Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation11 Mai 2022

Interview | Growing Up Irooni- Caspian Chef discusses returning to his Iranian roots after decades of assimilation

In this Growing Up Irooni we talk to Omid Roustaei, better known as the Caspian Chef. In this conversation, we discuss the process of coming to the United States on his own and figuring out his own path for assimilating into American culture as a means of survival. Omid has has a very rich and varied path, first studying biotech engineering, and then becoming a personal chef and yoga teacher, to pursuing a career in psychotherapy, to returning to cooking and his Iranian roots only in the past few years.This was one of the most fascinating conversations I've had- and we really go into some territory that I think will resonate with so many of us- life is certainly not linear, and we can see that in Omid's story. We talk about career and pursuing your dreams- he first went down the ‘traditional Iranian path' of becoming a biotech engineer and worked in that field for a while, before pivoting to the perhaps more American notion of pursuing his passion- cooking and psychotherapy. We also talked about the process of assimilation as a coping mechanism- what it means to arrive in a country and need to fit in. And finally, what led Omid back to the path of rediscovering his Iranian roots- from cooking Persian food, to becoming reacquainted with the Persian language, and to ultimately seek out and become part of the Iranian diaspora community again.I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did!

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Episoder(223)

Growing Up Irooni: Hamid Rahmanian on Building Persian Culture, One Story at a Time

In this episode, Leyla sits down with Hamid Rahmanian — the Iranian-American artist, filmmaker, and visionary behind some of the most ambitious Shahnameh projects of our time, including the illustrate...

13 Mai 1h 30min

Growing Up Irooni: Danesh Nosirvan on Speaking Up When Our Parents Couldn't

In this episode, Leyla sits down with Danesh Nosirvan — the Iranian-American creator known online for identifying perpetrators of public harm and holding them accountable through the court of public o...

7 Mai 1h 18min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, The Story of Zahhak, Part 4

In the fourth part of our discussion about the Tale of Zahhak, Leyla and Dr. Sahba Shayani introduce the story of Fereydoon, who, as we already know by now, eventually kills Zahhak and rules Iran in h...

20 Apr 21min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, The Story of Zahhak, Part 3

In this lesson, we learn from Leyla and Dr. Sahba Shayani about the nature of the evil king Zahhak's reign and the beginning of his downfall.

11 Apr 30min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, The Story of Zahhak, Part 2

In this lesson, we continue our discussion of the famous Tale of Zahhak from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh with Dr. Sahba Shayani. Here, having covered the background that led to Zahhak's rise to power, we beg...

23 Mar 23min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, The Story of Zahhak, Part 1

In this lesson, we begin our discussion of the famous Tale of Zahhak from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh with Dr. Sahba Shayani. We use the end of the story of Jamshid as a prelude and begin to learn of how Zah...

4 Mar 28min

Poetry | Hafez's yoosofé gom gashté, Part 6

In this thrilling conclusion to Hafez's poem yoosofé gom gashté, we cover the words and phrases in the last four lines of the poem. Hafez concludes by acknowledging the difficulties the reader may fac...

9 Feb 20min

Poetry | Hafez's yoosofé gom gashté, Part 5

In this lesson, we cover the words and phrases in the next four lines of the poem yoosofé gom gashté by Hafez. In this part of the poem, Hafez provides the reader encouragement and inspiration for ove...

1 Feb 22min