We are devouring so much sugar on a global scale. From hidden sugar in food to sugar on a more noticeable front, it can’t be denied that we are eating too much of it.
Sugar just seems to be everywhere all the time at any time of day. Our children have their lunch boxes filled with sugary goods and they seem to get their injection of sugar midday.
One foodie item which you can often find in a child’s lunch box and interestingly seen for Nooruz New Year celebrations in southern Iran is a cookie.
This post is by no means aimed to encourage you to eat unhealthily. I however, recently ate an Iranian cookie, koloocheh, for the first time in a while. I noticed such great differences between these cookies and the ones we eat in the West. From filling to texture, the sugary confectionary good varies a great deal different between these two areas of the world, which I find incredibly interesting.
Firstly, the insides of the cookies are different. In the West, cookies don’t have a filling, everything is in their dough, so when you bite into it, you get everything in one go. You see the chocolate chips and crunchy nuts on the outside and that is of course what you get, but only that. There is nothing else inside for you. With all that crunch, its texture is evidently very hard.
The Iranian cookie however, has a notable filling within the cookie. It is made of cinnamon, sugar and of course the staple item of Iran – the walnut. The texture of the entire cookie is so incredibly soft, it’s more like eating a slice of cake.
Cookies in the West also never have any decoration on them. Looking at them as a whole, you just see chunks of chocolate chips, hazelnuts or peanuts based on the type of cookie you’re eating. There is no particular aesthetics aspect. You’re just looking at the baked good head on.
In Iran, you will sometimes see the cookie made into spirals or perhaps you will just see the brand name in the dough on the top of it. It’s more a decorative item there, particularly in the north west town of Fuman.
There is a lot to be said about the differences between Western and Persian food and this post just describes some variations between the well-loved cookie. And if you are ever in Iran, go have a koloocheh, but remember, all in moderation my dear.
Another Iran 