Parsi Cuisine
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i am trying to find connections between the food of the Jewish migrants and the Parsi migrants to India. As they originated from Persia we feel that some of the food must be similar to early Persian or Iranian food.
Can any body help please
957 BC: Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem was built. Pillars in the temple were decorated with pomegranates and the fruit was included on the robes of Jewish priests. The Torah describes the robes:
“And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.” Exodus 28:33–34
Silver shekels minted in Jerusalem during the Jewish Great Revolt against Rome, which took place from 66 to 70 AD, depicted a branch with three pomegranates and a design element similar to that used in the Temple of Jerusalem.
700 BC: Pomegranates were introduced to Rome via Carthage, its southern neighbor. Romans named the fruit Punicum malum, which translates as “Phoenician apple.” In Ancient Rome, pomegranates grew in shady areas of residential courtyards and were enjoyed as a summer fruit. Pomegranates were depicted in Roman mosaics, most notably in the House of the Fruit Orchard, located in Pompeii. Married women in Rome wore headdresses made of pomegranate twigs to signify their marital status.
600–700 BC: Zoroastrianism became the major religion of ancient Persia with the basic tenet that there is a constant battle between good and evil. Pomegranates were associated with fertility and seen as representative of the vegetable world, which provides man with food. Pomegranate trees were planted in the courtyards of Zoroastrian temples because their leaves, remaining green most of the year, stood as a symbol of eternal life.
563–483 BC: It is believed that while the Buddha was camping in the kingdom of Bindusara, many of his wealthy disciples presented him with lavish gifts. Another of his disciples, an old, poor woman who had traveled many miles to see him, presented him with just one small pomegranate. The Buddha rang the bell of honor in her name, as he considered the pomegranate to be the greatest gift. In Buddhism, the pomegranate is one of the three blessed fruits and represents the essence of favorable influences in Buddhist art.
500 BC: Pomegranates figured prominently in Greek myths; the most famous involved Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter, who was abducted by Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Once there, Hades tempted her with a juicy pomegranate. By eating the arils, Persephone was thus joined to him – the pomegranate being a symbol of the indissolubility of marriage. Inconsolable at the loss of her daughter, Demeter, the corn goddess, prevented the earth from bearing fruit unless she saw her daughter again. Zeus arranged a compromise: Persephone would live with Hades for one third of the year and the other two thirds with Demeter. Persephone’s return from the Underworld each year is marked by the arrival of spring.
485–465 BC: Because the pomegranate is a symbol of strength in the Persian culture, the Persian army of Xerxes carried spears with pomegranates instead of spikes on the tip when they invaded Greece in 480 BC.
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