How A Phone Call Led Ariana Bundy Back To Dubai | Arian Bundy (E168)

Chef JKP sits down with Ariana Bundy, chef, author, television presenter, and founder of Ariana's Persian Kitchen at Atlantis The Royal Dubai.

Ariana shares her journey through Iran, Switzerland, New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, and Dubai. From childhood food memories with her grandmother, to studying at Le Cordon Bleu, running pastry kitchens in Hollywood, writing cookbooks, filming across Iran, and opening a restaurant rooted in Persian heritage.

They talk about food memories, Persian cuisine, television, motherhood, health, hospitality, and the responsibility of preserving culture through food.

This is a conversation about identity, resilience, storytelling, and how food can carry memory across generations.

WHAT YOU WILL HEAR IN THIS EPISODE

• Ariana's childhood food memories and her grandmother's kitchen
• Growing up between Iran, Switzerland, New York, London, and Paris
• How Le Cordon Bleu made her feel like she finally belonged
• Running a pastry kitchen in Hollywood straight after cooking school
• Writing cookbooks and rebuilding recipes without gluten or dairy
• Filming her National Geographic series across Iran
• The story behind opening Ariana's Persian Kitchen in Dubai
• Persian tea, wellness, food memories, and advice for young chefs

CHAPTERS

00:00 Childhood Food Memories And Growing Up Between Countries
07:00 Studying Business While Dreaming Of A Creative Life
11:20 The IHOP Conversation That Changed Everything
13:20 Finding Her Place At Le Cordon Bleu
17:00 Running A Hollywood Pastry Kitchen In Her Twenties
24:00 Burnout, Food Intolerances And Writing Her First Cookbook
30:05 Why She Bet Everything On Persian Food And National Geographic
40:05 The Phone Call From Dubai That Changed Her Life
50:20 Building Ariana's Persian Kitchen At Atlantis The Royal
59:55 Persian Food, Saffron, Wellness And Ancient Food Wisdom
01:12:10 Why Persian Cuisine Deserves A Bigger Place On The Global Stage
01:27:00 Advice For Young Chefs, Entrepreneurship And Life Lessons

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

That's right. The podcast is now on YouTube. So you can watch all of the interviews at your leisure. At the same time, your contribution to the show by hitting that subscribe button makes a monumental difference to the show, as we can keep inviting the guests you love and keep having the conversations that no one else is having. The only thing that I ask is that you share the show. Welcome to the Chef JKP podcast with me, James Knight Pacheco. Culinary brothers and sisters, foodie disciples. This is the place where you will find your solace. A place of worship for all things that combine us together. The common thread that brings us around the table. Food and memories. Wherever you are in the world, whatever you're doing, I ask that you sit back and listen and perhaps take away a few morsels of advice. There will be laughter, we're gonna get serious. Above all, lessons for life. You're listening to the Chef JKP podcast, and this is what you can expect on today's show.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I was lost, and I remember I was in California visiting my uncle, and he said, Look, why don't you find the best school in the world and I'll pay for it. I was mixing my leftover pancake with more syrup and salt and pepper, and he's like, Now that pile you see in front of you, you gotta eat that too. I remember when I started, a chef looked at me and he said, Hmm, you need to clear up my office. The second day he made me kill cockroaches with a torch.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Can you tell me your funniest television incident?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

When we were filming in Iran, we were doing the guerrilla style filming. We didn't have permits. While we were filming, we saw these officers. They all lined up with their green outfits and they had machine guns and they were watching me cook with another woman.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

What was the dish you were cooking?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

It was a stuffed fish. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

I remember we're stuffing the fish, and I was like, Hello my friends, and a very warm welcome back to the Chef JKP podcast. Today we arrive at the season 12 finale and what a season it has been. Before we dive in, if you haven't already, please do not forget to hit that all-important subscribe button on YouTube or press follow wherever you get your podcasts, as it helps us to grow the show. We can keep on bringing you the most fascinating conversations with the most inspirational guests. That's all we will ever ask of you. First of all, a heartfelt thank you to our season 12 headline sponsor, Valrona, for supporting the show and helping us to bring these conversations to life. We had to bring you a super special guest for the final show of the season. Ariana Bundy is a celebrated chef, cookbook author, and television personality who has dedicated her career to sharing the beauty and richness of Persian cuisine in the world. Through her books and television work, she has helped introduce millions of people to the flavours, traditions, and stories behind Persian cooking. Today we're going to talk about heritage, culture, and the powerful way food connects us all. Listen up for a story about filming in front of soldiers. Time to rock and roll. Just before we begin, here is a small message from this week's guest.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

My name is Ariana Bundy. I'm the owner of Ariana's Persian Kitchen. If you like the podcast, make sure to follow, share, and subscribe.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Ariana, a very warm welcome to the show. Now, as is customary for every single guest, can you tell me your first or favorite childhood food memory, please?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

You know, that's the question that I ask everyone who I interview for the restaurant because it gives such a deep knowledge into, you know, and it connects us all, right? Um, so my first food memory was with my grandma in the kitchen, and she had put an apron around me. It was like with doilies and sunflowers on it. And she put a little stool on the on the floor in front of the stove and let me fry the onions. Oh. And the smell of onions, fried onions for me with a little bit of salt is one of my favorite foods.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

So I felt so independent and trusted. Um, but then I reached over to have some and I burnt my fingers. Oh. So you know, she was then blowing my fingers, you know, all night to Yeah, it was it was really interesting. That that memory was like quite strong and um nice in so many ways.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

How big is the family?

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Brothers, sisters, is yeah, I've got I've got a brother um and lots of cousins, but we are all in different parts of the world.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

But when you were growing up, if you let me let's say, when is the sort of traditional family day when everybody's together, and also what types of foods were on the table?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Um I guess when people think about me and my heritage, they think like this long table of people sitting around it, you know, breaking bread. And it wasn't like that, unfortunately, because of the revolution, the Iranian revolution happened, and we were all scattered around the world. So the book that I wrote was literally about my parents' memory about how they were all together around the table. And so, um, yeah, we moved to New York City, we were a nucleus of four. Um, then we moved again to London. So there were a lot of um, you know, different times during the year where we get together, but it wasn't me growing up around the big table, unfortunately. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

So so let me ask then roughly how old were you when you moved to New York?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

I was about five. Yeah, we moved to New York City, and um, yeah, it was a completely different world. I mean, I went, sorry, I went to boarding school before that in Switzerland. Sure. So that was very different to my culture, the food, you know, everything about it was very different. And then we moved to New York City when I was about seven or eight. Yeah, which was also exciting and new. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

So how long how long were you there for?

SPEAKER_01 6:58

In New York. We were there about four years. Oh, but it was like, you know, we, you know, our neighborhood restaurants were Mexican and Turkish and Japanese, and you know, it was, yeah, the Chinese grocer was around the corner. So we were like flooded with so many different types of foods, you know, and um it was exciting.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

And at that time, yeah, you know, so that's that's quite a good time to sort of understand whether you're into food or not.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

And it's very, you know, you're sort of exploring, yeah. Right. So if you sort of set your mind back then, what were the types of food that you tended to sort of gravitate? Gravitate towards? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Well, when when I lived in Switzerland, um, and I was in boarding school at a very young age, so my go-to place was the pâtisserie. Oh, you know, it's you know, I look at food as emotional comfort as well. So I would reach for the cakes and the and the chocolates and all of that. Um, and then in New York City, Japanese, you know, Japanese, Mexican. Yeah, Japanese and Mexican were our go-to foods. Um, yeah, and it was brilliant because it was so new.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

And were were you able to do much sort of cooking at home with your mum and and and your family, or not too much?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

At a young age, no. Um, my parents were quite young. My mother remarried to my stepfather, and they were partying, like they were going to Studio 54. That was a long time ago. Gives you gives away my age. Um, so we were, yeah, she would cook though every day. Right. But I was too young to cook. But I loved food, uh even at a young age. Um, and my father was a restaurateur, as you know, so I would visit him in Paris and he would take me to the market and show me like how to pick a melon and how to look for certain cheeses, and you know, and he would flambe crepes um at home. And and so my food was my food world was quite expansive.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

And and then, you know, so you had that beautiful time in New York. Yeah, different restaurants, Japanese food, Mexican, which is quite cool, I have to say, and then the move to London.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Oh gosh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

So, roughly how long, how long did you stay in sunny, lovely, rainy London for?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

That is funny you mentioned that because everything was so exciting in terms of food. Even I mean, even Switzerland, the fondue, and some of the most beautiful foods, though they would you, you know, there was ham also, which I didn't like, and it was just very different to my the food that I was brought up with.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Uh when we moved to London, it was dark and dreary, and the food back then was very different to what it is today, right? Sundays shops were closed, you wouldn't get ice in your drinks, and we came from New York City and we're like, what is this village, you know? Um and uh I remember thinking, you know, going to the tuck shop, getting Watsitz and you know, all of that stuff, crisps and prawn crisps, and it was yummy, but it wasn't, you know, different very different. Very different. Um later on, as we, you know, we were living in London, we started exploring Indonesian food and you know, different local, you know, Indian food. Like I wasn't exposed to Indian food in New York, so in London we started having Indian food as a family. So yeah, it was lovely. Yeah, it was really good. It got it got better.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

But I have to say, you know, it's quite uh uh, especially in in in those sort of uh younger years, quite adventurous, you know, going going from Iran, then Switzerland, New York, then London. So you had a really amazing sort of food education without knowing you were having an education.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Yeah, totally, totally. Because my mom also cooked every day. She made sure that we had, she never um served us canned or frozen food. It was always fresh. So our fridge was kind of empty.

