Staying in Iran to succeed, the challenge of a Tehran pastry chef

She could have chosen the path of exile like many young Iranians, but Shahrzad Shokouhivand prefers to "live the adventure" in her country where she has become a recognized pastry chef despite the obstacles

Staying in Iran to succeed, the challenge of a Tehran pastry chef

She could have chosen the path of exile like many young Iranians, but Shahrzad Shokouhivand prefers to "live the adventure" in her country where she has become a recognized pastry chef despite the obstacles.

"It's by working here that things will change in Iran," says the 36-year-old woman, in one of her two chic cafes and pastry shops in Tehran.

Shahrzad Shokouhivand admits having asked herself, with her husband, the question of leaving her country. "Most of our friends have gone to Canada, the United States or Australia. But we have decided not to emigrate", explains the latter, Babak Mehrabani.

Go or stay? The choice makes many young graduates think, who are in a hurry to find their place on the job market in a tense economic context, whose difficulties are accentuated by the impact of international sanctions.

Added to this were the uncertainties linked to the protest movement which shook the country following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been arrested for violating the strict dress code of the Islamic Republic.

"Despite everything, I am optimistic for women in Iran", assures Shahrzad Shokouhivand, who, like other inhabitants of Tehran, wants to believe that "things are changing".

"What I see on the faces of women today is very different from six months ago," also notes Minoo, a 27-year-old cook, noting, for example, that the wearing of the veil is tending to recede. in the public spaces of the teeming capital.

But such developments are unsettling for some women, like Homeira, a 58-year-old retired teacher who "grew up with the veil". "The hijab is the law of our country and we must respect the law. Unfortunately, our young people do not accept it and criticize the religion", she laments, while defending the right of everyone to choose.

Referring to her experience, Shahrzad Shokouhivand assures that, "as a woman, you have to work even harder to succeed in business, at home and in social life": But "these difficulties make you progress".

To realize her "childhood dream" of becoming a pastry chef, she just moved away from Tehran to live in Paris for three months, in order to follow the basic courses of the Cordon Bleu cooking school there in 2017.

On her return, she opened her first pastry shop in the center, replacing a handbag shop whose French name she kept, "femme chic". Rather wealthy Teheranians flock there to taste tatin tarts, Paris-Brest, babas revisited without rum and even Breton kouign-amann.

Five years later, Shahrzad Shokouhivand and Babak Mehrabani's company employs 70 people, the majority of them women, and is profitable, although it has recently had to cut its margins to take into account very high inflation in Iran.

"Despite the uncertain context, we remain ambitious," says the couple. Who is studying the opening of new pastry shops in other Iranian cities such as Shiraz (south) or Mashhad (east), but also abroad, especially in Dubai or Doha if he finds local partners, and with the desire "a little crazy" to open in Paris.

In the meantime, Shahrzad Shokouhivand hopes to see the severe economic sanctions, especially American, which are hitting Iran lifted. "Because of them, it is very difficult to find quality chocolate, good butter or vanilla", essential ingredients for baking.

"It forces us to be creative", in particular by making more use of the country's rich resources in fruits and spices, such as pistachios, hazelnuts or saffron, she explains.

The rum baba thus became the baba tabrizi, an original creation which looks like the famous French cake and tastes like a dessert from the Tabriz region (north-west), in which a syrup of cardamom and saffron replaces rum, alcohol being prohibited in Iran.

07/03/2023 18:00:58 - Tehran (AFP) - © 2023 AFP