What Life in Iran is Actually Like 🇮🇷

0:00 now it's 11:08 January 9th As you can see,

0:05 there is not a single signal On my phone Now internet, no sms,

0:09 no phone calls This video was filmed before and during The internet

0:14 blackout in January 2026 in Iran When I arrived in Esfahan

0:19 Things were already tense In some cities You hear a lot

0:23 of stories in the news But this Is the Iran that I

0:27 saw with my own eyes I want to show you Iran

0:31 beyond headlines Just real life hi everyone welcome back to the channel

0:41 today i am in Iran in central part of Iran in a small

0:45 city near Isfahan and today's video is going to be very

0:49 simple i just want to show you how the real life

0:52 looks like we're going to show you some very interesting shops

0:55 that are closely linked to the everyday life in Iran so let's

1:00 go now we have to do one of the most important things

1:13 for the Iranians to start the day that is to get

1:17 the bread the shop is there salam hello the baking process is

1:36 so interesting so they just put that piece of bread in an oven

1:40 the oven is so deep and then they take it out

1:43 after three or four minutes and hang it here and you

1:46 can still see the small stone you have to remove the stones

1:52 sangak means a small piece of a stone a hundred years

1:55 ago a person called Sheikh Bahjai he was a Iranian famous scientist

2:01 offered the army to carry small pieces of stones and bake

2:04 the bread on these stones because of this we call it sangak

2:08 a small piece of a stone how many years have they been

2:14 making the bread twenty years twenty years twenty years yes and they

2:19 make 1000 sangak every day every day yes his father also

2:26 was bread maker it's like a heritage he wants to offer you

2:30 a good deal if you bring him to China he will

2:33 run a sangak shop for you haha i hope one day i

2:37 can bring him to China haha i just ordered a special

2:41 extra large sangak bread he's gently massaging the dough it's super special

2:54 thanks thanks thank you they baked a special sangak for me full

3:00 of herbs and sesame seriously i really like this bread sangak if

3:04 one day i get rich i will open a sangak shop

3:08 in China it's so cool what is this bread called it's called

3:16 taftoon and in this room they are making the taftoon dough

3:21 so the wheat you can see it's whole wheat bread so he

3:29 quickly press the dough and then put it onto this machine

3:34 and it gets pressed and then they roll this onto the bread

3:39 and then here and then finally into the furnace the stove

3:45 the whole bakery smells so good just smells like you know a little

3:51 bit burnt smell of bread it's so nice so here you

3:57 can feel the heat coming out sangak bread is definitely my favorite

4:06 bread among all the breads on the ancient silk road so

4:11 this special version looks there are so much so much herb sesame

4:16 on it and people are just so friendly they want to tell

4:19 us what it is，they show us around and the best part

4:28 is in Iran you can see people walking around every day

4:31 in the morning with a big piece of bread just like that hear

4:40 the sound bread is at the center of Iranian life and there

4:50 are many kinds sangak is a long bread baked on hot

4:54 pebbles taftoon is round made inside a clay oven lavash is

4:58 thin and soft almost like paper Sangak can be enjoyed in so

5:03 many ways for breakfast it's often paired with what locals jokingly

5:08 call the Iranian flag cucumber tomato and feta cheese you can also

5:13 have it with ash a fragrant herb filled soup with beans

5:18 or alongside kebab koobideh the classic minced meat kebab it's a bread

5:24 that fits into almost any meal Iranians also have a deep

5:28 love for sweets each city has its specialty in Qom it's sohan

5:33 a crisp saffron brittle beautifully packed in tins in Isfahan it's gaz

5:46 a soft nugget filled with pistachio and it has a rose aroma

5:50 many sweet shops still making everything fresh by hand thanks it's

6:00 called gaz right like a small candy with pistachio in it it's

6:12 gaz with pistachio it's not super sweet and there is a taste

6:19 of rose inside yes what's in it egg whites glucose honey sugar,

6:33 sometimes rose water what is this it's pea sweets it's

6:42 made of pea flour uh what's it called the name

6:46 of this shirini nokhodchi nokhodchi nohochi nohochi is peace it

6:56 has a very strong taste of the saffron is there saffron

7:00 in it absolutely the most important is perhaps nabaat rock

7:06 sugar crystals stirred into tea even during uncertain times sweetness remains

