Whose never had an Oreo before!?

Enroute between Shiraz and Isfahan, our car pulled over unexpectedly to the side of the road.  Yesterday, I had asked our guide to point Iranian nomadic people to us.  I meant, point them out as we drive by, not pull over so we could stare at them.  I frantically tried explaining this to our guide who just smiled and said, “no, no, it’s ok.  We will go meet them”.

Before we went to Iran, people were telling us to be careful…they hate Westerners.  ‘Argo’ was pretty much my only barometer to base my Iranian knowledge on.  So, I was a little apprehensive that these people on the side of the road were going to be down with two tourists pulling over just to see how they live.  Stern expressions greeted us, Jen and I stood back while our guide chatted away.  Within seconds beaming smiles crossed our new hosts faces as they eagerly pulled us out to see their crops.


Proudly they walked us through fields of sunflowers, corn and beans.  They showed us the creek where they do their laundry and let us play with their kids.  One of the older ladies pulled out a handmade bag to show us, I naturally assumed to sell us, and turned to ask the guide to find out how much.  Confused he just said, “how much?  She is trying to show you because she is proud of it.  It’s her bag”.  Oops.

The rest of our time there was a bit surreal for two people used to travelling and being constantly harassed to buy things, get a massage, take a tour etc.  People being genuine…it was a bit unusual.  The hospitality continued and within a few minutes we were led into a tent to be served food.  Aiming to impress us they pulled out freshly made thin bread, sheep butter, goat cheese and grapes – quite the spread for random strangers who forced themselves upon you one morning.

Now, a culinary Magellan I am not.  Jen is far more adventurous when it comes food, particularly unpasteurized, unrefrigerated products served out of the skin of an animal on the side of a road in Iran.  This is the only explanation I have for how she was able to just dive right in.  My ingrained Canadian, be polite at any cost self, finally manned up and took a cautious bite…and it was…awful.

I can’t lie.  The butter and cheese were some of the worst things I ever politely ate, and I once ate a tarantula.  But the bread was fine, and the grapes were divine.  So, attempting to favour those two items while practicing visualization techniques to get the dairy products down, while Jen did her part, we managed to put a nice, polite dent in their spread.

How do we say thank you for this unique experience?  Our guide said that any attempt to give money would be seen as offensive…so we gave them the only possible gift we had…a sleeve of Oreos.  Purchased on a whim at the Dubai airport for emergencies, the gift was greeted with confused looks.  The trade embargoes in place mean that they had never even heard of Oreos before.

I’ll be honest, I’ve had some pretty cool experiences in my time.  But, standing there on the side of a highway in Iran, introducing a nomadic family to delicious Oreo cookies…it ranks up there as one of the best.