Anyone who walks into a bazaar in Tehran, Isfahan or Tabriz for the first time smells it before seeing it: saffron, dried limes, freshly baked bread and tea brewing somewhere in a samovar. A Persian bazaar is far more than a market. It is shopping street, meeting place, workshop and pantry all at once – and a place where you understand Iranian food culture better than in any cookbook. In this article we stroll through the covered lanes together: to the spice sellers, into the small tea houses and to the stalls where steaming beetroot is sold in winter.
Persian bazaar: a word that travelled the world#
The word itself reveals where the idea comes from. "Bazaar" is Persian: bāzār means market and goes back to Middle Persian wāzār. Through Ottoman Turkish, Italian and the languages of India it travelled across half of Europe and Asia – all the way to Indonesian pasar. In English it often just means a charity sale or a flea market.
A Persian bazaar, by contrast, is a whole city quarter: long vaulted lanes where the traders of one craft traditionally work side by side – carpets here, copperware there, spices and dried fruit somewhere else again. In between lie caravanserais, splendid domed halls (timcheh) and mosques. For centuries the bazaar was the economic heart of every Iranian city.
The Grand Bazaar of Tehran and the Tabriz Bazaar#
The Grand Bazaar of Tehran in the south of the capital is still one of the country's most important trading centres. If you get lost in its maze of lanes, you are in good company – even locals find their way by the trades: where the goldsmiths end, the cloth merchants begin.
Older and even more famous is the Tabriz Bazaar in north-western Iran. For centuries it was one of the most important trading places on the Silk Road, and it is regarded as one of the largest covered bazaars in the world. Since 2010 the historic bazaar complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can find a detailed description on the UNESCO page on the Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex.
Isfahan and Shiraz also have great historic bazaars: in Isfahan the bazaar begins at the famous Naqsh-e Jahan Square, and in Shiraz the Vakil Bazaar invites you to wander beneath its high brick vaults.
Spice sellers, saffron and dried fruit#
For food lovers, the most exciting part is the lane of the spice sellers, called attari in Persian. Here you find open sacks full of turmeric, sumac and dried rosebuds, next to jars of saffron threads, mounds of barberries and baskets of dried limes. Many attaris also sell herbs and blossoms for teas and home remedies – a tradition rooted in old Persian medicine.
Shopping there for the first time, you soon notice: a Persian bazaar lives on conversation. You smell, taste, ask where things come from and have a blend made up for rice or stew. What lies behind advieh, golpar and the rest is explained in our article on Persian spices.
Right next door are pistachios, walnuts, dates and dried mulberries – ingredients you will find on almost every Iranian breakfast or tea table.
Tea house in the bazaar: a break between the lanes#
A visit to the bazaar always includes a break. Many large bazaars have a traditional tea house in the bazaar, often hidden in a courtyard or beneath an old dome. Strong black tea is served in small glasses, with sugar cubes or nabat, yellow rock candy with saffron. Traders discuss business here, shoppers rest their feet, and at lunchtime there is sometimes a plate of dizi, the hearty stew from the stone pot.
How much this culture of lingering resembles Vienna is shown in our comparison of the Viennese coffee house and the Persian tea house.
Street food in Iran: what to eat around the bazaar#
Iranian street food is remarkably seasonal – and often surprisingly healthy.
Laboo and baghali: the winter classics#
In autumn and winter, street food in Iran includes a very special snack: laboo, whole boiled beetroot sold hot and sweet from big pots on handcarts. Next to it steams baghali: cooked broad beans seasoned with salt, vinegar and golpar. People eat them together from one bowl, skilfully popping the beans out of their skins with their teeth – a ritual that inevitably gets everyone talking.
Jigar, ash and bastani#
In the evening, small grill stalls smell of jigar, liver skewers grilled to order and served with flatbread, onions and basil. To warm up, order a bowl of ash reshteh, the thick soup with noodles, pulses and herbs. In summer, faloodeh and saffron ice cream tempt instead – we tell their astonishing story in our history of ice cream. And of course kebab skewers are everywhere; our recipe for kabab koobideh shows how to make the classic.
Persian bazaar: tips for your first visit#
- Come early: mornings are quieter, and traders have time for a chat.
- Remember Friday: Friday is the weekly day of rest in Iran, and many shops in the bazaar stay closed.
- Bargain gently: haggling is common in many areas – friendly, patient and ideally over a glass of tea.
- Tasting welcome: with spices, nuts and dried fruit you can almost always try before you buy.
Conclusion: the Persian bazaar – food culture you can touch#
Within a few hundred metres, a Persian bazaar shows what Iranian cuisine is all about: hospitality, patience, a love of spices and eating together. Anyone who has strolled through the lanes of Tabriz or Tehran with a glass of tea in hand understands why this word has travelled around the world.
You can experience the aromas of the bazaar – saffron, barberries, herbs and freshly grilled skewers – in Vienna too. SANTOOR at Florianigasse 20, 1080 Vienna, is a Persian restaurant with a 100% halal kitchen, open daily from 12:00 to 22:00. Book your table here. Nooshe jan – enjoy your meal!