Ramadan In Iran: How Not To Starve!

Ramadan is almost over. People have adjusted to a new pace of life, waiting for its ending, though. But this year Ramadan is not as it was last year. Iranian society changes so fast that you can see little changes every year. Take a look at how things were here last year and it has changed.


I remember meeting a friend from the UK who was travelling around Iran during Ramadan 2-3 years ago. After visiting a museum around lunchtime, I remember, driving around Tehran in search of food, and there  was literally no place to get any decent food. Finally, we went to the first supermarket we could find and got some cakes or something.

Things go differently this year - finding food doesn`t seem to be a problem any more. Almost all restaurants sell take-away food at lunchtime. Some even put packed sandwiches at the front door to attract customers. Bakeries work regular hours from the morning till the evening.  Although coffee shops and ice cream parlors stay closed during daytime. It seems that there IS need for food, and businesses don`t want to lose their chance and try to find a way to sell food.

Another example is selling snacks at cinemas. Last year there were no snacks available at cinemas. But it seems that Iranians just can`t imagine watching a movie without anything to eat, so they managed to find some sandwiches outside the cinema (we understood it by humming sounds at the movie and the smell of ham spreading all around).

However, this year I was surprised to see snack shops at one of the major cinemas in Tehran, freely selling popcorn and drinks. The only precaution they've made was putting some newspapers on their refrigerators.

People can freely buy snacks and drinks at the cinemas nowadays.

Despite all the above, many restaurants still don`t risk selling food during daytime and prefer to use this time of year to redesign or renew their restaurants or save some money on serving food at the restaurant by accepting orders for delivery.

Things are changing here so rapidly that it seems that next year this particular post will become outdated! 

PS Don`t forget to check out my Instagram page @stranger_in_tehran for more Ramadan photos!

PPS If you have ANY questions about Iran or Tehran or anything, I would be happy to answer them! Don`t hesitate to write them in the comments