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 | Hafez's yoosofé gom gashté, Part 4

In this lesson, we go over more words and phrases in the next four lines of the poem yoosofé gom gashté by Hafez. Here, Hafez reassures the reader regarding forces that are beyond their control.

26 Jan 18min

Poetry | Hafez's yoosofé gom gashté, Part 3

In this lesson, we go over the individual words and phrases in the next four lines of the poem yoosofé gom gashté by Hafez, which refer broadly to the nature of the heavens and earth.

18 Jan 16min

Poetry | Hafez's yoosofé gom gashté, Part 2

In this lesson, we go over the individual words and phrases in the first four lines of the poem yoosofé gom gashté by Hafez.

12 Jan 19min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, On the Creation of the World, Part 6

In this lesson, we conclude our discussion of the section “On the Creation of the World” from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and reflect on its implications with Dr. Omid Arabian. In this last part, Ferdowsi ex...

5 Jan 22min

Poetry | Hafez's yoosofé gom gashté, Introduction with Sahba Shayani

In this introductory lesson to Hafez's poem yoosofé gom gashté, we're joined by Prof. Sahba Shayani to talk about the general theme and meaning behind this poem.

4 Jan 53min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, On the Creation of the World, Part 5

In this lesson, we proceed to the fifth part of our discussion of the section “On the Creation of the World” from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh with Dr. Omid Arabian. In this part of the epic poem, Ferdowsi br...

15 Des 202521min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, On the Creation of the World, Part 4

In this lesson, we proceed to the fourth part of our discussion of the section “On the Creation of the World” from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh with Dr. Omid Arabian. This part of the epic poem explains Ferdo...

8 Des 202518min

Culture | Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, On the Creation of the World, Part 3

In this lesson, we proceed to the third part of our discussion of the section “On the Creation of the World” from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh with Dr. Omid Arabian. This part of the epic poem discusses the f...

1 Des 202519min