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The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran
| Title | The Temporary Bride: A Memoir of Love and Food in Iran |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-10-14 00:15:36 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
"A relationship was a mathematical formula: the correct variables of age, beauty, morality and finances were entered and the output was a successful, peaceful marriage. It couldn’t be, therefore, that their Iranian son could feel desire for someone six years his senior, someone who didn’t come to him pure and untouched. I was an amusing visitor from another world and soon enough I should return to it, fading quietly into an anecdote …"In her thirties, Jennifer Klinec abandons a corporate job to launch a cooking school from her London flat. Raised in Canada to Hungarian-Croatian parents, she has already travelled to countries most people are fearful of, in search of ancient recipes. Her quest leads her to Iran where, hair discreetly covered and eyes modest, she is introduced to a local woman who will teach her the secrets of the Persian kitchen.Vahid is suspicious of the strange foreigner who turns up in his mother’s kitchen; he is unused to seeing an independent woman. But a compelling attraction pulls them together and then pits them against harsh Iranian laws and customs. Getting under the skin of one of the most complex and fascinating nations on earth, The Temporary Bride is a soaring story of being loved, being fed, and the struggle to belong.
Review
yaaftan (n.): Persian word meaning to find something beautiful in a place where it is least expected or where you had to struggle.This was a darling little book! It touched on all of the subjects I enjoy reading about most: travel, food, Iran, and looooove. Sigh. I almost don’t want to write anything about it because Klinec unveils herself to readers page by page. You’ll eventually learn where she was born, which countries her parents emigrated from, and how she eventually finds herself globe trekking in search of herself, and the foods that represent family and home in different countries.What I will say is that she has a way with words and descriptions that can put you both in the kitchen or in an inner city walled garden. This girl can write! I was a nervous wreck throughout because I wasn’t sure if there would be a happy ending or not, and leave it to her to not quiet my anxiety until the last TWO pages! I will leave you with one exerpt–but just the one! "Iranian rice is unlike any other. It isn’t boiled or steamed or thrown unceremoniously into a rice cooker. Iranian rice is first soaked and bathed like a Hindu princess, rinsed in three changes of just-warm water. It goes into the pot with a spoonful of salt, carefully simmering just until it begins to yield, its determined character and bite remaining intact. Finally it is drained and returned to the pot in a footpool of melted butter, over the gentlest of heat, until it is so impossibly light and fluffy it could fill quilts and pillows of Buckingham Palace.""Tipped out into a wide, shallow serving bowl, each grain of rice is perfectly separate and served piled high like wedding confetti, adorned with streaks of bright yellow saffron and dotted with a final, loving pat of yet more butter. But the best part of all is still to come: the tahdig. A crisp, buttery golden crust of rice left to scorch on the bottom of the pan to just the right thickness, the tahdig is shattered into gem-like shards and scattered on top of the rice. It crunches and crackles and splinters in your mouth as you eat." Dang! And that’s just rice. See what I mean? Great read. Definitely up there with other foodie/travel favorites. Highly recommend!
