Perisan Cuisine
Flavors. Warm Hospitality. Culinary Tales.
© Houtan Ghazi & Vanessa Maas
Anyone leafing through the cookery book by sisters Forough and Sahar Sodoudi,
immediately immerse yourself in the opulent world and colourful diversity of Persian cuisine.
Every dish is an experience, a piece of living culture.
‘Either with love or rather not’ - is the credo of the fascinating twin sisters Forough and Sahar Sodoudi. They run the ‘Culture and Food Lab’ Dr & Dr in Berlin, where they want to introduce their guests to the vibrant diversity of Middle Eastern culture - through scents, flavours, visual impressions and sounds. There is calligraphy on the wall of the studio: Love flows here
... and that is the name of her first cookery book. A culinary and colourful journey of pleasure through Iran. The book not only celebrates creamy mezze and crunchy salads, delicious desserts with pomegranate molasses and rose water, but also popular classics - all with a surprisingly sophisticated twist:
Saffron rice becomes a feast for the senses with lentils, exotic spices and golden sultanas, while Persian meatballs are combined with a tomato and lemon sauce.
But it is not just Iranian cuisine that is important to the sisters. ‘The European view of Middle Eastern culture was determined by politics and religious narratives; Iranian culture was neither interesting nor known,’ says Sahar Sodoudi.
For the sisters, food is far more than just nourishment - it transcends political boundaries and connects the entire Middle East. Sahar and Forough see it as their mission to build a bridge between cultures and to bring their dishes and the stories behind them to the world with love - full of dedication and passion.
The twins were born in 1975 in West Berlin, their parents came to Germany from Iran and met there at university. After five years, the family moved back to Iran - at a time of upheaval between hopes for freedom and new censorship. Despite the unrest in their country, Forough and Sahar enjoyed a happy childhood and later studied physics. Sahar specialised in meteorology, Forough in geophysics - a connection between heaven and earth. Both earned their doctorates and returned to Berlin in 2000 to teach.
In 2019, they founded ‘Dr & Dr’, the ‘Culture and Food Lab’ in Kreuzberg, where they now give cookery courses,
organise dinners and offer food tours. Always according to the motto.
Love flows here
... the title of their book - a culinary and colourful journey of pleasure through Iran,
published by Brandstätter Verlag (35€)
