Come back on Wednesdays for more funny, informative videos documenting my inept food adventures. In Around the World in One City, I travel around the world and taste authentic dishes without ever leaving New York.
I have been sitting on this video for a while. A few things have gotten in the way and stalled me. First off, I am entrenched in another exciting project that took me to Europe this summer. The videos from that will be live soon. I’m excited to share them with you.
Secondly, one of the restaurants featured in this video closed due to rising rents in Greenwich Village. When I first learned the news, I wasn’t sure if I should re-film or edit it out or what. So I sat on it.
But when the political climate reached sweltering this past week with unconstitutional immigrant reform, I realized just how important these videos are. Especially since Iran was named as part of the Executive Order.
You’ll also note that in the video I decide to not discuss politics. That was well before this current situation. If filmed today, I would have taken a bigger stand about the importance of this culture and its gracious people here in the United States.
But I still do want to focus on the food because as Saeed Pourkay says in the video, it can “do nation building.” So enjoy this video about a sadly underepresented cuisine and a now opressed culture. If you have never tasted Persian food, you really don’t know what you’re missing and it’s more important now then ever before.
On this episode, I first meet Saeed Pourkay who has followed his passion and is running a successful steam table in the corner of a generic pizzeria in the Flatiron District. The food is homemade and you can taste it in every bite. Then I head downtown to meet Shiva Stein, a British-born woman of Iranian decent who resides with her family in Brooklyn. We have a lovely meal at the sadly closed Cafe Nadery, modeled after an all-day artist hangout in Tehran. Transport yourself to Iran and get to know the people and its food as I go Around the World in One City.
For those that would like to get a taste for themselves, my friends have organized a food crawl that visits the businesses owned by people from the countries affected from the ban. Donate to help and eat for a good cause by clicking here.
