://www.kaukaz.pl/caucasus-news.php
Recent news updates on the Caucasus.
Azeri news.
http://www.aashpaz.com/newwordpress/persian-cuisine-culinary-history/
http://www.mypersianfeast.com/
http://www.mypersiankitchen.com/
http://turmericsaffron.blogspot.ca/
In general, have a look at www.roadsandkingdoms.com, for there are often articles, with photographs, on out-of-the-way places and people, including a number on the Caucasus, Iran, and Kurdistan. And, to help contextualize the Persian culinary region, look for culinary writing about neighboring Turkey. One of the best sources will be Istanbul and Beyond by Robyn Eckhardt and David Hagerman, to be published in 2017 by Rux Martin/Houghton-Mifflin Books.
Iran has a wonderfully sophisticated film culture. Recent films I have found illuminating include:
A Separation, directed by Asghar Farhadi (2012)
A portrait of a marriage coming apart in an ordinary family in Tehran.
Red Rose, directed by Sepideh Farsi (2014)
A romantic thriller set in the middle of the 2009 failed revolution.
Tales, directed by Rakhshan Bani-E’temad (2014)
A set of short stories about ordinary people.
Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, directed by Jafar Panahi (2015)
A lovely film in which the director acts himself, driving a taxi in Tehran and having conversations with the people he picks up.