SPEAKER_04 11:09

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Um, whereas I would go to my friend's house and their fridge was always full. And for me, I was like, what's wrong with us? You know, why is it because she would order and they would bring in the fresh vegetables. You know, the Chinese grocer would have all those fresh herbs and vegetables and all these things that she would cook with. So at home, not only did we have Persian food, but we also had she would make roast duck, you know, and duck pancake back then. Oh, and Mexican food and French, and and so we were exposed and we loved food. That's really beautiful. We just were obsessed with food as a family in general.

SPEAKER_03 11:47

How amazing at that that you had such a you know talented mum who was continuously wanting to push herself and making sure that you know her kids were fed the right way, yeah, not with tinned goods and this, that, and the other. But then if you think about you know your formal education, you finish high school, college, what were you sort of gravitating as in gravitating towards? Was it food or did you have a completely different field of study?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

That's a great question. I always loved food. And after London, we moved to Paris, and that's where they stayed and they lived for 30 years. So I was exposed to even more, you know, food. But I was I loved London and I I chose to live in London, go to university in London, um, though now I love Paris. But back then I was like, you know, people are so emotional, and you know, like the cab driver's so rude, you know. Like there was just stuff, you know, whereas in England everybody was civilized and polite. Um, so I got the experience of Paris. Um so when I moved to university, is that what your question was? What happened in university? Um I ate very badly. What did you study?

SPEAKER_04 13:08

What did you study?

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Okay, I studied business, international business um and marketing.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

And what pushed you towards those specific subjects?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Very good question. I wanted to be an artist and I got scholarships. Uh, my mom um is an artist, she's a designer, she's very, very creative. Right um, and I wanted to become an artist, but I kept thinking I don't want to be a starving artist. I wasn't sure of what that would entail, you know, coming from the revolution, losing everything. You you kind of think about doing something that's more valuable and and something that will, you know, help you in case something else might happen. Right? I'm not gonna paint my way out of a situation, right? So I decided to study business, and I thought that will give me a sort of an all-around, you know, education to handle myself, basically. So I studied business.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

How was it? Did you enjoy it?

SPEAKER_01 14:11

It was very hard. I went to European business school in London. Most of my classmates were German, and I would come in, literally, I had these rose-colored glasses. I would come into school and I was la la la and I was creative, and I was really trying hard to do the work. And I, you know, finally graduated and did it, but it was very challenging.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

So, in the meantime, obviously, you had term times. Uh, were you managing to to go and see the parents and popping across to Paris from from time to time?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yes, a lot of times I would, you know, go see my parents and they would come to London. Um, yeah, and we'd go on holidays. And it was always centered around nice hotels, good food. So even at a young age, I learned kind of like what is a hotel room supposed to be like? You know, I had an eye for detail, and um, I think those years really helped me with but that's also the the artist part of you. Maybe, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

That sort of sees things in detail. Yeah. But I I want to understand after the degree, when did you start to think and to take food quite seriously?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

I was lost, I could tell you for sure. I started doing fashion. My mom was a fashion designer at the time, and um I was helping her meet buyers and Paris, and you know, you know, she did fashion shows, and I just felt like it wasn't my world. It was beautiful, but it was just there was something about the fashion world that was just not me, you know, it wasn't real enough for me. Um, and I remember I was in California visiting my uncle in LA, and he had taken me to an IHOP somewhere, God knows where. And we were just sitting and I was like, you know, uncle, I really, and we call Uncle in Iranian, we call him Dai. I said, Look, I'm really lost. I really don't know what I want to do. I like living in LA, but I prefer Europe. But then, you know, he said, look, and while I was doing that, I was mixing my leftover pancake with more syrup and salt and pepper and just mashing it all together. And he said, Look, you love food, and your father was a restauranteur. I mean, he studied engineering, but his passion was food, so he went into food. He studied engineering, yeah, and he loved food, so he went back into went into food. He said, and your grandparents were landowners and they grew food. It's in your blood. Why don't you find the best school in the world and I'll pay for it? And I went, What? And I was like, Okay. And um, he's like, now that pile you see in front of you, you gotta eat that too. I was like, what? No, he's like, Yep. So I had to eat the salted you know, mash of great. Great housing, though. Great housing. Don't mess with your food. So yeah, so I researched and I found Coton Bleu. And I remember uh at the time they didn't have any space in the Paris location. So I registered myself in London, went back to London, and James, I remember the first day I was in class, and I said to myself, this is where I belong with all these crazy people who talk about chocolate moves for hours, and how this, you know, the structure of that croissant came out so beautifully, and finally I thought, I'm not crazy after all.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

So that must have been an incredible moment for you.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah, I never looked back.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

The time that you you you put the chef whites on, oh yeah, picked up a knife. Yeah. How was the first week?

SPEAKER_01 18:05

You know, we were all lost. We didn't really know what we were doing. So, and in fact, Otolange was my classmate. Oh, and he was running around like this, and I was running, and I told them when we did an event together in Balimalu with Sami Tamimi. I said, Do you remember we were like both lost in the kitchen? I specifically remember he was more lost than I was. Um, no, we were just both lost, and then the teachers were incredible. There were like French-trained teachers who had been cooking for 50 years who were teaching you those little tricks of how to do things that really literally takes you years to figure out. So, yeah, it was beautiful. And the discipline of clearing your space, your, you know, all of that. I loved being in cooking school. Loved it.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

So, how long were you at that school for?

SPEAKER_01 18:56

So I was there for nine months, and then I did a stage at Fauchon, and then another at Le Nôtre. Um, and it was drastically different to school, right? We were in our whites, we were proud. And then when I rem I remember when I started at Fauchon at 4 a.m. In Paris, right? In Paris. It was like a dungeon. You went down deep dark dungeon, and the chef looked at me and he said, hmm, you need to clear up my office. So he made me clean his office and wash his office out. And the second day he made me kill cockroaches with a chalumeau with a torch. So it was like this is very different to what I had expected, right? But it was it was interesting. I learned a lot. And they made sure that you always used both hands, you know, it was a real interesting place.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Well, I have to say, you know, the the the one thing, yeah. But I I agree with you. I think that the thing about college or any sort of cookery school, yeah, is that you really understand, okay, it's amazing and you're you're you're dressed in the proper way and and you're learning certain things, but then when you go into the real world, yeah, it's totally different. Completely different story, right? So that must have been quite eye-opening for you. And and how long did you stay, first of all, in Fauchon?

SPEAKER_01 20:21

I was there about three months, and then I decided to go somewhere else to actually learn because I felt like I was it was just being added to my resume, where I was just putting strawberries on the cake. They didn't trust me enough or the sages to do more than that. So then I decided that I'll go somewhere else and actually learn. So I found another place, uh, a small pâtisserie where they would, you know, bake every morning their croissant, and they made like 300 quichas every morning. And so I learned more. I learned a lot more, you know, than that I did at I mean, I learned different things, and I'm glad I made that switch.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

So from there, then there was another switch over to LA, the Mandrian.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

What happened there?

SPEAKER_01 21:11

So basically, my uncle made a deal. He said, Go to cooking school and then I will open you a pastry shop in LA. And back then there was nothing. Back then there were no real proper pastry shops in LA. There was a French gentleman by the name of I forget, he was on I even forgot the address, but it was French. It was French, proper French pâtisserie. But besides that, there was nothing else. So I was like, Yes, I would love to do it. So he said, you know, graduate, then do your stage. Why don't you work a little bit to get some work experience? And I was like, come on, Uncle, you told me that we're gonna open a pastry shop. I have enough experience. So he's like, No, no, no, go get some, you know, some experience. So I went to Mondrian and I applied for a job, and I got the job as an assistant pastry chef. And a week later, the pastry chef left and they put me as the head pastry chef.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Full in charge.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Full in charge of a very popular hotel, as you know, back then with all the you know vanity fair parties and the Oscars. And it was crazy. And the kitchen was tiny, literally the size of a closet. And the the oven was being shared with the with the main kitchen. With the main kitchen. So they were coming in and putting I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Food in the middle, meat in the middle. I was just like, but it was my space and I ran it.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

Wow. Yeah. Can I ask Ariana? Just sorry to um to interrupt, but can I ask you? Everybody finds their own way in life in terms of um culinary management.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Let's say, right? So if that was your first head chef's job, okay. Coming straight out of school. Exactly. Uh how many people were you in charge of, roughly?

