#30. Join us for an engaging podcast episode featuring Nilou Motamed, a prominent figure in food journalism with over two decades of experience. Nilou's impressive career includes crafting her role as Features Director at Travel and Leisure and holding the prestigious position of Editor-in-Chief at Epicurious and Food & Wine Magazine. She's not just an editor; Nilou is also an Emmy-nominated TV personality and the former Director of Inspiration at Conrad Hotels. As if that wasn't enough, she's a co-founder of Story Collective, a brand and strategy consultancy firm.

Currently, you can catch Nilou Motamed as a permanent judge on Netflix's revival of Iron Chef. This conversation with Nilou was so captivating that we've decided to split it into two episodes.

In this inaugural episode with Nilou, we embark on a captivating journey through her remarkable life story. From her childhood escape from Tehran during the Iranian Revolution to her eventual emigration to Paris and later the United States.

Our conversation delves deeply into Persian cuisine and culture. We explore the intricate flavors of Tahdig, the art of crafting kebabs, and the sheer indulgence of savoring exquisite Iranian caviar. Nilou also loves breakfast. We talk about Iranian and Turkish breakfast traditions. We finish off this episode by talking about Nilou's passion of promoting and praising Iranian cuisine.

Where to find Nilou Motamed:

Where to find host Josh Sharkey:

In this episode, we cover:

(02:16) The evolution of the neighborhoods of Brooklyn
(5:22) The art of translation
(9:07) Opulence and travel
(14:28) The beauty of Turkey
(15:17) Breakfast and Haleem
(26:19) How Nilou speaks four languages
(30:45) Immigrant resilliance
(32:05) Persian cuisine
(43:39) Caviar
(47:17) How Nilou uses her platform to showcase Persian people and cuisine

Nilou Motamed (Part 1)

The meez Podcast