I'm American now, but this Persian dish will always feel like home.
I decided to pack light. I was starting a new life with my husband and knew that we wouldn’t have a permanent place for some time, and I dreaded the thought of carrying one massive suitcase around the country.
A few shirts, jeans, a couple pairs of shoes, and a dress were all I decided to pack, alongside ruby barberries and a small jar of saffron, for times of emergency—and by emergency, I mean deeply missing my family and where I come from. From the day I moved to the U.S., I knew I had to blend in if I wanted to make it work. And I was excited about everything: the people, the music, the food! Never in my life had I seen Korean, Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern restaurants sitting next to each other on a street, across from a Scandinavian store. It was all new, and it was all exciting. I didn’t have time to stick to my Persian food for every meal because there was so much else to try.
Luckily for me, I had brought some saffron and knew just a pinch of it would be enough to bring my happiness back. That day I made my saffron-barberry rice, which was the right antidote to pull me out of my homesickness. I realized then that as much as I wanted to blend in, a part of me was always going to be Iranian, a part that will just get bolder and bolder as I spend more years in the U.S.
Fast forward to April 3, 2019, when I walked into the Citizenship and Immigration Services building to give up my green card and become a U.S. citizen. It was a surreal event, seeing all these people from different countries and cultures, all gathered in one place to take an oath to become Americans, and to call this land home. It was a bittersweet day for me.
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