You’ll miss learning how to eat this for the very first time, patting yourself on the back for believing that you’ve just became so cultured.

 

Step #1: Strain the soup from the jug into the bowl

 

 

Step #2: Rip pita bread pieces and place them into soup

 

 

Step #3: Eat your creation with a spoon until it’s gone

 

Step #4: Mash up the lamb and bean with the pestle

 

 

Step #5: Pour lamb-bean paste into the soup bowl

 

 

Step #6: Dip pita bread into the paste. Eat until satisfied.

 

Still craving?

You’re going to crave Faloodeh, the 2400 year old and still sweet as ambrosia Persian Rose Water Ice.

 

You definitely won’t crave Iranian airplane food, which was almost as uninspired as what you’ll find on a United Airlines flight (at least Iran’s was complimentary!).

But you will crave Iran Airport’s cups of buttered “crack” corn, which was so nice we ordered it twice.

You’ll crave the thali-style presentation of Iranian’s take on platters and Western style pizza (but you won’t miss how it tasted; Iranians can’t do pizza like Italians or New Yorkers).

You will not only crave, but you’ll also salivate and dream about Shashlik: lamb marinated overnight in a high-acidity marinade vinegar and dry wine with the addition of herbs and spices. But all of those words seem like “bla bla bla” when you put one of these in your mouth.

Don’t be surprised if you’re still craving Shashlik so bad that you’ll suck on them like lollipops afterwards.

You’ll crave the slow-cooked, tender, falling-off-the-bone juicy slabs of camel meat.

You’ll crave this thick, tart duck stew made from pomegranate juice and ground walnuts called Fesenjan…and trust me it tasted better than it looked.

You’ll crave the granddaddy “holy moly” moment when you taste your first ever morsel of Khoresht-e-mast. You’ll also crave the following “WTF” moment when you find out that this sweet, delicious, saffron flavored dessert is made with not only yogurt, saffron, sugar and orange peels, but also finely ground pieces of lamb.

. . . Lamb?! But you won’t care too much because you’ll still eat it like a demigod’s version of Pinkberry.

You’ll crave the Esfahan “special meatballs” which has so much stuff in it, you won’t care what you’re putting in your mouth anymore.

You’ll crave washing down everything you just ate with the sweet kiss of rose water.

You’ll crave your first genuine kabab for which Iran is famous.

But I’m not sure if you’ll crave the fact that you’ll be having kabab almost every meal of the day, 3-4 times a day, 7 days a week, whether it’s kabab koobideh, kabab barg, kabab mkhsoos, joojeh kabab, kabab bakhtiari . . . but hey, this sounds like I’m whining about a first world problem so I’m just going to shut up.

Finally, you’ll crave your last night in Tehran, where a bunch of newly made friends feed you something so good you forget to ask what was in it in the first place.

Evan “The Interpreter” Jones just told me what I ate was Ash-e Reshteh: Persian spinach legume noodle soup. Sounds good to me.