How to Discuss Breakfast

Leyla: Hello and welcome to Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!

Matt: As you know, we’re in Unit 5 of the program, and we're calling this our power series. We’re learning grammar and vocabulary that will help you to communicate like a pro!

Leyla: And the is the third episode in our “Kitchen Persian” series, and in this lesson, we’re going to literally take you into the kitchen and talk about one of my favorite topics, and that is breakfast! Breakfast is a very important part of any Iranian’s day and a very consistent one at that. It’s not as heavy as, say, an American breakfast, but it’s a great time for family to come together and have a light, delicious meal and chāi, of course, before everyone separates and goes about their day. So we're going to get right on with the program. Are you ready to begin, Matt?

Matt: Ready!

Leyla: Great, then let’s begin to learn Persian with Chai and Conversation!

So first of all, the word for ‘breakfast’ in the Persian language is “sobhāné."

Matt: sobhāné.

Leyla: And Matt, do you recognize one of the words in there, the word “sobh”? Remember what that means?

Matt: ‘Morning’.

Leyla: Exactly, so “sobh,” ‘morning’; “sobhāné,” ‘breakfast’! So in this lesson, we’re actually going to begin with a conversation and go over the words we learn in the conversation afterwards. So I'm going to start.

sobhāné khordee?

Matt: na hanooz.

Leyla: chāi bezāram dorost beshé?

Matt: bāshé. khordanee chee dāreem?

Leyla: noon ō paneer, meslé hameeshé.

Matt: ālee-yé.

Leyla: Okay, great, so let's go over this conversation line by line! So first, “sobhāné khordee?”

Matt: sobhāné khordee?

Leyla: And this simply means ‘have you eaten breakfast?', and Matt replied, “na hanooz.”

Matt: na hanooz.

Leyla: And that “hanooz” is the word for ‘still’ or ‘yet’, so ‘not yet’, ‘not…’, ‘I still haven’t'. na hanooz.

Matt: na hanooz.

Leyla: So ‘have you eaten breakfast? No, I haven't yet.’ So then I asked, “chāi bezāram dorost beshé?”

Matt: chāi bezāram dorost beshé?

Leyla: And Matt replied, “bāshé.” 

Matt: bāshé.

Leyla: "khordanee chee dāreem?"

Matt: khordanee chee dāreem?

Leyla: So we know the word “khordan.” It means ‘to eat’. “khordanee” means ‘things to eat’, so ‘what do we have to eat?’. khordanee chee dāreem?

Matt: khordanee chee dāreem?

Leyla: And the answer was “noon ō paneer, meslé hameeshé.” The word “hameeshé” means ‘always’.

Matt: hameeshé.

Leyla: So “meslé hameeshé” means ‘like always’. meslé hameeshé.

Matt: meslé hameeshé.

Leyla: And “noon ō paneer" is the most popular Persian breakfast! “noon” is the word for ‘bread’, and “paneer” is ‘cheese’ or ‘feta cheese’. noon ō paneer.

Matt: noon ō paneer.

Leyla: So the whole sentence together means ‘bread and cheese, like always.’ noon ō paneer, meslé hameeshé.

Matt: noon ō paneer, meslé hameeshé.

Leyla: Great! And so, “chāi bezāram dorost beshé?” “bezāram” is the present conjugation of ‘to put’, “gozāshtan,” so ‘should I put chāi to get ready?’ chāi bezāram dorost beshé?

Matt: chāi bezāram dorost beshé?

Leyla: So now that we've covered this dialogue, let's go over the most common Persian breakfast foods. So like I said, the most common breakfast food is “noon ō paneer."

Matt: noon ō paneer.

Leyla: Of course, you don't always have to have paneer, or feta cheese. Sometimes, you just have butter: “noon ō karé!"

Matt: noon ō karé.

Leyla: And “karé" is the word for ‘butter’. There are a few different breads that are really important in the Persian culture, and they're often there at breakfast time. One is “noon lavāsh.”

Matt: noon lavāsh.

Leyla: And “lavāsh" is a very thin bread, and you'll see it a lot on Persian tables. noon lavāsh.

Matt: noon lavāsh.

Leyla: We also have a type of bread called “noon barbaree.”

Matt: noon barbaree.

Leyla: This is a thicker-type bread, and it's kind of like our French baguette. People will line up in the morning to pick up their noon barbaree and take it home and have it for breakfast, so noon barbaree.

Matt: noon barbaree.

Leyla: And finally, the other most popular bread is “noon sangak.”

Matt: noon sangak.