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Uh it was about four or five people.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

And if you cast your mind back, and if I was to be a sort of fly on the wall, how was your management style?

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Um I was very supportive. Um I'm always kind, like that's one thing. Maybe too flexible, I could have said, because it was, you know.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

Right, it's the first first time.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

First job. And there were a lot of dramas in the kitchen, you know. There was like, you know, it was like, and I was not prepared. So we had a lot of um, we had a great team. Most of them were Mexicans. They came from certain areas, you know, where it was rough and tough, you know. So my girl would come with a bruised eye, and you know, there were things happening all the time. That person and the it was dram dramatic.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

And we still had to perform and we had to deliver. So it was exciting. And it got to the point where I started being flown out to different locations to train. Um, so San Francisco or New York, and it was just like a dream, you know. I remember distinctly flying to New York and looking out and thinking, wow, somebody actually paid my trip to go to New York. You know, that for me was really uh mind-boggling and eye-opening. So yeah, it was it was fun. It was exciting.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

And that stint, yeah, how long was it?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

It was about a year and a half. Okay. I was so burnt out at some point, at you know, at some point, that I would go into the the freezer, the walk-in freezer, and call my uncle and cry and say, just get me out of here. He's like, but you're doing great. You're getting promoted. Just work a little bit longer. I'm like, I've been here for a year and a half, you gotta get me out. I want to start my business. I love this, it's exciting, but I'm really burnt out. I was not expecting the level of work well, stress the hours. And the hours. I would go home at 2 a.m., you know, and I would go in my car, get into my garage, go up the elevator, get into my home, and vice versa. Every day. It was the same. That was life. That was life, and I would see everyone partying in Hollywood, coming out and doing this, and I was like, what's happening to me? Um, so it was exciting, but it was, yeah, I got burnt out.

SPEAKER_03 25:43

You know, but I have to say it it must have been a baptism of fire in a in a sort of professional kitchen in a respect. But how did that experience lead into the sort of media world?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Um, just to backtrack my management style in the kitchen, I distinctly remember because it was a very high-stressed environment, it was LA and we there were Hollywood celebrities and left, right, and pressure, pressure, pressure. I remember thinking I cannot be too tough in this kitchen as a woman because you have a lot of very tough guys, and you don't want to go head to head with with them, you know, you need to keep that femininity, you know, because I think women give a lot of what are they give a lot to a kitchen, you know, their emotional intelligence, their sensitivity, the fact that they're quite astute, eye for detail. Um, but back then it was a different environment in the kitchen. So I remember distinctly thinking, you gotta be careful, sure, you know, not to overstep, even though I was the head pastry chef.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

Of course, but I have to say, so traditionally in hotels, the way it works structure-wise and hierarchy, you'd have say a culinary director or executive chef, right? We did, and who's not really cooking but doing a little bit more sort of administrative real and that that sort of thing. Then you have the head chef in the kitchen and head pastry chef or executive pastry chef who are sort of the same level, yeah, you know, I would say. Um, but uh yeah, I agree. There's you know, it's it's it must have been quite challenging, especially as you said, at that time when you had such high amounts of pressure, yeah, and also small environment. Yeah, um, everybody's super drained, super tired.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

And pastry, as you know, is always the least profitable, right? First is the sommelier and the alcohol, and then it's the food, and pastry is the last proteins and all of that. So, but it was fantastic. I mean, I wouldn't take, you know, not do it if I had another opportunity. I would do it. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

So media came into play.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Media came into play.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

And how did they call you?

SPEAKER_01 28:11

So I one of my best friends is also in the food business. Her name is Anjum Anand. And um, she came to visit me in LA while I was working, and I gave her a stage in my little corner. Nice. And so while she was writing her cookbook, she was writing a cookbook and she wanted to also get some experience. And I saw her life and I saw how easy it was. She was doing something that she loved without the hustle and the bustle that I was going through. So the next time I was in London, I was staying with her actually, and her agent was coming around to see her. And I said, Ange, this is like really great how you're doing all of this. She said, Maybe you should meet my agent. So I was like, okay. So the agent and I spoke. She really liked me. I really liked her, and she took me on. And I thought, this is something that I could be doing while my uncle is gonna open the pastry shop, right?

SPEAKER_04 29:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Because I was so burnt out, I decided to literally take a pause. And my agent said, Listen, um what you're doing is great. Um, can you come up with a cookbook idea? I said, Look, I love Persian food. I would love to do a Persian cookbook.

SPEAKER_04 29:34

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

She said, Listen, the political environment is not great. Iran doesn't have such a great reputation. That was way back, but it's been like this for 48 years, anyways. So come up with another idea. The agent really, the publisher really likes you, just come up with another idea. So I was like, holy cow, how am I gonna think about another um book idea? But this is my passion. I was in London. Right. Yeah, at that time, then I went to London. Right. And um so I realized that I have some intolerances, and I was like, you know what? Let me just write a chapter outline on my intolerances. So I wrote a brilliant chapter, I can say it was really cool, it was done really well. Chapter outline on gluten, dairy, and soy free desserts.

SPEAKER_04 30:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

I wrote it overnight. She showed it to Conrad and Octopus, publishers in London, and they loved it. I was like, great, how am I gonna write this book? I've never done anything gluten-free or dairy-free. So I took out my, you know, all my recipes from Codon Bleu from when I was a chef, and I started experimenting. And it was the kind of motto that I always have is I can do this, and then I have to go figure out how to do it. I've always been that way. So I had to go figure out how to do it, and it was like a science experiment, you know, with that gluten, your cake is not gonna rise. Without dairy, you're you're you're not gonna get that caramelization. So I went to food expos. I started learning about different ingredients that are on the market. I like did a genoise that was gluten-free and dairy-free. I started doing the different mousses with the gelatins that I had learned with coconut milk. And this was 2005. Oh my god, 20 years ago. That's crazy. Anyways, um, so then I I wrote the book, and um that's how it happened. You know, the photographers came, the publishers came, they were taking pictures of my food, and the next thing you know, I have a cookbook.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

So how incredible.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

It was very cool.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

But do you know what? I mean, if you if you really think about it, how amazing that uh one minute you're in LA, the Mondrin, next thing, you know, you you offer your friend a stage, she's writing a book, yeah, and then and those steps all of a sudden, and you have a a cookbook from a massive publisher.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yeah, they were massive, really big. But I did tell them let's let's not do just pastry, let's do food. But they were very excited about pastry, so we ended up doing the pastry.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Um, but I think it was a little bit ahead of its time because now it's all about gluten dairy food, right? But back then it was it was the first book of its kind. So you have to open a lot of doors with your first concept and your first product or your first restaurant. So it was exciting. I felt like I really got the knack of the chemistry part of the food, finally, you know, without the eggs. What do you do without eggs? Flax meal, what do you do without dairy? You know, there was so much to learn, and you could see it was just the tip of the iceberg, you know, rice, sweet, mochi flour. I did a brownie back then that was very popular in Hawaii, you know, and you think, oh my God, so many different cultures already have dairy and gluten-free desserts that you can, you know, change. And then you can also take all the French pâtisseries that are things that you grew up with, madlens, financiers, all these things, and you can actually duplicate them in a way that people can enjoy, in a way that I could enjoy. I was gluten-free for many years until I healed my gut. So it was like fantastic for me as well.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

But how amazing that you had not only did you have the cord and blur experience and then you know, on-hands industry experience, you also had to almost relearn.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

I had to relearn good observation.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Because it's quite scientific and technical at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Yeah, and patissry, you know, measure weight, temperature, you had to kind of flip it on its head, recreate without those ingredients. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

After the book launch, many doors opened. But then, you know, you started to get into the world of TV. How did that pitch come about for you to have that television show?

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Okay, so before that, um, the same publisher finally got my Persian cookbook published. So when my book came out, I met my ex-husband. You know, we traveled for his job. I was able to do some marketing and PR around my book. So it gave me flexibility to think about getting married, to start a family. And then my book came out after my my son was born. So the same agent went and got it published, perfect, which was amazing. So that was also really interesting. Yeah. So it was really great going back to Iran, learning about the recipes, family recipes, or um, you know, people who've been in the family for 60 years, you know, cooking for us. I would talk to them and they would give me the recipes from way back. So that was really exciting. And then the TV show came about when I realized first I realized how obscure Persian food is. So working as a chef, ICE, and also in the cookbook world, I would see how revered all the other uh cuisines were. But Persian food was never talked about. And I was like, my God, we have the best food. Like, why isn't anybody talking about it? And also, we had obviously a lot of influence in the world cuisine. I did the Chinese, you know, the Persians. So I started really looking into it and discovering a lot through my book, learning a lot myself because I knew how to cook food, but I didn't know how to cook Persian food. I just knew the taste memory of it. So I started learning, kind of relearning how to make Persian food through my book. And then I wanted to also show the audience the different regions that I had visited for my cookbook. And I was like, oh my God, there's a rose festival every year here where people pick roses and then they make rose water out of it. It's visually stunning. The food is amazing. You go to the markets, and the markets are better than Harold's food hole. Like, literally, like all the plums and the seasonal produce were vibrant, beautiful, tasty. And so I wanted to actually showcase that. So my other agent at the time took me around to some pub, uh, some producers in London.

