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“NAJMIEH, DO THEY DRINK WINE IN IRAN?”

That’s a question I have often been asked by colleagues in the culinary world and students in my cooking classes. The answer is surprising. It is also complex.

For thirteen centuries, the dominant religion in Iran has been Islam, which forbids the making, selling or drinking of alcoholic beverages. But the Qur’an—the holy book of Islam—isn’t entirely consistent about this matter, and the strictness of the proscription has varied greatly over time. Even today, under a theocratic government, wine is drunk in many Iranian homes as a private pleasure. Some of it is made locally, although the vintners and wine merchants are non-Muslims. The present situation in the country is not unlike that of the United States during Prohibition, when a constitutional amendment banning alcoholic beverages was widely but cautiously ignored.