Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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Quick answers
What is Iranian cuisine?
Iranian cuisine (آشپزی ایرانی) grew from yogurt / pickles / dried limes and rice / bread. Ghormeh sabzi is the postcard, not the whole map.
Is it always spicy?
Iranian cuisine sits at spice 42 in this atlas. Ghormeh sabzi and Chelow kabab show the range better than a single heat number.
What should a first meal include?
Ghormeh sabzi plus one regional plate — not only the export icon.
What is Polo / chelo?
Cooked rice, often steamed and jeweled.
How do people eat at home?
Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz do not cook the same dinner. Regional stubbornness is the cuisine, not a footnote.
What travels poorly?
The home pantry around Polo / chelo and the labour behind Chelow kabab rarely fit a takeaway box.
Iranian cuisine changes by valley, coast and capital. Tehran is one node, not the whole map.
The meters treat heat, ferment, street density and sharing as the axes that actually organise meals.
Systems
Tehran metro
A regional kitchen of Iranian cuisine centred on Tehran and Ghormeh sabzi.
Isfahan table
A regional kitchen of Iranian cuisine centred on Isfahan and Chelow kabab.
Shiraz table
A regional kitchen of Iranian cuisine centred on Shiraz and Fesenjan.
Tabriz table
A regional kitchen of Iranian cuisine centred on Tabriz and Tahdig.
Mashhad table
A regional kitchen of Iranian cuisine centred on Mashhad and Ash reshteh.
Region 5
Another regional kitchen of Iranian cuisine.
Flavour meters
Cities & regions
Tehran
A hotspot for Ghormeh sabzi and the local pantry of Iranian cuisine.
Isfahan
A hotspot for Ghormeh sabzi and the local pantry of Iranian cuisine.
Shiraz
A hotspot for Ghormeh sabzi and the local pantry of Iranian cuisine.
Tabriz
A hotspot for Ghormeh sabzi and the local pantry of Iranian cuisine.
Mashhad
A hotspot for Ghormeh sabzi and the local pantry of Iranian cuisine.
Materials
yogurt / pickles / dried limes
The savoury bass.
rice / bread
The meal starch.
Ghormeh sabzi staples
The icon pantry.
Market produce
The daily vegetable and protein.
Regional pride in this cuisine is argued through Ghormeh sabzi and Chelow kabab more than through a single official recipe.
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