About Taraneh
My name is Taraneh (or Tara for short). I grew up in Tehran, Iran until I was 31 years old.
After I moved to the U.S. in 2015, I felt like I had lost my Persian community. During those times, I threw myself into cooking my mother and our family's Persian recipes to help me feel a bit of home here in D.C. The best Persian food is made at home and I have been cooking it for over 30 years.
Now it is my joy to share with you the techniques, tricks and recipes to make delicious Persian food in your kitchen!
I have been grateful to have over 500 people from across the U.S. and the world join me for my Persian cooking classes and dinner conversations. It is my hope that connecting people through food will bring us all closer together.
What We’ll Do Together
Welcome to a taste of the kitchens of Iran! You will join me in my home (8 people max) for an informal class on how to make delicious Persian food (vegetarian options available).
We will start with teaching you how to cook our famous Persian rice with saffron and tahdig (crispy rice from the bottom of the pot). Then we will cook together one of the most famous dishes from my family in Iran. Possible example dishes are ghormer sabzi (Persian herb and lamb stew, Asas Polo (Persian lentil rice), khoresh bademjan (Persian eggplant stew), among many others.
Throughout the experience I will give you a culinary and cultural tour of the regions of Iran, as well as a first-person account of living there for over 30 years.
Then of course we will sit together and eat! You will get all the recipes and steps to take home with you, along with a step by step guide to recreate the Persian magic in your kitchen. And no meal could end without some hot tea and Persian sweets.
I will happily tailor the menu around dietary restrictions and personal taste. Thank you and welcome to a piece of Iran!
Testimonials
“If you are visiting D.C. or if you live in D.C., I recommend this experience with Tara above anything else. She is such a wonderful host and an individual. I learned so much from her about Persian cuisine and culture that I had never even imagined I would learn in just one evening. Cooking with Tara was such a great experience, and then sitting down and eating a meal together was definitely priceless. I can’t wait to come back to D.C. and do it again.”
“Tonight we took took part in a unique dinner experience at the home of a lovely Persian woman in Washington DC. Taraneh “Tara,” shared her family recipes from Iran and cooked a delightful dinner for us. She demonstrated techniques, introduced us to different spices and flavorings, and explained some unusual aspects of her native culture. The result was a delicious meal shared among seven strangers that we can now call our friends.”
“I have enjoyed eating Persian food in a restaurant but always wondered what I was missing when I cooked it at home. Taraneh provides a wonderful experience from booking to arrival, throughout the cooking, to sharing a beautiful meal and conversation. She answered all of my questions about preparation, spices, cooking, and culture. This class is a should-not-be- missed if you’re ever in a 100 mile radius of DC.”
“Amazing amazing amazing experience. My husband and I cannot say enough good things about Taraneh and her traditional Iranian family dishes. The experience was once in a lifetime. Amazing woman, amazing story, amazing food. A must-do experience if you are in DC.”
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