Persia, to use its traditional name, is the civilization that dominates the Iranian Plateau, that rugged highland that separates India from the Middle East and borders on the steppes of Central Asia. There has been culinary cross-fertilization in all directions throughout this area, but mostly it has been a matter of Persia influencing its neighbors. One reason is that Persia often dominated them politically; another is simply that, despite its huge extent and dispersed population centers, Persia has spent much of the last 2,500 years politically unified, with a wealthy royal court that could support a haute cuisine.