Leyla: This is another item that Iranians line up and get fresh in the morning, and “sangak,” “sang” means ‘stone’, and this bread is made on top of stones, so it has a very interesting texture. noon sangak.

Matt: noon sangak.

Leyla: So again, these three popular breads are noon lavāsh…

Matt: noon lavāsh.

Leyla: noon barbaree.

Matt: noon barbaree.

Leyla: And noon sangak!

Matt: noon sangak.

Leyla: So the equivalent of oatmeal in the Persian culture is something that we call “haleem.”

Matt: haleem.

Leyla: haleem is made of wheat and different kinds of meat, and it is accompanied with sugar, "shekar."

Matt: shekar.

Leyla: Or cinnamon, “dārcheen.”

Matt: dārcheen.

Leyla: So again, that's haleem.

Matt: haleem.

Leyla: Very popular, very delicious breakfast item! The word for ‘eggs' is “tokhmé morgh.”

Matt: tokhmé morgh.

Leyla: Another very popular thing on the Persian breakfast table, again, tokhmé morgh.

Matt: tokhmé morgh.

Leyla: So another very special breakfast item that's only eaten very rarely is "kalé pāché."

Matt: kalé pāché.

Leyla: So “kalé” is another word for a ‘head’. kalé pāché is an entire head that is roasted all night and eaten in the morning. kalé pāché.

Matt: kalé pāché.

Leyla: And it includes tongue and brains and cheeks and all that sort of stuff, and it's a very popular breakfast for Iranians. Another popular breakfast item is “sheer berenj.”

Matt: sheer berenj.

Leyla: And this is a type of sticky rice that Iranians make. Now, let's go back to noon ō paneer. So, usually, on a spread of breakfast, you'll see bread with feta cheese and a few different types of accompaniments. Those accompaniments could be “asal,” which means ‘honey’. asal.

Matt: asal.

Leyla: Or jam, which is "morabā."

Matt: morabā.

Leyla: There's often also greens, which we've learned, of course, is “sabzee.”

Matt: sabzee.

Leyla: Or walnuts, which is “khormā.”

Matt: khormā.

Leyla: So these, of course, are by no means the only breakfast foods Iranians eat but definitely the most common. Generally, like we said, Iranians like to have a nice spread of different things, but as we've said before, they will always have a type of bread and always have a type of paneer. Now, let’s learn the drinks most commonly served at breakfast. One is “āb bā leemoo.”

Matt: āb bā leemoo.

Leyla: This is a popular way to start off the morning, by having warm water with lemon in it! āb bā leemoo.

Matt: āb bā leemoo.

Leyla: Another breakfast drink is milk or “sheer.”

Matt: sheer.

Leyla: The word for ‘orange juice’ is “āb portoghāl.”

Matt: āb portoghāl.

Leyla: And then ‘coffee’, “ghahvé.”

Matt: ghahvé.

Leyla: Of course, there could be coffee with cream, “ghahvé bā kerem.”

Matt: ghahvé bā kerem.

Leyla: Or coffee with sugar, “ghahvé bā shekar.”

Matt: ghahvé bā shekar.

Leyla: And we're leaving the most important breakfast drink last but not least: chāi.

Matt: chāi.

Leyla: And you can drink it like the British do, with milk: chāi bā sheer.

Matt: chāi bā sheer.

Leyla: Now let's go over the way that Iranians make tea. Most often, they will brew it in a kettle on a system of two different kettles. The one on the bottom will have water in it, and that water will steam up to the top kettle, which has the tea leaves and a small amount of tea in it, and that kettle is called “ghooree.”

Matt: ghooree.

Leyla: So once the tea steams and steeps in that little bit of water, you then mix the very concentrated tea with the water that is on the bottom and make a perfect mixture of water and heavy, dark tea. So again, that's ghooree.

Matt: ghooree.

Leyla: And a common way of asking if tea is available is, you ask “too ghooree chāi hast?”

Matt: too ghooree chāi hast?

Leyla: Which means ‘is there tea in the kettle?’! All right, so we've learned different vocabulary for different breakfast foods, we've learned how to ask if there is breakfast, and we've learned some different drinks that are available at breakfast time in an Iranian household. We’re gonna keep this lesson short and sweet and end it there!

Matt: Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed the lesson about Persian breakfasts, and hopefully you’re listening either while not too hungry or while you have quick access to a kitchen!

Leyla: We want to remind you, if you haven’t already, to like us at our Facbeook page. That’s the best way to keep up with what we’re doing and to join the conversation.

Matt: And until the next lesson, khodāhāfez from Matt.

Leyla: And bé omeedé deedār from Leyla.