This colourful photo is by This Photographer. Thanks for sharing!

This Persian dish is called Tahchin, and is made with chicken and rice baked in the oven. The yellow colour comes from saffron which is added to the rice.

Check out our Food of the World photo group on Flickr to see more photos posted by PocketCultures readers around the world. We’d love to see yours too! Just join the group and add your photos.

Read More:
Nasi Goreng - another rice dish, eaten for breakfast in Indonesia
Iran as you don’t see it on the news: recommended documentary about Iran
Britain’s 10 favourite foods - British people in the kitchen

This map shows the importance of religion in different countries of the world.

Image: Wikipedia

It’s based on a Gallup survey and counts the number of people in each country who said religion is an important part of their daily lives.

The most religious countries are found in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Gallup’s post about the survey points out that while on average the USA is less religious than many countries, ‘religiosity’ varies a lot between different states. So people from Alabama are as likely as Iranians to say religion is an important part of their lives.

And since everyone is talking about Iran this week, let’s also note that according to this poll Iranians are less religious than their secular neighbours in Turkey.

Another interesting chart shows belief in creationism in various countries (via Common Sense):

Read More:
Iran as you don’t see it on the news
Turkey debates the role of religion in daily life
Religion in the USA
Wired Africa? Internet use in Africa is surging

Artist Ala Ebtekar has the best of two worlds. He grew up in the USA after fleeing the Iran - Iraq war with his family, and has art diplomas from Stanford University. He has also spent time in Iran, studying the classical art of miniature painting.

What came out is a stunning and original perspective. Ebtekar’s works could only have been made by someone in his position as they combine a deep understanding of both Iranian and North American cultures. The kind of understanding that comes not just from studying another culture, but from living as a citizen of that culture.

One thing which can be hard for us mono-culturals to understand about third culture kids like Ebtekar is that rather than being half and half of any culture, they are both at once. For me this is what stands about Ebtekar’s work - it is a perfect example of exploiting this juxtaposition of cultures to create something new and original.

“It’s like having these multiple identities and being able to tap into this side of you and that side of you,” Ebtekar explains in this article from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. “They’re not clashing, you know what I mean. They’re rocking it full force.”

Read more about Ala Ebtekar (including the story behind these unique shoelaces) in this excellent interview from Fecal Face magazine.

Via Lalla Lydia. Images from Ala Ebtekar’s website.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a clever book. As well as giving a feel for life in an Iranian family it somehow manages to condense 30 years of Iranian historical events into one paperback, without seeming heavy or educational.

The story is told using stylish cartoon images and narrated by the main character Marjane, who grows up amid the political turmoil of the last days of The Shah and the Islamic Revolution.

The second theme explored by the book is the struggle faced by immigrants to make their way in a new country.

At 14 years old Marjane is sent by her parents to Austria to escape the Iran - Iraq war. The story of her difficulties in reconciling her background with the strange customs of her new home is heart breaking.

Persepolis was also made into a film. Personally I found the book more gripping, but the film is also good if you’re not a big reader.

Read More:
Iran as you don’t see it on the news: journalist Rageh Omar explores a seldom seen side of Iran in his documentary Inside Iran
Iranian blogs in Blogs of the World
Iranian author Firoozeh Dumas writes about what happened when her husband met the parents in an extract from her book Funny in Farsi

A New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden is a very comprehensive book of recipes. From how to make the best hummous, to six different methods of stuffing vegetables, even how to barbeque a fish.

The author grew up in Egypt, and the book includes food from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Israel. The book also includes many stories and anecdotes from the region.

If you enjoy Middle Eastern food you might also like to read our post on Turkish cooking.

Rageh inside Iran: Rageh Omaar, a Somalian born former BBC reporter visited Iran over the summer of 2006. While there he filmed this fascinating documentary about what life is really like for the Iranian people of Tehran, whom he describes as “dynamic, energetic and warm”.

This trailer gives an idea of the content if you are short of time. The full length version of the programme lasts for 90 minutes and is unfortunately only available in installments. (there is a full version available on Google Video but the picture quality is quite bad) If you have the patience to load them all it is well worth the watch!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Link is courtesy of Mr Behi’s Iranian blog. As an Iranian himself he knows what he is talking about when he describes this as “a truly fair report” of his complex country.

Rageh Omaar writes here about his quest to follow the lives of ordinary Iranians.