SPEAKER_04 36:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

And they were all very excited as well. They were like, we love it. Well, we don't want to go to Iran. It's scary. It's, you know, this, that. Can you do a pilot? And I was like, Yeah, I can do a pilot. So I did. I funded my own money and I did one episode. And I went back to them and they were like, This is beautiful, you know, but we're still scared of going to Iran. How does that, you know, with all the sanctions and everything that was going on? I was like, you know what, guys, I'm just gonna do it myself. You guys are taking too long. I'm just gonna fund it myself. I said, I'd done I've done the first episode and might as well do the rest. It took me two years because it was a passion project. I didn't do pre-production that well. I did it, I was like, it's pistachio season now. Let's do pistachios. Oh my god, it's pomegranate season in two months, you know, let's wait for the pomegranate season. So it was a very much a passion project. But I pretty much produced, directed, sat next to the editor. I learned so much about the TV world. And um, my agent, when it came out, my agent, when it was done, they showed it to National Geographic and they loved it. Nat Geo people, and then they picked it up. But if I knew how difficult it was, I wouldn't have done it. Because it was so challenging.

SPEAKER_03 38:11

I'd have to ask you, Ariana, in those two years, first of all, I need to ask how many were in your crew, your skeleton crew when you were filming.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

Yeah. There was the um, there was a runner, my producer, whom I love, but he was, you know, very old school. And back then it wasn't so much research on Google. You had to send somebody to the location to find out what the hotels are. And Iran, you know, it's different. It's a different world. It's like Twilight Zone. You go in, it's a different world.

SPEAKER_03 38:43

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Um, and so it was the cameraman, the sound, my makeup artist, and my assistant.

SPEAKER_03 38:50

That's it. That's it. So then you went in, obviously, you tried to get as much information as you can from as many people as possible and talked about the seasons and all of those sorts of things. So, how many episodes did you shoot in total?

SPEAKER_01 39:04

It was eight episodes, and um, some of them required permits, and I didn't get the permits. I just gorilla styled it. Yeah. I mean, we're like, what, a permit? They're gonna say no. They might say no, right? So I was like, no, we're not gonna take risk that. So we would go in, like, I remember the church in Isfahan, it's called um Vang, V A N K Vang. We we just filmed it. Yeah incognito. We did a lot of different things like that that we weren't supposed to.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

It's quite a risk. It's back.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Looking, yeah, it's a risk that was well worth taking.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Yeah, yeah. But I mean, it you know what's also beautiful now. I come to think about it, is that you manage to capture not only, you know, that incredible beauty of the country, but also you've managed to capture the history through those recipes which will live forever.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Yeah, you know, which is the idea of media, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:04

Absolutely, and filming is it's always gonna be there, which is really important.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

So you had all of these things going on. May I ask at which point was there, or number one, which point did you have a sort of an inkling or an idea that a restaurant may come along? At the same time, when did you get approached by the the team at Kirzner that they'd like to open a restaurant with you?

SPEAKER_01 40:39

So, as I said, I had my son, and we had moved here, and um I was working on another cookbook at the time, and I was thinking about, you know, obviously doing another show. But motherhood was really important for me, you know. I really and I was approached by people to do restaurants as well during my breastfeeding stage, and I just was like, I can't, you know, I just need to give my son that time to develop and have me. And I had the privilege of that, you know, a lot of people don't have that privilege.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

But the show was a hit, right? Yeah, the show was why people so many people wanted you.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Yeah, it would the show was a hit. It's a it's almost like having um five hours of advertising, you know, as as National Geographic was airing it every day. And then Farsi One, which is an Iranian channel, was also translating it. And and so I was sometimes watching myself eating and I was like hungry, and I was like, I just have crackers. I am watching myself eat this amazing kebab, and I'm like salivating. And I take big bites. I don't know if you've noticed. That will forever be on screen. I can never get away from that one.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

But do you know? But in a way, as you said, you're absolutely right. I mean, it's five hours of of of all you know of free advertising globally.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Because they bought it from me for peanuts, I must say that. I spent a lot of money on it and it was very little. But what do you get? Sure. Yeah. Sure. You get exposure.

SPEAKER_03 42:22

This season of the Chef JKP podcast is brought to you by Valrona, the French chocolate house that's been inspiring chefs and creators for over a century. Valrona isn't just chocolate, it's perfectly crafted from bean to coverture. Every flavour, aroma and texture is shaped with precision, passion and purpose. Whether you're baking, tasting, or simply indulging, Valrona's approach is simple. Extraordinary ingredients are treated with extraordinary care. Valrona elevates every experience. For more information, head over to Valrona.com forward slash Valrona, Middle East, Africa and India. Now back to the episode. So apart from being, you know, exposed to the media and and your your beautiful books, and then people are trying to grab you left, right, and centre. Let's open, let's open, let's open. Yeah. Obviously, motherhood was the most important thing, and and of course it still is. Still is. You know, and that by the way, by the way, that is uh I think the most hardcore full-time job ever. Oh yeah. You have kids? Yeah. So but I mean, I I have so much respect for m for for mums, you know, because uh I don't think everybody understands how hard it is to go from you know, having a super young child, mm-hmm, uh obviously being a mum and then going back into work and juggling The two.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:01

I think that is extremely challenging.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

It really is.

SPEAKER_03 44:04

And and I don't think many employers sort of understand how how difficult it is, you know.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

Um I mean, look, you've got men nowadays who are such such better dads than they used to be. Yeah, I agree. You know, they really are. They're different.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 44:21

But as a woman, you can't really divide you you guys can switch off. You go to work, you can switch off. But moms can't switch off. So that's the thing, and it's obviously biological and it's healthy. But yeah, thank you for that shout out. Yeah. No, no, but you can see yourself, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:39

100%. So uh but what so when did that sort of switch start to take over, let's say, for the restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 44:49

It's a funny story. Do you know about it?

SPEAKER_03 44:51

Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

Hmm, it's really interesting. Um, out of all the interesting things that have happened to me, this by far is the most interesting. It's like a movie. So my show was airing, um, and I get a call. Uh well, let me backtrack. My show was airing, we were living in Dubai, and we decided we're gonna move to San Francisco because I have a lot of family there. My son was young, I wanted to be in my village, you know. And um, we, you know, gave up our house, we sold our house, we put everything in containers to ship out. My ex-husband was here wrapping up the last things, and I was in Iran with my son, and I get a phone call, um, and someone says, Miss Ariana Bandi. And I was like, Yes. It's like, who is this? He's like, Protocol. And I'm like, Protocol? What have I done? I thought, what have I done in Iran? In Iran, but it was a Dubai number. Okay. Dubai protocol calling me. Right. And I was like, What have I done? He said, Um, his highness Sheikh Mohammed has been watching your shows with his family, and he would love to meet you at our iftar tomorrow. And I was like, What? And he's like, We would love to, you know, have you. Are you available? And I was like, Yes. Sitting in Iran, completely chill, thinking, that's it, we're moving to Frisco and everything is, you know, set. And now they're calling me to Dubai. And I said to my then husband, what do I do? He's like, Of course you have to come. And I was like, Okay. So literally I flew to Dubai. I was literally getting made up and dressed in the car as we were driving to meet his highness. Next thing I know, I'm put in front of this long red carpet, and he's standing at the end with his entourage, and I'm like, okay, so I go up, I'm like, Your Highness, such an honor to meet you. He's like, Oh, you are that great chef on TV. I love your food. And I said, I would love to cook for you. He goes, No, no, you must come to the palace. I have chefs, we will host you. I said, Wonderful. And uh, I remember that looking around, thinking, and it wasn't a very small lifter, it was like 800 people, you know. So I met him and he was a obviously lovely, sorry, lovely visionary, lovely man, you know, beyond words. And so then we left. Nothing happened, nobody invited us to the palace. We moved to San Francisco about two months later. Um, as my husband was doing work with uh Al Jorer and ICD, they called him through ICD to say we would like to offer your wife a restaurant in Atlantis do Royal. And I said, What? I couldn't believe it. I was like, we cannot. I mean, we just moved here. My son is in school, he loves it.

SPEAKER_03 47:52

Roughly what year was that?

SPEAKER_01 47:54

That was oh, good question. I'm very bad with years. But it was, oh, I'll tell you, no, it was 2016.

