Najmieh Batmanglij
Najmieh was born and raised in Iran. During her childhood, her mother wouldn’t allow her in the kitchen. “Concentrate on your education,” she would say. “There will be plenty of time for you to cook later in life.” Najmieh came to America in the 1960s to study at university and would cook Persian food with fresh local produce using recipes sent by her mother in letters. Najmieh returned to Iran and her mother welcomed her into the kitchen and started to work with her. It was in France that Najmieh decided to follow her passion for cooking. She wrote her first cookbook in french,
Ma Cuisine d’Iran. In 1983 she and her husband emigrated to America where she wrote her first book in English,
Food of Life. Najmieh has spent the past 35 years cooking, traveling, and adapting authentic Persian recipes to tastes and techniques in the West and she's called "the guru of Persian cuisine".