7:11 part of everyday life due to the fluctuating exchange rate there

7:17 is a kind of a sugar shortage so they are not

7:20 making the Nabaat at the same time but i can

7:22 show you some of their products the products that all Iranians

7:26 have in their kitchen for example this is poolaki this is

7:31 also poolaki can i try a little bit opium seed

7:37 oh opium seed it's too hot uh huh opium seed

7:43 poolaki so poolaki is basically a candy coin so they mix

7:48 different things in it this one is with opium seeds

7:57 poolaki is a sugar coin you pop one in your mouth

8:00 while drinking tea it's crispy and crunchy thank you thank

8:06 you so those are all traditional candies all here everything

8:23 is traditional it's so fresh the government check the quality

8:38 of the goods in Iran we believe that all the foods

8:43 have a different quality for example chai is cold

8:46 and these kind of things are very hot so we mix

8:49 them together to make it equal most of the regions

8:52 are in desert and because of the bit salty water most

8:56 of the people really like to use the sweets if

8:59 i understand it correctly this is also something very similar

9:02 to China we believe some food are cold some food

9:06 are hot and that's why the Iranians here they eat candy

9:10 as well drinking chai goodbye we're in another shop today

9:20 and this shop is a spice shop and on entering this shop

9:25 you can smell the mixture of different spices for example

9:30 those are the peppercorn and the cinnamon the lemon cumin, etc.

9:36 and i'm here.

9:37 so on this wall i want to show you there is something so iranian

9:42 that is the distilled water from different

9:45 plants using for different kind of treatments you

9:47 know yeah for example for some kind of stomach disease you can use the mint

9:55 water according to Iranian traditional medicine every

9:59 plant is a kind of treatment yeah

10:01 absolutely how do they use this water？ to drink？ yeah just to drink sometimes

10:06 we make some syrups wow it's a mixture of 12 herbs and it's really good

10:13 for the heart for the heart yeah interesting so look at this this bottle i

10:21 distilled water of 12 different spices and it's

10:24 good for the heart that's why there

10:25 was a heart on top among all of these herb waters the rose water

10:31 is more famous and especially Iranian rose

10:34 water is also used every year for washing

10:37 the kaaba in Mecca the holy Shrine and it's very expensive and it's made

10:42 in Kashan the Kashan rose water is very

10:44 famous wow even the Saudi Arabians they import

10:50 the rose water from Iran yeah absolutely just for washing kaaba to wash the holy

10:56 shrine yeah the rose water thanks we pass by a busy bazaar i said

11:11 the bazaar today was not really okay the best time is Friday Friday most people

11:16 Friday is the best today's bazaar isn't the biggest but still you can see trucks

11:20 and different goods so people come here salam salam salam look so it's a vase

11:29 this is a vase but you can see clearly see the Chinese patterns on it

11:35 is it made in Iran yes iranian those Chinese patterns when the spread to Iran

11:45 the local artists also learn this type of drawing it's very similar to the ones

11:50 that you had in your house that's the evidence another evidence of the Silk

11:57 road at Mohammed's home i also saw a similar piece of porcelain Chinese patterns

12:03 but the brushwork had a distinctively Persian

12:06 feel it was truly fascinating China China Jingdezhen

12:14 thank you the weather today is very sunny this feels like the Bazaar in Xinjiang

12:22 it's just a large part of the open air area and people come here

12:26 and sell stuff and now it's about noon so the Bazaar is about to close

12:31 only the fresh products section has a bit more people thank you thank you

12:58 that is your father and your mother yeah

13:01 yeah this is another stand from this gentleman's

13:06 parents they sell garlic broccoli lettuce everything

13:13 cabbage cabbage cabbage cabbage he asked if you

13:20 know Farsi I don't speak persian hahaha

13:29 vinegar vinegar yeah yeah to make the pickle

13:37 salad salam vinegar ginger and garlic they

13:41 also make some pickles ginger garlic he

13:46 want to give you this as a gift garlic pickle ask him how much it

13:52 is i will pay he can't accept the money it's just a gift thank

13:58 you thank you so we got a gift from the local market a pickled pickled

14:06 garlic i have been to many countries

14:09 but i found Iranian people are exceptionally hospitable

14:14 so you always get invited for chai they always give you food sometimes when i

14:19 was walking on the street and see people walking with a sangak bread they

14:23 will stop and ask me do you want some sangak bread and today you know

14:27 you see this the gift from the Iranians

14:30 that's Iranian hospitality Iran has a very

15:01 diverse population so for example on this stand

15:04 the seller is from Iran Kurdistan they

15:08 brought lots of produce from their regions

15:10 such as the walnut there is a persians

15:26 saying Esfahan is half the world a reminder

15:29 of the city's historical wealth and beauty

15:32 Persian gardens sophisticated mosques grand palaces and one

15:37 of my favorite bazaars in the world on my previous visit we filmed artisans

15:43 making locks engraving wooden paintings engraving copper

15:52 look at this this one is before carving so those this one is a finished

16:00 one and your signature printing textiles painting

16:11 vase even decorating ostrich eggs craftsmanship is

16:15 deeply respected here this time though

16:20 the bazaar felt quieter some shops were closed

16:24 the air felt heavier but even in the quiet work continued this is the old Bazaar

