Two for One

I was so excited to see Joan Nathan's article about the Iranian Passover seders in the NYTimes this week. First, I love reading the recipes for Seders (as well as the High Holy Days in the fall) because I am fascinated by such an intact and strong albeit very diverse food culture (recognizing now, since reading Pollan and Kingsolver, that this might be because we don't have much of a traditional "American" food culture remaining). Secondly, and this is much more recent, I have such a better understanding of the history of the region and why there would be Jews in Persia beginning 2500 years ago. Besides, who could pass up Almond Cake with Cardamom and Pistachio? Encapsulating my thoughts on exploring other food cultures in an article on pomegranate molasses, John Willoughby writes "we’re going to exercise a little benign culinary imperialism, appropriating ingredients and adding them to our larder. No one gets hurt, and dinner becomes more interesting."