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)

Poetry | Omar Khayyam's khosh bāsh Part 3

In this lesson, we go over the following lines of the poem: chon āghebaté kāré jahān neestee hastچون عاقِبَتِ کارِ جَهان نیستی اَستSince the end of the affairs of the world is nothingness engār ké n...

11 Feb 201912min

Poetry | Omar Khayyam's khosh bāsh Part 2

In this second part of the Persian language/Farsi lesson on Khayām's Khosh Bash we go over the following section of the poem, along with all the vocabulary and phrases associated with the words learne...

4 Feb 201911min

Speak Lesson 62 | Colors (Vocabulary Sprint)

In this Persian (Farsi) lesson, we go over the most common colors in the Persian language, as well as some incidental vocabulary associated with the colors. This is a vocabulary sprint, meaning you ca...

1 Feb 201913min

Speak Lesson 61 | Animals (Vocabulary Sprint)

This is a vocabulary sprint, which means you can listen to the lesson no matter where you are in the learning process. It's just a way to get a number of vocabulary words in your tool belt.In this Per...

1 Jan 201917min

Poetry | Omar Khayyam's khosh bāsh Intro

In this lesson, we introduce one of the greats of Persian Sufi poetry, Omar Khayyam. Khayyam was a 12th century poet and a true renaissance man- in addition to being one of the most well known Iranian...

10 Des 201815min

Poetry | Forough Farokhzad's fathe bagh Part 5

In this last part of our series on Forough Farrokhzad, we learn the final part of the selection of the poem we've been learning. In addition, we learn about three birds that feature prominently in the...

6 Nov 201814min

Poetry | Forough Farokhzad's fathe bagh Part 4

In this fourth part of the Persian language/Farsi lesson on Forough Farrokhzad's Fathé Bāgh, or Conquestion of the Garden, we go over the following section of the poem, along with all the vocabulary a...

26 Okt 201810min