16:32 in the center of Isfahan in the Nashjaham square so it's an old Bazaar

16:38 with so many different handicrafts and it's

16:43 really beautiful but due to the recent situation

16:47 it's quieter than before， normally all

16:50 the Bazaar in the Nashjahan square are open

16:53 but recently it's closed because the dollar price

16:58 fluctuates so much so yeah the handicrafts now

17:01 not so sure if they should open or not i've been to this bazaar

17:07 three or four times and this place has never been so quiet a day after

17:17 we visited the Bazaar the situation intensified

17:21 the embassy advised avoiding unnecessary travel on January

17:26 9th my Chinese sim card stopped working the next day my Iranian sim card also

17:32 lost connection and my red note page got frozen on that cat suddenly there

17:39 was no internet no messages no news

17:41 filming paused life became slower and simpler there

17:45 isn't so much to do so mohammed's parents took me for grocery shopping with them

17:51 his parents were incredibly warm hearted even

17:54 though they didn't speak much English they tried

17:57 their best to explain everything in the supermarket

17:59 to me dry vegetable dried vegetable ghormeh sabzi ghormeh sabzi dry bread like

18:07 a coin Nan-e khoshk Sekke Nan-e khoshk Sekke，coin

18:14 coin bread like a coin ah see see yes like a coin wow haha it's

18:24 a very thin bread very thin bread this is another sweet dried bread chiri Local,

18:37 local bread Local bread rock candy rock candy nabaat nabaat nabaat hmm

18:46 body splash laundry laundry laundry smell

18:50 good good？ mamahuhu（means soso in Chinese） soso

18:56 hahaha soso i told them the word mamahuhu which means so so they

19:04 really love it peshmet no i don't know gaz yes have you tried?

19:13 no i haven‘t what color do you want?

19:22 i don't know maybe small a small one

19:25 a small one a small one okay it's called pash

19:29 pashmek pashmek okay pashmak like a skin of lamb

19:39 ah like the hair when they spent three minutes discussing

19:55 which flavor of this candy to pick for me

19:58 my heart felt so warm i felt like they were

20:00 caring for me just like a kid even though

20:03 i'm already in my 30s you like？ do you like?

20:06 it's sour sour leather Candy leather candy lavashek lavashek

20:13 do you like yes do you like i buy you lavashek in the best place it tastes like

