Iran’s Khuzestan to host culinary fest

A culinary festival titled ‘Iranian Cuisine, Tourism Culture’ has been scheduled to take place in the Arvand Free Zone in southwest Iran early next year.

The event aims to focus on indigenous seafood dishes, including appetizers, desserts, herbal drinks, and main courses, as part of nationwide campaigns to promote gastronomy tourism.

The main sections of the event include cooking competitions and workshops as well as scientific meetings on food, along with handicraft shows and art exhibits.

The festival will also offer dishes native to different southern Iran regions, including Kish and Qeshm Islands, the cities of Abadan, Khorramshahr, Ahvaz, and Dezful as well as a few cities in Bushehr and Hormozgan Provinces.

Iranians traditionally adorn their cuisines with odorous herbs that differ from region to region, yet they principally highlight freshness and tastiness in a wide range of colors.

“The country can increase its share of the global gastronomy tourism, which makes an annual turnover of about $300 billion,” the deputy director of Iran's Cultural Heritage Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) said earlier this month.

Sharing borders with Iraq and Kuwait, Arvand Free Zone is located at the juncture of the two major Iranian rivers of Karun and Arvand.

Organized by Khuzestan Province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department in collaboration with Arvand Free Zone Organization, the festival is slated for January 9-11, 2017.

MG/AI