SPEAKER_04 48:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

Yeah, 2016. So I said, look, I can't, there's no way. And they're like, no, no, no, you must come. We'll do a pop-up, we'll invite you, we'll do a month-long pop-up, see how we can work together. And I said, I'm sorry, I'm only doing one lunch. And if you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. I said, okay, one lunch is fine. So they flew us to Dubai, set us up at Atlantis the Palm, beautiful suite. While my husband and my son were in the water park, I was in the kitchen working. I brought chefs from Iran. I brought having visions from the Mundrian and France and yeah, all of that came together back in my jacket, you know, and everyone, you know, I brought beautiful ingredients from Iran, feta cheese and rose water and pistachios and suitcases of stuff. And for a week, um, we just cooked for about, you know, we cooked like about 50 dishes. It was a lot. They were like, oh my God. So 15 people came and, you know, I just spoke about the food and described everything, and they loved it. And I was like, shucks, you know, I want to stay in San Francisco. I couldn't really understand, you know, as a mother, I want to, I had moved, my son was going to school. I had different priorities. Of course. And so this, and they were saying, This is your restaurant. How would you like to decorate it? What would you like to do?

SPEAKER_03 49:33

So they offered you the restaurant there and then?

SPEAKER_01 49:35

There and then. And I was kicking my ex-husband under the table, going, I was like, I would like this. They were like, okay. And I was like, Oh God, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_04 49:45

Ask for more, ask for more.

SPEAKER_01 49:46

Ask for more, you know, and and it went beautifully. And they took such beautiful care of us at the hotel. I mean, really the Arabic and Persian hospitality, really like Dubai hospitality. Um, and the team was amazing. And we went back and we talked about it. And uh the contract came and I tried my best. I said, you know what, ask for this. And my husband's like, What do you who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? You know, and I said, I don't care. Just ask for it because I want to stay here. It just, he said, listen, you know, we need to do this. This is a lifetime opportunity. This is your chance to showcase Iranian food the way you want to. From your books to the TV show. This is this is direct to guests experience. And imagine the platform you will have to represent your people who don't have a voice in cuisine and so many other areas. That's what motivated me to do it. And so we said, okay, let's move back to Dubai because it's going to open in a year and a half, two years, anyways. Let's just go back and settle. And we came back and it was a four-year delay. And so that kind of rocked our boat. And then I moved to Iran with my son uh to renovate a historic house that I had bought. And he learned Farsi, which was always on my bucket list. So it was a really interesting time. And and also he was growing up in Dubai and and Northern California, which was a little bubble in itself. And so he never really saw the realities of life. You know, the the maybe the buildings aren't so perfect, you know, the cars are not brand new, you know, not everything is running perfectly. Right. Um, and there's always things happening. So during our time in Iran, a lot of political things happened, which he saw firsthand. So it was really an interesting time. And I got to renovate my 300-year-old home, excavated it. It took four years. We, I mean, it was that was something else. That was magical. You know, taking the paint off the walls and seeing alfresco paintings from 200 years ago, finding a 30-meter well in the house, you know, just discovering the house. Everything was done by hand. You couldn't bring in machinery because it will crumble. So we had these artisans and ostads, as they call them, to do one was um doing, you know, the walls and plaster, one was just doing tiles. That was his specialty. One was, you know, uh just bringing the paintings to life. So it was a really interesting time. Um, and that's what the restaurant is about, is a duplicate of my home in Koshan, is bringing that alive in Dubai because people couldn't go. And that house was supposed to be a culinary retreat. So people like you, other colleagues, people in the media, other cookbook authors, you know, who I'd met all my life, you know, throughout all these events that I've been to, were always on the list to be the first to attend and come. And, you know, like a laboratory of where you would learn everything about Persian food, from the spices to the herbal and floral distillations to the ancient recipes, you know, all of that was going to be under one roof. And then, of course, other things happened in Iran, and I wasn't able to open it. So I thought, you know what? Maybe we should design the restaurant just like my home in Khashan. So you at least walk through the doors and you feel like you're in Iran. Um, and they went for it, which was great.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

So 2023 was the big, big, big opening.

SPEAKER_04 53:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

Obviously, you had that those beautiful four years. The restaurant was on the back burner, but then you had then a sort of specific set date for the opening. In the meantime, there was a lot of work, obviously, for development of the restaurant, development of the kitchen, development of the recipes, putting things in order, training people who didn't necessarily understand maybe the cuisine or or the culture of Iran. So all of those things are challenging, but at the same time, an opening has its own set of pressures, especially standards, and especially when you're operating in in such an iconic address, right?

SPEAKER_01 54:39

With with the pressure on them as well. Yeah. Right? It's not just them putting pressure on us, it's other people putting pressure on them and making sure that everything's up to standards, and yeah.

unknown 54:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:50

But look, I have to say, Ariana, and and from the bottom of my heart, that the restaurant is incredibly beautifully designed. Thank you. So when you walk in, it is very welcoming and it has all of these beautiful art pieces everywhere. And without anybody saying anything, the restaurant and the dining room tells a story in itself, which is really wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 55:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:14

But for you, when you were designing the menu, what were the key things that you wanted to showcase?

SPEAKER_01 55:22

Um I wanted home cooked food. I wanted someone to feel like they're coming into my home or a Persian person's home, um, and feel welcome and feel the generous sizes. Well, we're not some people argue that it's not generous, but you know, but it is, you know, it's you you leave happy and you leave content and full. Which is the most important thing, right? Yes. You don't want, you know, massive amounts of food, but it is it is a is it is a feast in my eyes. But anyways, um, so I wanted some of those iconic dishes, you know, like the kebab and the stews, and I wanted to keep the integrity of Persian food because I wanted people to learn about Persian food, what it is to be eating in a Persian home. Um, have some incredible ideas of fusing, you know, Mexican and Iranian and Japanese and Iranian and all of that. But I put that in the back burner to kind of give justice uh to our cuisine and our culture. So, you know, the different fur herbal and floral distillations that are there. It's, you know, as you said, every corner of that restaurant has a story. And that's what we wanted our guests to feel when they're there.

SPEAKER_03 56:36

The other thing that I I noticed heavily when when I'm tasting the food, yeah. What surprised me in a really wonderful way was the amount of umami in the food. You know, so you have all these sort of wonderful textures, tastes, um, aromas. But the other on the other hand, as well, is that everything, even the desserts, they have this really incredible sort of umami and very floral flavours, I have to say. Um, so to get that type of home cooking in a restaurant for me, I think is also incredibly challenging because you have to really hone that in with the chefs. Yeah. So, how was that for you in in order to translate your love, your passion, and that type of food memory into those professional chefs?

SPEAKER_01 57:30

Uh, it's funny you say this because my brother was at one of our Noruz events where we serve uh our fish and herb rice, and he's turned around and he said, How did you manage to cook our mom's recipe on such a large scale? You know, he's like, I'm eating mom's food here.

SPEAKER_04 57:51

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

And there were like 300 people there eating the same, you know. So he's like, How did you? I was like, it was hard, but that's what the goal was. I mean, the chefs who were there, a lot of I had a lot of Iranian chefs. Um, but remember, these are family recipes, and different families have slightly different variations. And they were chefs who worked with other Iran in other Iranian restaurants, and other Iranian restaurants sometimes do they do great food for sure, but they, you know, sometimes do things differently. Sure. So it was hard for me to say, you know, do it this way. And you know, it was kind of cute actually. Like they'd circle around me while I was cooking and they would say, Chef, um, this is not how we do it, you know, or this is not the way normally. I'm like, listen, this is my recipe, this is my mom's recipe, so this is the way we're gonna do it. But it was it was funny to see that, and it was a barter, you know, was just having having fun with it, but they understood that I'm not gonna over fry my herbs for the Hormisabi, for example. I'm gonna keep it fresh, you know, and and so it was hard for them to get their heads around it. I wanted really dark char grilled marks on my kebab. Nice, you know? Yes, I want that burnt look that usually Iranian restaurants don't have, you know, um, except for um Berenjak. Berenjak also has those crispy bits that and so a lot of people would come to the restaurant and say these are burnt. And you're like, nope, just have a taste. It's not burnt. But to try to train the chefs to think that way was was challenging, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 59:32

And did you also, apart from all of that that happened, yeah, there's also there are also quite, you know, iconic names in that hotel in terms of a gastronomic perspective.

SPEAKER_04 59:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

Did you ever feel the pressure yourself in terms of, you know, am I going to be able to stand up to the mark in the beginning?

