Wow. I could relate to this memoir on so many levels. I thought it was well-written, insightful and very, very brave. ( )

Travel, food and love---a great combination for an interesting book. This memoir is written by an author who knows how to bring the complexities of a country and its food to life. Now I want to go try some Iranian rice. ( )

I enjoy reading travelogues and I needed a food book for my 2017 Book Challenge, so this seemed like the perfect title to choose from the bookstore display. Beginning in adolescence, the author developed a passion for international travel, often traveling solo and to places away from large tourist crowds. Over time, she focused her travels on investigating traditional cuisines. Arriving in Iran, she arranges for an Iranian woman to teach her how to prepare the family's treasured recipes. In the process of navigating the strict Islamic culture she falls in love with the son of her tutor. The cooking passages are fascinating, even to a non-gourmet. Evocative language brings the sights and textures and smells of kitchens and marketplaces to life, as the young couple attempts to stay below the radar of the morality police. I found the food portion of the book more compelling than the love story, perhaps because I was too worried that the proverbial other shoe was about to drop. ( )

This is an interesting little memoir about a young woman who grew up in Ontario and had happy memories of her mother cooking her native food from Yugoslavia. Her mother stopped cooking elaborate meals when their business took off, but Jen forever afterwards sought out interesting foods and cultural traditions surrounding them. As her parents were mostly absent after Jen’s early years, she developed independence young and found opportunities to study abroad both for high school and college. On her breaks, she would visit the most obscure places she could find. In her twenties, she had landed herself in a high paying corporate job, however, there was little love for it. She abandoned this to begin teaching cooking classes out of her tiny flat in London.

In her thirties, she goes on a largely unplanned trip to Iran, hoping to learn more of the culture and Middle Eastern cooking traditions. Immediately, Vahid, an energetic Iranian man, 6 years younger than she, sparks up conversation with her and invites her to his mother’s kitchen. Initially she is put off by him, however with time, a love interest develops. Through this relationship, a glimpse into the cultural rules regarding relationships is thoroughly explored in this land. Their relationship must remain a secret from his family and Iranians at large, until Vahid has the idea of a “temporary marriage.” They go to great lengths to get a Mullah to grant them this, so that they may be allowed to be together and have something to show the police with whom they’ve had many confrontations. Even once they’ve gone public with their relationship, it is not accepted among Vahid’s family and their being seen together causes great consternation in Vahid’s home town of Yazd.

The book quickly shifts from a memoir about a love for food to a memoir about a love for a boy. It is a book about “yaaftan,” finding something beautiful in a place where it is least expected or where you had to struggle. It is about “payvand zadan” the act of locking two things to each other to keep them both safe, an old fashioned word for marriage.

For discussion questions, please see: http://www.book-chatter.com/?p=877 ( )