Researching the eating habits and food taste of Iranians in the Safavid era

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, Lorestan University

Abstract

Eating habits, taste and health of food are important topics of social history, which have been neglected in Iran due to the political approach of historiography, and in the Safavid period, only thanks to the writing of numerous travelogues by Europeans and some culinary treatises. , information remains.This research aims to deal with the manners of eating, variety and taste of Iranians in the Safavid era in banquets and receptions.
The findings indicate that Iranians had their own eating habits and tastes, which in some ways were different from the lifestyle of the countries of that day and Iranians today.They eat food sitting and kneeling very quickly, and in many areas, rice is their dominant strength, and their taste for cooking pols and khoroshes is more towards sour and then sweet flavors. Also, the high cost of firewood and charcoal had forced people to eat only one meal a day, and for other meals, they had to eat fruits, summer vegetables, and dairy products or finally, eat and use food from grocery stores, which are economically cheaper.They even contrary to today's custom; They ate light food during the day and cooked and heavy food at night.from among the meats; Red meats such as mutton, lamb and game were preferred by the court and the upper classes, and beef was preferred by the lower classes due to its cheapness, and white meats such as chicken and then fish played a very small role in the court table and especially the people.

Keywords