SPEAKER_01 59:54

I don't think I had time to think about it. Uh and if I thought about it, I'd chicken out. Because we're talking Nobu Milos, you know, Heston. Uh, you know, it's like being, I don't know, a music producer and then suddenly you're playing with Mozart, you know, or being uh a director and suddenly you are vibing with, you know, Tarantino. You know, so it it was at that level. Um sometimes people say, oh, you know, you're you're you know, you're not, you're kind of putting yourself down by saying these things because you had your you know core audience, you were doing your thing, you had your cookbooks. And I was like, yeah, but I was not a restaurateur. I grew up watching my father in his restaurant. You know, I'm in the I've been in the food business for a long time. Um not physically, but uh around it, certainly. But around it, I grew up around it. I grew up watching my dad have his restaurant in Beverly Hills and in Iran as the first French fine dining restaurant. So uh, and he was very particular, bringing his chefs from Paris, his Metro D from Paris. He was very much into French food. And then when he moved to Beverly Hills, it was a place where all the celebrities came to. So I was familiar, you know, I was very familiar with it. But um, you know, just being on the same level, uh I'll tell you something. You know, Atlantis, they did a great job uh to keeping everyone separate, really creating a balance between, you know, if they had an Indian restaurant next to me, that would not be a good thing, right? Because we have similar, similar cooking methods. Yes. So they really thought through about what that hotel needed and didn't create that competition. This is what I felt. So I felt good about what I was doing, and I had the confidence of Persian food because I know Persian food is soul, it's heart, it's been around for thousands of years. So I knew I had something good.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:02

I think the other thing that uh also people tend to forget, Ariana, is that um and I'm a chef, so I'm so I will say it. Uh a lot of chefs will tend to sort of overstep the mark when it comes to presentation rather than focusing on taste. But with your food in particular, those flavours really beautifully punch you in the face, and so they're memorable, yeah, you know, and and because we're in this region, it is like a taste of home, but you know, highly elevated, you know. So so I think that's why I'm asking you that question because the food, again, it does stand up to the rest of what everybody else is doing, and in their own way, of course, yeah, you know, but what was really lovely for for me to see, um, ever since I was, I don't know, ever since I was a chef uh and I started, I was um I still am hooked in the Michelin game, you know. So I follow Michelin. For me, it's like and and what was really beautiful is that you got opening of the year.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

Yeah, after two months.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:13

After two months, after two months.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:14

How was that for you? Look, if you see my video, I go on stage like this. Oh, you know, I was like shocked. Because for me, Michelin too, when we were kids, we'd go to the Michelin restaurants in London or in the countryside. Um, and there was another one, gosh, what was the name? The booklet Rolin Chateau. These two for us were like the top, yeah, top, right? So for me to get that award with my team, we were all like unbelievable, like we were shocked. Um, yeah, massive congratulations.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:52

One of the best moments of my life, I could say really beautiful uh moment, and at the same time, the ruler, his highness, he also comes to the restaurants quite often.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:02

Yeah, I mean, without him, it wouldn't have been possible. And I thank him literally every day. And sometimes, and I'll tell you, sometimes when I would not be a little bit less confident about what I was doing, I would say his highness had confidence in me, and he he chose me absolutely to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:23

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:24

So then I should remember that it's okay, I I can handle it, I can manage it. And the team in Atlantis, you know, being there, supportive, you know, just you know, managing things as well, is it was beautiful, right? They they were so helpful in the whole process. So for me, that was priceless. Incredible. I couldn't have done it without the team, couldn't have done it without everybody.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:54

But then if we fast forward to now, yeah, you're you're about to launch a Persian tea range. Can you tell me all about that?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:03

I can tell you a little bit about it. Tell me a little bit about it. Can invite me again so I can tell you all about it. Um so I also noticed that we have a lot of teas, right, in the market. And people associate tea with Britain and India and Turkey, but nobody talks about Persian tea. We drink like 20 cups a day, literally 20 cups a day of Persian tea. We have tea plantations up in the north of Caspian, and I've visited it's gorgeous, these beautiful mountainous regions where people are clip, clip, clipping the La Hijan tea. Yeah, you see, we have rice plantations, we have orchards, we have olive groves.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:47

So it's an incredibly rich country when it comes to cuisine and everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:54

And so, um, yeah, so the the art of Persian tea, and we use the Of our to brew our tea, and I just wanted to create the storytelling around that and um and all the beautiful herbal concoctions that we make as well. Uh, it's an art and it's also a science, it's it's medicinal. As we do the hot and the cold, the Garamie and the Saudi, which no other country in the region does it, you know, except China.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:22

Can you explain to me a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

So that comes actually Ayurveda also has similarities, but our food is categorized uh into hot items and cold items.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:33

So hot items could be nuts or walnuts, and cool items could be dairy or cucumber. So every dish is balanced and seasonal. So mastochia, which is a cucumber and yogurt dish in our country, has a perfect balance of nuts and dairy and yogurt and herbs, and it makes it a perfect food. But it's only eaten in the summer because it's a cooling food. So we don't serve it in the sum in the winter. Same with Fesanjun, which is the pomegranate and walnut stew, that's rich and it's full of pomegranates and it's an autumn winter dish. You don't eat that in the summer because it's too hot and the heat. And you also have a hot constitution or a cold constitution. Right. So I have a hot constitution, and this um instinctively mothers know what their children's constitutions are as well. So everything is is eaten. For example, we never eat yogurt with fish ever, because it's too opposite, too, too, too similar, too cold together, and it will you know create this really like your blood pressure would fall. So we serve, for example, fish with pickled garlic. Pickled garlic is hot and it balances it out. So it's it's amazing, and it's um it's um our philosopher and um Dr. Avicenna ibn ibn Sina created this. There was a book he he wrote, Canon de Medicine, um, where he you know discussed all of this. And so we followed this theory in Iran and in Persian food. So in the restaurant, you may have these pickles, but the pickle these pickles are made to um cut through the fat of the lamb, for example, or the cordials are served to, for example, the mint cordial that we have, a rachnana, is actually if you have stomach upset or you've eaten something that's you know not to your body's liking, yeah. If you take a shot of that with some raw candy, you dissolve that into it, it's magic, it works. So there is a lot of philosophy behind the Persian culinary yeah, right? Yeah, it really is.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:54

Sounds amazing. Yeah, because you could almost write a book.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:58

You could almost I was thinking about doing that.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:00

And you should want to be around the book.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

And the region, and look regionally, we have all four corners of Iran. The top the northwest is towards Turkey, the Caspian, so it's lush and green, especially around the Caspian region. And their food is exactly what you should be eating in that region. Same with the south. They're eating all these spices and sometimes chilies that we don't eat for the in the rest of the country because that's what your body needs, and it's seasonal, so it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:32

Oh, I love it, you know, like because you could talk about it for hours. Yeah, but uh what I also love about it is the the medicinal part of it and that knowledge because I never thought about it, you know, until you just said it now. You know, mixing, as you said, you know, fish and yogurt, you would never do it because they're so similar in a way. And I love all of those things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:54

And it really makes a difference in your body, and as you age, your constitution also changes. So when you cook, you kind of take into consideration maybe you're pregnant, your constitution changes as well. So there are certain foods that you take. And also we have uh what are they called? Um it's a place where you go where they have all the herbs, herbal concoctions that you can buy. Right. And um, I know that's an Iranian person shouting now, going, it's there's a hakim, which is a doctor, and he tells you, you can tell him your ailment, and he will give you a tea or a mixture, or something that you can actually take and heal yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:41

This is brilliant. Yeah, this is so cool. So is that something that you might be looking to launch later on in the restaurant?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:48

Maybe later on with the health concept, but I think at first I want to just create a really high-end, beautiful line of teas where you actually you're not skimping on anything, you know? You got that saffron, you got tons of it. Yeah, you know, you've got the rose, you know, buds, you've got the beautiful tea, you've got bergamot oil from Calabria, you know, you get the best of the best, and you have a nice cup of tea, right? And it's it's it's also a ritual for yourself to actually have that tea and and enjoy it. And it transports you to Iran, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:11:26

But also, I was gonna ask you, Ariana, in terms of weather-wise, yeah, let's say, especially here in the summer, do you think, I mean, because because I have no clue, honestly, do you think that those teas or some of those teas or those flavors would they translate well if they were cold?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:44

Yeah, yeah, totally. So after the teas, I'm gonna develop a line of iced teas. As we serve in the restaurant, we have pomegranate and rose. Sorry, that's a that's a cocktail. We have a pomegranate and green tea iced tea, we have a rose iced tea with white tea, uh, we have an orange um with um sparkling orange drink with lots of saffron. So those are cooling drinks that you can have um and balance your body out.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:14

I love that. So then what I have to ask you is considering that you've been in the region for some time, obviously you know within your job and also within your travels the different types of dining scenes that are here. Now, two questions for you. First of all, uh, what are your thoughts on the dining scene within the Middle East? Question number one. Question number two is you quite rightly mentioned earlier on that there is everybody knows Spanish food, Japanese food, French, and those uh food groups you can either have traditional or you can have let's say molecular or modern, right? Do you think that there is a space for Iranian food to potentially become modern or given a let's say a fine dining twist?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:21

Oh yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:24

Because I think it's really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:26