20:28 pomegranat sour cherry apricot ah the lavashek oh fruit

20:41 fruity and this is sour cherry sour cherry kiwi

20:53 kiwi and strawberry strawberry strawberry thank you then we

21:13 went to buy vegetables in Persian most herbs and greens

21:16 are called sabzi now we are buying a green

21:19 vegetable a smashed green vegetable called Ghormeh Sabzi can

21:26 i smell it hmm smells like coriander so rostam

21:36 is a hero of all the Iranians then we

21:42 stopped at the statue and he told me that that's

21:46 the hero of all Iranians rostam rostam rostam he's

21:51 hero in past he's most famous for Iranians most

22:00 important most important hoodies hoodies hoodies it's tiger ah

22:08 yes tiger in the back it's a tiger he's wearing

22:13 a tiger yes he's wearing a tiger and riding

22:16 a horse and conquered the dragon at home Mohammed's

22:22 mother introduced me to Persian cuisine today she is

22:26 cooking rice this is fish polo （rice） fish and polo

22:30 （rice） fish and polo（rice） wow fish we need onion

22:40 garlic sabsi fish vegetable because sabzi mahi is a fish

22:49 vegetable sabzi mahi cilantro cilantro is there fish

22:54 in it ah the tuna fish tuna fish with cilantro

23:03 this is tamarind to cook that dish taste it

23:07 good sour sweet and this for cooking yes well

23:14 this tamarind paste is so sour i think Iranians

23:19 like sour food yes sour and sweet sour and sweet

23:25 yes in Iran one of the most common home dishes

23:28 is different kinds of Polo Polo refers to a rice

23:32 dish unlike in China here plain rice is often

23:35 seasoned with salt sometimes even saffron this one was

23:40 cooked with raisins and tamarind giving it a gentle

23:43 balance of sweetness and sourness it's a crispy rice

23:48 on the bottom of the pot Nush-e Jan

23:53 that all the Iranians love it it's a bit like

23:57 our Chinese guoba the crispy rice and what is

24:01 today's dish called Polo Mahi Polo Mahi Polo Mahi Mahi

24:07 means fish Polo means rice okay after lunch we

24:11 would step onto the balcony and make some sound calling

24:15 the neighborhood cats yes oh yes the cat is

24:26 coming once they appeared and disappeared again we would

24:45 sit down for tea playing cards letting the afternoon

24:49 pass slowly the next day the internet was still down

24:53 early in the morning Mohammed's father went to the market

24:57 and returned with bundles of fresh herbs mint

25:01 basil radishes that day his mother prepared one of Iran's

25:07 most famous national dishes Ghormeh zabzi meat boiling meat

25:13 is boiling Ghormeh this is ghormeh without Sabzi then

25:20 when we added sabzi to this dish we call

25:26 it Ghormeh zabzi Ghormeh zabzi this is Ghormeh Ghormeh

25:30 is meat？ meat and water and turmeric and a spice

25:38 and onion onion okay that is called Ghormeh Ghormeh

25:41 and the vegetable is called Sabzi the yellow is

25:46 Ghormeh yellow okay the color of Ghormeh is yellow

25:50 ah yellow no later it will be green this dish

26:00 has a deep savory flavor with a subtle sourness

26:03 from the dried limes we also had tadik the crunchy

26:16 rice cracker and we drank doogh a salted fermented

26:20 yogurt drink Mohammed's mother taught me that for the sake

26:25 of the family's nutrition she tries to cook something

26:28 different every day each day i tasted a new

26:31 dish on the third day there was a stew

26:34 something close to the Chinese combination of potatoes and beef,

26:39 served again with fresh sabzi and warm

26:42 taftoon bread this is not the most Iranian

26:46 way to eat it but i wrap it as if it's a sandwich it looks

26:50 so good so yummy on the fourth day we had chicken with mushrooms

27:01 and on the fifth Mohammed's father decided it

27:04 was time to teach me how to make Iranian

27:07 Kebab Iranian Kebab has this strong character

27:11 the portions are generous and it is pure

27:14 meat their grill stick is so long and so heavy it's made of metal what's

27:21 it called zih zih yeah you can find it in any Iranian house preparation matters

27:28 the chicken is marinated with onions salted

27:31 and then carefully skewered according to each cut because

27:35 each part requires a different grilling time

27:39 now we bring everything onto the balcony

27:41 and start the grilling process Jujeh Kebab jujeh

27:48 kebab oh now it's getting burned yes oh

28:07 it's getting golden and crispy yes looks so nice i take it out okay yes

28:37 okay so this too yeah so now we take out the meat with the bread

28:48 our today's lunch we got some chicken grill

28:50 with the lavash bread some salad and some

28:54 extremely sour cherry pickled sour cherry i

28:59 think Iranians can eat really sour food without

29:03 internet connection it was impossible to book

29:06 tickets online impossible to call home i couldn't

29:08 film much so i was trapped at a local travel agency we found only Iran air

29:16 tickets were still available so i booked

29:18 the nearest flight departing from Isfahan to Najaf

29:22 and decided to leave but finally that night

29:26 the international phone call could make through

29:30 3 pm in the afternoon and finally there was some good news that is now

29:35 the international phone call can go through

29:37 so normally i talk with flo every day

29:40 but due to the internet blackout we haven't been able to reach each other

29:46 for six days so we talked very briefly i told him that i booked a flight

29:52 from Isfahan to najaf for Sunday and he

29:54 told me actually there is still international

29:57 flight and he said on Thursday there is a flight from Isfahan to Dubai so he

30:03 booked that flight for me and by then i realized that the travel agency

30:08 in Iran don't have access to international internet

30:12 that's why they don't have all the booking

30:14 information and that's why they can only

30:17 book flights from Iranian airlines for me so

30:21 he also told me that the most recent news is that Trump might have a phone

30:27 call or phone talk with the supreme leader of Iran and no one knows

30:33 what will happen afterwards so no one

30:36 can predict two days later Mohammad drove me

30:39 to the airport before leaving he said

30:42 in case my flight got cancelled i just need

30:45 to give him a phone call he will come back and pick me up that noon,

30:50 several flights to Turkey were cancelled mine was

30:53 the only one still listed delayed by two

30:56 hours i wasn't sure if i would be able to leave but eventually boarding began

31:03 as the plane started to taxi the city

31:05 outside window slowly grew smaller i thought about

31:09 the uncertainties ahead about the people and how

31:13 their life could continue about when we might

31:15 meet again later Flo told me that the night before my departure my flight had

31:23 briefly been cancelled when Iran closed its airspace

31:27 then quietly changed to a two hour delay

31:31 and as the plane was flying the airspace

31:33 above looked like this at the time there

31:37 was no internet i knew none of this this video is definitely not a usual travel

31:43 vlog like any of my previous travel videos and there are so many stories that i

31:49 want to tell but i haven't got the chance to do so because the grand bazaars

31:53 are shut down and it's not the best time to film on the street so i

32:00 want to tell the stories of the craftsmen

32:02 in Isfahan's grand Bazaar i want to visit

32:05 yazd the city in the middle of the desert

32:07 that is so cleverly constructed to adapt to the desert climate i want to visit

32:14 the beautiful Persian courtyard in Shiraz i

32:17 want to tell more stories of the lovely

32:20 Iranian people the future is uncertain but one

32:27 thing that i know for sure one day i will see my friend in Iran again