About
The girl:
My name is Mariam. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I’m Iranian-American. To put it simply, I love food and travel. When these two things converge, I get really, really happy. I post photos at Flickr and review books at Goodreads. Don’t be shy, drop me a line.
Things I like include: Airports, used book stores, Asian grocers, foreign policy, six-hour long Italian epic films, trying new and unusual food, accents, Anthony Bourdain, saying hi to dogs on the street, and when it’s sunny in San Francisco.
Things I don’t like include: Cilantro, driving in Union Square during rush hour, my upstairs neighbor, Americans who tell me I’m not American, Iranians who tell me I’m not Iranian, and musicals.
The site:
Yogurtsoda is the ongoing chronicle of my adventures in food, travel and culture. It originally began as a blog called (re)definition in 2001 and back then, I was mostly writing about Iran and international relations. Nowadays I get that fix through my day job, but I continue to blog about my other love: eating my way through the world. Figuratively speaking, of course.
The name:
Yogurtsoda is named after the ubiquitous Iranian drink, doogh. It’s made up of carbonated water, yogurt, salt and dried mint and is popular throughout the Middle East by many other names and permutations. Outside of the Middle East, I’ve found it’s an acquired taste for most, but that’s okay. As long as you’re willing to try anything once, you’re good in my book.