#CookForIran uses the country’s rich culinary tradition to highlight the fight for human rights, says organiser Layla Yarjani
When Layla Yarjani thinks of Iran, she thinks of ice-creams by the Caspian Sea and eating beef tongue sandwiches with her dad in a Tehran cafe. She remembers the warmth and community spirit: the bustle of noisy dinner parties with neighbours, everyone reaching across one another for spoonfuls of Persian stew; and afternoons playing football with the boys on her street.
She also remembers the strict rules beyond her happy bubble: the ban on her mother leaving the country without a man’s permission; being ordered to chant “death to America” at school and the day she was scolded by teachers for wearing a Disney princess backpack, because the character’s hair was not covered by a headscarf.