Close Connections: Hami Sharafi - "Maman's recipes eased my homesickness"
Hami Sharafi left Iran to chase big dreams abroad, but discovered his true calling was closer to home
In 2010, Hami Sharafi said goodbye to his mum, dad and sister, and left Tehran for the UK. Hami, 42, says, “I wanted the opportunity to do something big with my life, but in Iran, opportunity didn’t exist. Instead, you had to make your dreams limited.”
Growing up, Hami helped his mum Azam and dad Hossein at the family restaurant in Shahsavar in Mazandaran Province, a city located on the beautiful northern coast.
“We had so much fun, our guests didn’t want to leave. We’d party together until 1am every night. Coming to the UK was an amazing opportunity – one I’d been looking for my whole life – but it was very sad being apart from so many people I loved.”
Hami’s lack of access to Persian food became a sticking point. “When you come from a family where food plays a big role and your maman is the best cook, it’s something you really miss. In Middlesbrough, where I was living in 2010, Persian food was non-existent.”
In Iran, Hami had completed cooking courses in international food, but didn’t cook Persian food. “I really missed Maman’s food, but our cuisine takes time and effort – you don’t cook for just one person.”
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Hami found a local charity supporting refugees and people on lower incomes and began volunteering, cooking there weekly. “I called Maman and said ‘I want to cook macaroni Irani.’ Italians will cry at the way we make bolognese, but everyone at the community kitchen loved it. I asked Maman about her loobia polo (cinnamon lamb and green beans in tomato rice), then, zereshk polo – fluffy white rice with barberries and saffron chicken.”
As Hami cooked for more people at the shelter, Maman’s recipes went down a storm.“I always made the food her way – it started easing my homesickness and kept me close to her. I was forever phoning, asking how to cook things. When she said ‘sauté the chicken with onions and tomato purée,’ lifelong memories of watching her do that flooded back. Without noticing, I’d learned how to cook like her.
“It was like a war in Maman’s kitchen: the oil splattering, newspaper on the floor to stop the mess going everywhere. I didn’t have to ask how long I should cook anything, because I had memories of how things should look and smell.” As for the amounts, it was all ‘cheshmi’ – eyeballed – as Iranians say. When Hami began sharing his Persian recipes, he went to cooking college to understand how to write them properly. “You can’t do ‘cheshmi’ for others. I needed to share the measurements to the gram.”
He later introduced the cuisine to his girlfriend Stella, who’s from Germany. “I cooked Maman’s recipes for Stella. She thought they were delicious and said, ‘Don’t you want to share these with the world?’” With Maman and Stella’s encouragement, he started a blog, I Got It From My Maman, in 2018, and posted on Instagram. “I was amazed to gain followers around the world. They were so encouraging. It brought me joy.”
The calls to Maman continued. “I hadn’t noticed she’d been cooking dishes for us from all over Iran. Her knowledge of regional cooking is amazing.” It struck a chord with his followers, too: “I’d make kalam polo Shirazi – a rice dish with cabbage from Shiraz – and all the Shirazis were happy to see their food being shared.”
Hami enjoys educating those new to Persian food, too. “Most people don’t know what it’s like, and think it’s spicy like South Asian food, but it’s not. It doesn’t look like anything they’ve seen before. Fesenjoon is a rich, sweet-and-sour walnut and pomegranate stew that looks like mud. But, at the first spoonful, you fall in love with it.” Hami focused on making his recipes look beautiful to help break down that barrier.
Now, he runs online cooking courses, including those for vegan versions of classic Persian dishes. “My blog and courses are not just for non-Iranians. Many Iranians born in the UK want to connect more deeply to their culture. They message me about the memories evoked by watching me cook something their maman or maman bozorg (grandmother) made.”
His dream now is to make Persian food mainstream. “People keep asking about a cookbook, so that’s what I’m working toward. But, whatever success I gain, it’s Maman I call first. Her answer is always, ‘Well done Hami joon, I always knew you could do this!’”
But, Maman still keeps his cooking in check. She watches his live sessions on Instagram and isn’t afraid to let him know when he’s taken a misstep. “Maman watched one I did with a chef in California and commented, ‘Why did you put the spinach in earlier than I told you?’. I guess some things never change!”
Make Hami's nargesi-e esfenaj (Persian spinach and onion fried eggs).
