Media Coverage & Interviews
My work on Persian cookery has been featured in interviews, articles, and broadcast media across national and international outlets. These appearances reflect sustained media interest in the historical and cultural dimensions of Persian foodways. Below is a selected list of media coverage and interviews.
Selected Major Media
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2026-04-01-- I will be featured on the award winning Comfortably Hungry Podcast with Sam Bilton, discussing the production, storage, and culinary applications of ice in ancient Persia.
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2025-12-31 -- One of my recipes was selected as one of Serious Eats editors' eight favorite recipes of 2025 from among the hundreds published by the platform this year.
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2025-08-01 -- Featured on The Food Program on BBC Radio 4 — the station’s flagship culinary broadcast— I joined award-winning journalist Dan Saladino for the “Food and the Elements” episode. Our discussion explored the essential souring agents of the Persian culinary landscape, including the history and production of ghareh-ghoroot, one of the world’s most intense flavor profiles.
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2025-03-22 -- Selected as the two foremost authorities worldwide on the
subject, Sahar Sodoudi and I joined BBC TV Persian program Pargar
—the station's flagship research-driven public affairs program—for an
hour-long episode exploring the historical foundations and modern
practice of Persian cuisine..
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2023-12-23 -- I was quoted in The Independent article, "Thousands Gather at Stonehenge for Winter Solstice," discussing the history of the pomegranate and its central role in the Iranians' celebration of the winter solstice.
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2022-01-19 -- I was interviewed and quoted extensively for the Atlas Obscura article, "Eating the Red Soil of Rainbow Island - The landscapes on Hormuz, Iran, are striking and Edible," providing expertise on the traditional flatbreads and fermented sauces native to the Iranian island of Hormuz.
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2021-12-06 --I was quoted in The New York Times article, "Welcoming Brighter Days on Yalda With Pomegranates", providing historical and culinary context on the traditions of the winter solstice across Persianate communities.
Additional Interviews & Mentions
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2026-02-17 -- I served as the guest speaker, discussing the historical, cultural, and practical aspects of Persian cookery, in the Global Gastronomy course at the Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management at Auburn University. I also provided several recipes for the students to prepare in their lab and answer related questions.
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2025-09-07 -- I was contacted by a Bijan Hassani, representing a group of scholars of Persian Culture in Melbourne, Australia. The group was interested in my knowledge of the history of Persian culinary manuscripts. I provided several documents including a detailed paper of mine titled “Over 3000 Years of Cookery Manuscripts Influencing Contemporary Persian Cuisine.”
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2025-08-28 -- I was interviewed by Allison Ross, a Tampa Bay Times reporter, interested in learning about my knowledge of Persian rice cooking techniques, in particular Persian Tahdig crispy rice, and the associated historical and cultural significance.
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2024-09-30 -- I was interviewed extensively by Yasmine Maggio, an assistant editor at Serious Eats, about orange blossom water. I was also commissioned to take photographs for the associated article that she was writing titled: Why I Always Keep This Sweet, Floral Ingredient in My Pantry.
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2024-09-06 -- I was interviwed by Mana Shamshiri, a UK-based food writer, interested in learning about my knowledge of Persian plant-based cooking practices.
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2024-08-24 -- The culinary magazine Saveur maintains a culinary glossary where 100-word descriptive, etymological, and historical information about terms and concepts across the global culinary landscape are collected and maintained. I contributed two new entries to the subject glossary related to Persian cuisine to Lessica Carbone, a contributing editor at the magazine who maintains the subject glossary.
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2024-02-19 -- I was interviewed by Parisa Hashmepour a UK-based freelance reporter about Persian food culture.
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2023-12-22 -- The editors of SeriousEats.com included me as one of their 10 favorite 2023 contributors.
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2023-12-08 -- The editors of SeriousEats.com selected my Tahdig (Persian Crunchy Rice) recipe as one of their seven favorite recipes of 2023 among hundreds they had published in 2023.
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2023-11-17I was approached by the public relations team of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Modesto, California, to provide them background information about the culinary uses of unripe green almonds in Persian culinary culture for a public relations article that they are preparing.
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2023-11-02 -- In their weekly end-of-the-week roundup article, editors of SeriousEats.com highlighted me with such kind words as “…Nader's work is...absolutely flawless." This is worth mentioning in our silly little mailbag round-ups because this is a wildly discerning team of editors…”
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2023-09-28 -- I was interviewed extensively by Catherine Cartier, a graduate student in the Global Journalism and Near Eastern Studies program at NYU, for a podcast about the history, prevalence, and habits associated with alcoholic beverages in Persian culture.
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2023-07-07 -- The Summer 2023 issue of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) Newsletter featured a sampling of my Persian food photography.
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2023-04-22 -- A detailed interview with me was featured on the Member Spotlight section of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) website.
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2021-12-30 -- Chef Hoss Zaré who is one of the executive chefs at Google responsible for all Persian and Middle eastern food items across all Google internal company employee restaurants, used my Persian Orange Blossom Jam in his latest creation.
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2021-12-15 -- I was approached by staff at Voice of America Persian Program to make myself available to them, as needed, as subject matter resource of topics related to Persian/Iranian food and gastronomy.
