In his talk, Alex Shams in “_The Pomegranate Route_” focuses on the culinary heritage that connects Mexican and Iranian cuisine across centuries and across oceans. The food in prepared by Amir Moosavi, who initiated the Señor Saffron project from the question of what would an Iranian taco be like? Persian food is centered around the "tahdig" the saffron rice layer you find at the bottom of the pan, and so, instead of tortillas, Amir creates the rice "tado" replacing the tortilla of Mexican tacos. Accompanied by ¡mole joon! a dish is created that combines the molasses of the Iranian pomegranate and the ground walnut stew "fesenjoon" with the chiles and cocoa of the Mexican moles, in an Iranian-Mexican encounter.
Alex Shams is a writer and
anthropologist. His work explores unexpected histories that link our world,
most recently between the Middle East and Latin America. He previously lived in
Iran and worked as a journalist in Palestine. His talk at Pickle Bar focuses on
the culinary heritage that connects Mexican and Iranian cuisine across
centuries and across oceans.
Arshia Fatima Haq, founded Discostan in 2011 as a decolonial club space, radio show and record label that evokes past, present and future soundscapes, from Beirut to Bankok to Bombay. Over the past six years, this space has become an interactive forum and convergence space for QTPOC from the SWANA region. Arshia works through film, visual arts, performance and sound.