Yeah. Plus, you know, you don't want to sit and sometimes you don't want to sit and eat a lot of food. Rice and meat and this. I mean, you can always cut out the rice and it's like a beautiful piece of protein.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:37

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:38

Which I feel is missing, you know, and and sometimes here. I just want to have a beautiful piece of meat, like a kebab, with a salad, and it's hot and it's good. Um, but I think, you know, the concept of smaller plates where people are able to eat more mazes, try on different things, smaller sized kebabs, you know, things that is much more modern, I think would work super well. Right. And coming back to what you were saying about Japanese and this and that, I think there's also the regional cuisines within each country that can be explored. Japan has so many regional dishes, you know, and home cooked dishes, you know, and ikazayas, and so many different things that people can taste within that Japanese, you know, the one that we're not used to. I mean, my uncle was married to a Japanese lady, and I I literally stayed with them in LA for a long time. I studied a little bit of hiragana, I, you know, everywhere. I mean, they lived in a Japanese area. So the dry cleaner was Japanese, the supermarket was Japanese, and she would cook Japanese food in clay pots, and you know, she would do some really interesting curries, you know, that were from Japan. And I remember even MasterChef was Japanese, wasn't it? Yes. The first. We used to watch that together. Um, they were really ahead of their times. So I think within Dubai, you could really explore the different varieties of with of that particular cuisine.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:18

100%. But but then when it comes to to your thoughts of the dining scene in the region, how how has it changed?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:30

There's certainly a lot of restaurants, that's for sure. Um it's become much better. You know, we're very known in Dubai for our restaurants, right? For our dining scene. You get everything that you ask for. Even delivery, that's just astounding how much you can. I was in LA, I was trying to order food, and two hours later I was still waiting for my food. You know, if we don't have the variety, the access, the convenience here, um elsewhere.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:05

Yeah, because it must be, and yeah, I agree with you actually. Um I was back in London recently and I was trying to do the exact same thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:11

And I did it in Paris as well. I or I was like, I want Vietnam, I crave, you know, as a Dubaian, you know, or we are Dubaians at the end of I crave Vietnamese food, and I'm like, Paris should have good Vietnamese. And it this guy came with a plastic bag with a soup, like uh, you know, a faux in a plastic bag with this like styro styrofoam. I mean, it was just it was so basic, and I was like, oh my god, I can't wait to go back to Dubai, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:16:40

Yeah. No, but it's really interesting, and that's the thing, right? Is it for you um and something so basic as a pho? Yeah. But here in this region, certainly, it seems like everybody goes into the details, not just with the food when it comes to delivery, but the packaging, how it should be wrapped, how it should be. The branding.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:58

They're impeccable.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:59

You know, another level, yeah, which which I think is incredible.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:02

Um, but look, the we've now come to the quick fire questions. Okay. So I'll let you settle some water. Of course, of course. So just to premise this, the the most difficult question that I will ask is this one, which everybody struggles with. Okay. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:24

So it's good to know.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:26

No pressure. What's your favorite ingredient?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:31

Um Saffron.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:34

Saffron. Beautiful. Spicy or pickled? Uh what do you prefer out of the two?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:41

Pickled.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:42

Pickled.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:43

Yeah. I uh spicy I love once in a while, but it messes up your palate.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:47

Okay. Um, molasses or pistachio?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:51

Pistachio. Persian pistachio.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:54

Uh pheasan or kubide?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:57

Oh no, you can't. You cannot. Okay, I'll have a kubide with a pheasan sauce.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:03

Oh my lord, okay, very good. Um, as of this moment, right now, what would you say are your top three favorite cuisines to eat?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:14

Um, well, Japanese, um Iranian, I must say, right? Of course. Okay. I love Thai as well. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:31

So spice is in there.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:32

No, no, I always ask for zero spice so they put a little bit of spice. You know, I'm like one of those people. But just I love the the textures and the crunch and the freshness, you know, that they they put together.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:44

But the complexity the complexities of Thai food is also incredible. Yeah. Same as kind of Japanese, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:18:50

Like it's uh Sri Lankan food too. Sri Lankan food is good. Yeah. There's some places in London that I I look on Instagram and I'm like, I gotta go and eat there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:59

Yeah, now another toughie. Who would you say are your top three food heroes? But they don't necessarily need to be chefs.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:12

Okay. Well, um, I think grandma, my grandma, for sure. She didn't cook a lot. She had a lot of you know, people cooking in the house and stuff. But when the revolution happened and we moved, and she was like literally she was moving from LA to Vienna to Paris to visit all her children. And I remember she had the mind of a chef, you know, she knew about texture and how to put something together out of nothing. She could. You know, if we didn't have something and we had to go and buy it, she knew what to replace it with. She was so astute. Wow. And she knew very she knew about good quality food.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:01

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:01

You know, good quality ingredients. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:04

Even back then.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:06

Especially back then. I think back then is when people knew about good quality of food. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely because that's what you had. And then when quality kind of went down, people would notice that it went down. Those people would notice that it went down. And now that it's kind of down, you know, if you go to a conventional supermarket, it's horrendous, right? So now people don't can't really tell, right? Yeah. But we're talking not just visually, but we're talking where the source, where it comes from, how it got here, what methods were used in your meat and your what oils you're using. I mean, are we gonna touch upon the healthy part? Because that really excited. No, please. No, you tell me when you want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:52

That's the other thing is that I I wanted to pick your brain on the healthy part because it's it's very important to understand all of these things. So when when did your journey start specifically about all of anything to do with health within your cooking?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:11

I think we were fed really good quality food as children. So that's what our palate got used to it. So my mom was a stickler to really healthy, clean food. Almost to the point where I remember I went to the supermarket and I bought Captain Crunch cereal with my aunt. She bought it. I was so excited, I was shaking because we were not allowed to eat things like that. So we brought it home, and my mom was like, Where is this from? You shouldn't have bought it for her. You're gonna have to go back to the supermarket and return it. So the shame of having to go back and not really be able to eat that stuff. That was how strict she was with food, and that's how I am with my son. And he orders McDonald's on the side and finding bags of it in his drawer. Like, what are you doing? So the saga continues. But um, yeah, so seedless oil we use in a restaurant. We only use organic Greek olive oil, the beautiful kind, French creamery butter, and organic rice bran oil from Japan. We just empty those cartons, the 30 of them a night, and that's what we fry in. We use Himalayan salt and everything, um, except for the finishing salt. Sure. Um, we sprout our nuts so that they're easily digestible. We soak our rice so the arsenic level goes down. I just found out when you marinate beef, the uh level of um carcinogens comes down by 60, 70%. So these are like ancient wisdoms that we grew up with in Iran, and now it's kind of making sense. Oh, that's why they soak the rice, and that's why they marinated the meat, you know? So in the restaurant, we only use 100% natural, zero junk. We ferment the bread for 48 hours. So it's really important that when you when you come out of there, you're gonna be stuffed, but you're not gonna feel be shaking, you know. You're and you're gonna feel good about eating there because you're like, I'm not eating seed oils. And I'm sorry I'm have to say this. A lot of people need to get rid of their seed oils. Yeah, it's profitable, yes, but we're also making money. How are we making money? We're using a kilo and a half of saffron a month. We're using great ingredients, but we're still, you know, doing well.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:31

So I think it's something that we all should think. Would my child eat this food? Would I want to eat this food every day? So if you have that mentality, you will think a little bit more about the the ingredients that you're using.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:44

100%. And the the the funny thing is, is that if you think about it and you go back within history 40, 50, 60 years, the intolerances that were around, they were not around. They were not present. And it's only recently through GMOs and how everything has been farmed, that us humans and our guts, as you said before, they're just not taking it. And at the same time, unfortunately, the stories of the growers and the farmers is being lost and not translated. Yeah, you know, because us chefs, we love to tell stories, yeah, and they are part of that heritage, yeah. You know, so it's really key. And of course, the health benefits, you didn't think about it again back then, but everything you've just mentioned now makes absolute sense. Yeah right, so it's it's it's a real shame that we're losing those things, but it's great to know that your restaurant is doing this because the diners must feel of, as you said, stuffed in a nice way, yeah, full.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:48

Yeah, but they feel good. They feel good, they don't toss and turn at night, you know, and energetically, I'm very much into you know, energy, vibration, you know, all of that. And the food, the way it's made, the way it's put together, the way it's served, is really important how you feel, right? And saffron is an upper, it makes you happy, it makes you giddy. Sometimes they say in Iran, don't have too much saffron because you'll die of happiness, you know, and that's what happens too is people are getting very happy because of the saffron.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:24

I was gonna ask you, Ariana, also talking about energies, not just within food, but when you walk into your restaurant, there is a particular energy about that. So when you designed it, was that something that you wanted the guests to feel?

SPEAKER_01 1:25:39

Yes, and the team that I had, uh wonderful team, uh, D. Walt and Nadine, who did the uh do the Tasha's restaurants? Um, I took them to Iran, to Khashan, and I showed them all the things that I wanted in the restaurant. I said, these are the the domes, and we brought my architect from Iran to do the domes, to design the domes on on CAD. So, you know, those particular designs are very historic. And for example, the mirrored glass in the private dining is um, sorry, not mirrored, the colored glass and the windows are made a certain way to give you calmness. Um, some of the buildings in Iran, the yellow is to ward off mosquitoes, blue is like to calm you down. I don't know exactly which color is for what, but it's actually there's thought going through it. Right. The domes are made a certain way that it gathers the energy, you know, towards the ceiling. You know, there's a lot of uh things that they used to do in the ancient times because biogeometry was really important, you know, within the spaces that you were in in, living, eating, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:57

Love that. Because you do feel that, I have to say, you do feel.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:00

Yeah, it resonates. And the people who come and work there, they get asked the same question. What's your first food memory? And that gives me a lot of insight. And then I tie it for them and I say, people who come to the restaurant, that's what they're looking for, another food memory. Or they may have a food memory from when they were a child. Right. And they want to re-experience that. And we are there to deliver that for them and make them happy. And so they understand the guests, they understand each other, you know, through food. I know it sounds a bit silly, but that's my main question. And I know every single person who works there what their first food memory is. Whether he's, you know, used to go fishing in Africa with his dad, or he's from Nepal, and the first donut he ate when he went to the city and it was filled with cream. And he said, What is this, you know, amazing thing? And I want to be a pastry chef. You know, every single story of them I know. And you look at people's Differently, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:01

What's your first food memory?

SPEAKER_03 1:28:02

My first food memory was I think when I was super, super tiny, and uh my dad, he uh I was in the bath actually playing with some bubbles as you do as a little kid, and he burst into the bathroom and he had a huge sea bass over his shoulder.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:20

No, and it was like, Hey, look at this.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:23

He was he was like super excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:26

And well, he had gone fishing.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:27

Yeah, it was live, it was alive, carried it, uh, and the tail was huge, and it went all the way down to his back, and it was and then he he was like, Yeah, so then we're gonna have this and grilled.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:39

So that was one of the boom, and surprise, surprise, what do I love to cook the most in life? Fish, because it's the most technical rather than meat.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:48

Because meat, you know, you can hold at a temperature, yeah, but with fish, it's very technical, very and the way you you fill it and all of that, all of those things, and respect it.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:58

Respect it. So sorry, we've digressed. Nice. Um, so first food hero is your grandmother. Who would you say are two and three, the other two and three?

SPEAKER_01 1:29:07

I mean, look, there is Marco Pierre White over there, there's Alain Ducasse, there is Guy Savoie, there is Pierre Hermet, there are so many, right? Um maybe Aunt Sophie Peak is another one as a female chef.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:21

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:22

Yeah, she's humble, and you meet her, and the food actually is bursts in your mouth, right? It's imaginative, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:31

Um that's a good list, Ariane.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:36

Maybe farmer, a farmer of some sort that I would have to dig up and think about who that could be, who respects the soil and the where food comes from and is doing things differently to other farmers, you know, going against the grain and making things happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:55

So from all of your experience within hospitality, as you said earlier, there's always drama in the kitchen and in restaurants. Even on set. Yeah. Can you tell me either your funniest kitchen, restaurant, or perhaps television incident that you've seen or been involved in?

SPEAKER_01 1:30:22

So, restaurants, there are lots, but the one that I'm urged to tell you is when we were filming in Iran, in fact, it was in the Caspian region, it was lush and green, and we were doing the guerrilla-style filming. We didn't have permits. And so while we were filming, we saw these officers come our way asking the producer, where are your paper? Da-da-da. And we didn't have any. So, and we had that day to shoot, we couldn't shoot any other day. And so I remember they all lined up with their green outfits, you know, very domineering and very scary looking. And they were watching me cook with another woman, and they were all like staring, and they had machine guns as well. Sorry, I forgot to mention that part. And I was there and I had to pretend that everything was fine. Because they said, fine, just wrap it up, finish it and wrap it up and just go. So I had to finish, but I had to have a smile on my face. I had to pretend, and we had to finish in one take. Um, and so that was for me, yeah, one of those moments that I really remember.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:33

What was the dish you were creating?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:35

It was a stuffed fish. I remember we're stuffing the fish, and I was like, oh. And at the same time, I was like, Yes, this is so wonderful. And at the same time, these guys were looking at me, and yeah, it was it was an interesting moment. I'll never forget that. Did they taste the fish? No, they were not the kind of people who want to share food.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:57

Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Now, what advice would you give to young chefs just starting out?

SPEAKER_01 1:32:08

Female or otherwise? Either. You get so excited about being part of the team, making it happen at the end of the night. You go to bed, you're shaking from the excitement, and it just it just always it just goes on and on and on. So you gotta plan and be more strategic and see when do you want to have a family? Do you want to have a family or not? Where is that window of opportunity? You know, I think I would have thought things through a bit more, um and also have a muse or a mentor, and that will really help a lot, you know, and learn about other chefs' stories because their experiences could help you not to make those same mistakes. And of course, you're gonna hit your head, you're gonna have those problems, you're gonna learn the hard way, which is great, it builds character, but go in with wide eyes, and I'm an entrepreneur at heart. You know, I always like to look at opportunities and see what I can create out of a certain situation, you know? And I think sometimes you stay too long in the kitchen and you get burnt out and you fizzle out. So you have to plan it. You have to say, This is what my plan is. A, I want to have a restaurant, or I want to become the head chef, or I want to become, you know, go into F and B. Whatever it is, you need to plan it out before you go. Because once you get in, it's hard. Yeah?

SPEAKER_03 1:33:58

It hooks you in.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:58

It hooks you in.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:00

What advice would you give to a 16-year-old Ariana Bundy?

SPEAKER_01 1:34:07

Oh my gosh. Love yourself more, have more boundaries. Um gravitate towards people who who light you up, you know, who who light your fire and make you feel good. I think that that's what I would say. It's you know, at this age, I'm kind of learning now about boundaries and about things, and I wasn't taught it. So I'm learning now where I wish I'd known before. My life would have been different. It is what it is. I've had an amazing life. But I think loving yourself and tending to yourself first is the most important thing because then you can tend to others.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:02

I think that's incredible advice, Ariana. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:06

And eat good food. Eat as much good food as you can.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:09

Exactly. Now, if anybody wanted to get hold of you through social media, how can they do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:35:18

Um well, they can go on my social media platform and send me a message. Okay, done.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:24

So, what I will do is I will put all of those links into the show notes so people can start to follow and then DM you and all of those sorts of things.

SPEAKER_01 1:35:32

Sometimes DMs are a little bit few and far between in terms of response, but yeah, absolutely. Especially if they need mentoring. That I think is I'd be up for that. Because I really like to mentor. I have a few uh girls in Iran who are in the food business and they talk to me a lot because you know it's it's hard. Not only is it hard to be a woman in this industry, but also be a woman in this region in this industry, and then Iran, which is a whole different ball game. So I talk to them and I give them advice and stuff, and it's really fulfilling. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:11

Beautiful. I'll put all of that in the show moves. Uh Ariana, on behalf of the Chef JKP podcast, I want to say thank you so much for taking the time, first of all, to be here. Um, you have been a shining light in this beautiful region and country of Iran and Persia, and everything that you've written about, spoken about, and people can actually taste that beautiful region, and it's just phenomenal what you're doing. So thank you so so much. Do not stop writing the books either, because I think there's a few more.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:52

Yes, and I want to film more, hopefully, if when Iran is better able to handle you know, tourism and things will open up and change. I'll be able to host you there. I'll be able to, you know. I mean, it's such a beautiful country. Um yeah, it's only 20 minutes by boat, so yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:12

Well, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:14

Thank you for having me. Pleasure.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:21

What a way to close the season. Arianna, thank you so much for that wonderful conversation, incredibly insightful, and just your wisdom was amazing. Something that we can all truly think about. Breaking bread is the best way to share your culture with the world. And I have to say, Ariana has truly done this with all of the work that she has done and continues to do in the region and beyond. If you want to see more of what she's doing, head over to the show notes. Well, folks, another season over. Thank you to all of our guests who have made the season so special and to everyone who has been a part of the show. Thank you for listening, thank you for watching. Please, as I always say, make sure to share the show as it's super important. I have to say also a massive thank you to the entire crew at Podster for working so hard behind the scenes and giving you the most phenomenal content. At the same time, just don't forget to give us five stars on all podcast platforms, as well as picking up your bottle, your beautiful thermos bottles, purchase them, and you can get all of these amazing things again in our show notes. It's been an incredibly phenomenal season. Thank you once again for sticking around and being part of this amazing movement, and honestly, it's an absolute honor to bring this to you every week. And I really hope that you've enjoyed the show. Well, I'm gonna get a bit emotional here saying goodbye to you, gang. Season 12 is over. Until next time. Food is memories.